Story: Interest groups

Petitions can be an effective way for interest groups to lobby politicians, especially when they generate large public support. Here National Party leader Don Brash receives a 53,000-signature petition from Plunket supporters calling for the restoration of government funding for PlunketLine (a telephone-help service for parents and caregivers of young children) in 2006. When National became the government in 2008, one of its first measures was to restore government funding for PlunketLine from 1 January 2009.