@melwel5.bsky.social
Disability rights ♿️, trans & non binary rights 🏳️⚧️, ace rights ♠️, queer rights 🏳️🌈.
Gardening 🌿, cockatiels 🦜, dogs 🐶, coffee ☕️, gin & tonics 🍹.
Attracted to gold coloured things ✨
Tangata Tiriti for Te Tiriti ✊🏼
They/Them
Gardening 🌿, cockatiels 🦜, dogs 🐶, coffee ☕️, gin & tonics 🍹.
Attracted to gold coloured things ✨
Tangata Tiriti for Te Tiriti ✊🏼
They/Them
Reposted
It is deeply upsetting that Simeon Brown has decided to halt the prescribing of certain puberty blocker medicines to trans young people, especially during Trans Awareness Week.
November 20, 2025 at 8:19 PM
It is deeply upsetting that Simeon Brown has decided to halt the prescribing of certain puberty blocker medicines to trans young people, especially during Trans Awareness Week.
Reposted
The overwhelmingly positive experiences of trans youth on puberty blockers
The overwhelmingly positive experiences of trans youth on puberty blockers
A survey of trans youth highlights the enormous value of puberty blockers – and the strong need for continued access to them....
thespinoff.co.nz
November 22, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted
"When complex medical decisions are shaped by public polling, rather than the needs of patients and their families, healthcare is being politicised, rather than protected."
Excellent piece, cutting through the bullshit #nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-...
Excellent piece, cutting through the bullshit #nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-...
Puberty blockers: why politicians overriding doctors sets a dangerous precedent
Analysis: The government's ban on puberty blockers for gender-affirming care prioritises politics and ideology over decades of expert clinical guidance and patient safety evidence.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
"When complex medical decisions are shaped by public polling, rather than the needs of patients and their families, healthcare is being politicised, rather than protected."
Excellent piece, cutting through the bullshit #nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-...
Excellent piece, cutting through the bullshit #nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-...
Reposted
Photos from today's #TransRights rally at Te Aro Park in Te Whanganui A Tara / #Wellington NZ. Young and not so young trans and nonbinary people and friends and allies gathered as the start of a campaign to oppose NZ goverment's Ban on Puberty Blockers. Healthcare is a right!
#NZpol
#NZpol
November 23, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Photos from today's #TransRights rally at Te Aro Park in Te Whanganui A Tara / #Wellington NZ. Young and not so young trans and nonbinary people and friends and allies gathered as the start of a campaign to oppose NZ goverment's Ban on Puberty Blockers. Healthcare is a right!
#NZpol
#NZpol
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/nz...
NZ Government Sanction Israel Now
Since October 2023 the world has witnessed the state of Israel perpetrate innumerable war crimes and human rights violations against the people of Gaza [1], while the violence, repression, and forced ...
our.actionstation.org.nz
September 13, 2025 at 11:36 AM
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/nz...
Reposted
Bishop canned 1500 new home builds.
Potaka threw people out of emergency housing onto the street.
Chhour slashed funding to community services.
All of us are struggling, services are slashed to bare bones, families already overcrowded.
What did these out-of-touch Ministers think would happen?!
Potaka threw people out of emergency housing onto the street.
Chhour slashed funding to community services.
All of us are struggling, services are slashed to bare bones, families already overcrowded.
What did these out-of-touch Ministers think would happen?!
Chris Bishop: "the underlying issue is one we’ve got to grapple with, which is how we ended up with people who sleep rough on the streets and it’s not a money issue because we spend half a billion bucks a year in this space already as a Government.”
It is your government that has caused this.
It is your government that has caused this.
'Urgent advice': Govt considers backdown to address homelessness spike
Service providers have reported a 90% increase in homelessness in Auckland.
www.nzherald.co.nz
August 3, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Bishop canned 1500 new home builds.
Potaka threw people out of emergency housing onto the street.
Chhour slashed funding to community services.
All of us are struggling, services are slashed to bare bones, families already overcrowded.
What did these out-of-touch Ministers think would happen?!
Potaka threw people out of emergency housing onto the street.
Chhour slashed funding to community services.
All of us are struggling, services are slashed to bare bones, families already overcrowded.
What did these out-of-touch Ministers think would happen?!
Reposted
You should do due deligence on candidates for local govt (also school board, liquor trust etc). Not all of them declare their affliations or beliefs in short candidate statements that comes with voting forms. Anyone who not selected by political party may still stand as independent
#AoNZPol #nzpol
#AoNZPol #nzpol
August 3, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Reposted
Tips for anyone nominated as candidate for local & regional council elections:
Make your candidate info accessible
Ask hosts of forums if the venue is accessible & encourage them to share whether it is or not in their event notices
(continued)
Make your candidate info accessible
Ask hosts of forums if the venue is accessible & encourage them to share whether it is or not in their event notices
(continued)
August 3, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Tips for anyone nominated as candidate for local & regional council elections:
Make your candidate info accessible
Ask hosts of forums if the venue is accessible & encourage them to share whether it is or not in their event notices
(continued)
Make your candidate info accessible
Ask hosts of forums if the venue is accessible & encourage them to share whether it is or not in their event notices
(continued)
Reposted
Having a fully accessible bathroom is both a basic human right and supports disabled people and families to come into the city. Win win all round.
Unless you’re National or the Prime Minister, it seems.
open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...
Unless you’re National or the Prime Minister, it seems.
open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...
