Lobby For Good

When public transparency is bypassed by private emails, democracy becomes a spectator sport.

New Zealand likes to think of itself as open, clean, and easy to access. But smallness is not the same as transparency.

The latest revelations about private backchannels, withheld records, corporate lobbying, and policy influence show exactly why New Zealand’s “Wild West” lobbying sector needs rules now.
Lobbying is not the problem. Invisible lobbying is.

We need a publicly searchable lobbying register, clear conduct rules, cooling-off periods for former ministers and senior advisers, and proactive disclosure of who is meeting whom before decisions are already stitched up.

Because everyday people should not have to rely on court discovery, leaked documents, or one very persistent journalist to find out who helped shape the law.

Read the article here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/lobbyforgood/p/the-backchannel-is-the-standard-why

The paper trail beats a press release.

The Backchannel Is the Standard: Why New Zealand’s "Wild West" Lobbying Sector Needs Rules Now When public transparency is bypassed by private emails, democracy becomes a spectator sport.

They told us it was 11 women.

We looked at the official briefing paper for New Zealand. Eleven people. That’s what the system recorded. That’s what the system believed.

But right now, in the Lobby For Good portal, we are reading the stories of more than 20 women.

And the number is growing every single day.

This is the story of Essure. The device they were told was safe.

She was told it was simple. A permanent contraception option. No major surgery. No daily pill. No more worrying.

So she trusted the advice. She trusted the doctor. She trusted the system.

Then her body changed.
The pain started. The bleeding became heavier. The fatigue didn’t go away. Her hormones felt wrong.

And when she asked if the device could be the problem? She was told it was unlikely.
It’s just stress.
It’s your age.
It’s your hormones.
It’s something else.

For years, she carried the pain and the doubt at the same time.

That is the hardest part of the stories coming into our portal. It’s not just the physical symptoms - the removal surgeries, the hysterectomies, the years of pain.

It is the absolute exhaustion of not being believed.

It is trying to explain your own body to a system that has already decided the answer. It is paying for appointments, scans, specialists, and treatments, while being told the device is fine - even when your life is falling apart.

When one woman says it, the system calls it an "isolated incident." When ten women say it, they call it a "rare complication."

But when dozens, hundreds, and thousands of women say it? The question changes.

It’s no longer: What happened to this one person?
It becomes: What did the system know, and when did they know it?

Essure was recalled in New Zealand in 2017. The FDA is still monitoring reports of pain, heavier periods, device fragments, and perforation. The manufacturer still states the device was not defective.

But the women in our portal know the truth of their own bodies.

A medical device is not just a product. It is trust placed inside a human body. And when that trust breaks, people deserve more than silence. They deserve records. They deserve answers. They deserve a system that treats lived experience as actual evidence.

This is what Public System Survival Notes Series is about.

For when the process is the problem.
For when the complaint goes nowhere.
For when the official answer does not match the lived reality.

One story can be dismissed. But a pattern cannot be ignored.

If Essure has affected you, or if you have been left trying to get answers from a health system that did not listen - you are not alone, and your story is evidence.

Tell your story. Add to the pattern. Help us ask the questions they don’t want to answer.

Drop your story in the portal here and sign our petition:
👉 https://lfgportal.lobbyforgood.nz/lobbies/harm-linked-to-essure-medical-devices

(Note: We do not make medical findings. We listen to stories, map the patterns, and help everyday people ask better questions of the systems that govern them.)

NZ Briefing Paper:https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/2024-09/H2024038651%20Briefing%20Advice%20on%20an%20active%20petition%20relating%20to%20Essure%2C%20a%20permanent%20contraceptive_0.pdf

PUBLIC SYSTEM SURVIVAL NOTES: Episode 01

Medical Abuse Gynaecology New Zealand

What happens when public warnings disappear into the system?

We are seeing a pattern through the Lobby for Good portal.

People raise serious concerns with public agencies. They provide documents, dates, and evidence. They follow the official process. Then, when they ask what happened, they are left with unclear answers, missing records, or no visible sign their concerns were properly assessed.

This does not prove wrongdoing.

But it does raise an important public accountability question:
Are agencies properly recording, assessing, and escalating serious warnings from the public?

We are looking for more examples so we can build a clearer picture.

Have you raised a serious concern with a public agency and later struggled to find out whether it was reviewed, recorded, or acted on?

Read the article: https://open.substack.com/pub/lobbyforgood/p/when-public-warnings-disappear-into

Submit your experience here:
https://lfgportal.lobbyforgood.nz/submit-issue

"Nothing to see here." Our clean image is a national asset, but it’s also a shield for hidden influence and dirty money. We’re diving deep into why New Zealand needs a real beneficial ownership register and trust transparency NOW. Don’t let hidden power shape your future.

Read more: https://open.substack.com/pub/lobbyforgood/p/new-zealand-isnt-corrupt-thats-exactly