Accessible public toilets are important, basic infrastructure
Pushing back on the "woke nonsense" foolishness.
open.substack.com
July 20, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Having a fully accessible bathroom is both a basic human right and supports disabled people and families to come into the city. Win win all round.
Unless you’re National or the Prime Minister, it seems.
open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...
Unless you’re National or the Prime Minister, it seems.
open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...
Reposted
April 29, 2025 at 3:47 AM
This is honestly horrific. What is wrong with people?! 🤯
Whanau's critics expose themselves: misogynistic slurs, mockery of Māori heritage, mental health ridicule, sexualisation, & conspiracy theories. This isn't "political criticism". It's a toxic intersection of racism and sexism that esp. targets wāhine Māori, & there too, those in Green Party more.
April 29, 2025 at 11:18 AM
This is honestly horrific. What is wrong with people?! 🤯
Reposted
Hey, so you were looking for something to do over the long weekend - how about taking 15 minutes to bash out a quick submission to the Royal Commission. Submissions close on Sunday.
haveyoursay.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/royal-commis...
haveyoursay.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/royal-commis...
April 24, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Hey, so you were looking for something to do over the long weekend - how about taking 15 minutes to bash out a quick submission to the Royal Commission. Submissions close on Sunday.
haveyoursay.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/royal-commis...
haveyoursay.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/royal-commis...
Disgusting. Destroying my hometown.
Aussie mining company Siren Gold is drilling at Sams Creek Golden Bay before its permit expires in March.
Env't Court recommended a Water Conservation Order for Te Waikoropupū in 2023. Gov't agreed.
Te Waikoropupū Springs has some of clearest water in NZ.
#NZpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Env't Court recommended a Water Conservation Order for Te Waikoropupū in 2023. Gov't agreed.
Te Waikoropupū Springs has some of clearest water in NZ.
#NZpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Siren Gold mining company drilling at Sams Creek, Golden Bay
The drilling - found first by Festivalgoers - is permitted in the area.
www.rnz.co.nz
February 22, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Disgusting. Destroying my hometown.
Reposted
Here is a photo of a trans non-binary biologist (me) holding a bird (Eastern Towhee) that is likely a bilateral gynandromorph-- a fusion of cells with female-type chromosomes and cells with male-type chromosomes in one bird!
Biological sex and human gender diversity is real and wonderful ❤️🏳️⚧️
Biological sex and human gender diversity is real and wonderful ❤️🏳️⚧️
January 22, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Here is a photo of a trans non-binary biologist (me) holding a bird (Eastern Towhee) that is likely a bilateral gynandromorph-- a fusion of cells with female-type chromosomes and cells with male-type chromosomes in one bird!
Biological sex and human gender diversity is real and wonderful ❤️🏳️⚧️
Biological sex and human gender diversity is real and wonderful ❤️🏳️⚧️
Reposted
I know, I know - it's been a long summer, and we're a bit burnt out and sick of the parliament website. But there's more submissions to go.
January 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
I know, I know - it's been a long summer, and we're a bit burnt out and sick of the parliament website. But there's more submissions to go.
Reposted
At least 101 Palestinians, including 27 children and 31 women, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since the announcement of a ceasefire agreement set to take effect on Sunday, according to Gaza's Civil Defense.
January 17, 2025 at 2:34 PM
At least 101 Palestinians, including 27 children and 31 women, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since the announcement of a ceasefire agreement set to take effect on Sunday, according to Gaza's Civil Defense.
Reposted
NZers: if you're over 45 and haven't had a TDAP (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) vaccine in the last 10 yrs, you're due for a free booster.
We are in a pertussis epidemic currently, which tragically has recently caused the death of a baby, so it's a good time to boost your immunity.
We are in a pertussis epidemic currently, which tragically has recently caused the death of a baby, so it's a good time to boost your immunity.
January 17, 2025 at 6:07 AM
NZers: if you're over 45 and haven't had a TDAP (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) vaccine in the last 10 yrs, you're due for a free booster.
We are in a pertussis epidemic currently, which tragically has recently caused the death of a baby, so it's a good time to boost your immunity.
We are in a pertussis epidemic currently, which tragically has recently caused the death of a baby, so it's a good time to boost your immunity.
Reposted
Sad to see the effective death of the Christchurch Call. Luxon had already done what he could to kneecap it by cancelling Jacinda Ardern’s ongoing role. Now Meta is reversing it’s Christchurch Call commitments, giving free rein to right wing terrorism online. #nzpol
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
Meta is ending its fact-checking program in favor of a 'community notes' system similar to X
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of major changes to the company's moderation policies and practices, saying that the election felt like a "cultural tipping point."
www.nbcnews.com
January 8, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Sad to see the effective death of the Christchurch Call. Luxon had already done what he could to kneecap it by cancelling Jacinda Ardern’s ongoing role. Now Meta is reversing it’s Christchurch Call commitments, giving free rein to right wing terrorism online. #nzpol
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...
Reposted
On 9 Jan, a Facebook post by Hobsons Pledge generated 566 comments. The day after, it had increased to 1,400 (today, it's 1,000 more!). Studied all the comments on Thursday, & Friday. Additionally studied 2,100+ comments on 5 FB posts published over weekend also targeting Treaty Principles Bill.
January 13, 2025 at 10:52 AM
On 9 Jan, a Facebook post by Hobsons Pledge generated 566 comments. The day after, it had increased to 1,400 (today, it's 1,000 more!). Studied all the comments on Thursday, & Friday. Additionally studied 2,100+ comments on 5 FB posts published over weekend also targeting Treaty Principles Bill.