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but are not mandatory. The electricians have clearly been napping! By the way, what about this proposition: all homes should require an electrical wiring safety inspection when they are sold. That way, any dodgy wiring in older homes could be detected and fixed. After all, any home that is more than 40 years old probably needs a complete rewire anyway. Why wait for injury or fatality to expose a wiring problem? To summarise the campaign, we are appealing to the parliamentarians in each state to direct their electrical licensing authority to: (a) remove any restrictions which may prevent people from working on mains-powered equipment, whether it is for the purpose of service and repair, restoration or assembly; (b) produce legislation which is based on the New Zealand Electricity Act and Regulations, which allows householders to do their own “electrical work”, including appliance repairs and the installation of fixed wiring. You can do your bit to help by signing the “Statement of Will” in this issue and sending it to us. PLEASE DO IT NOW! Leo Simpson And now it’s all up to YOU! Send the completed forms to SILICON CHIP and we will forward them to the relevant state Ministers, along with copies of published correspondence, editorials, etc. The Ministers will be informed that their response, or a report that they apparently decided not to respond, will be published in SILICON CHIP! While in some ways similar to a petition, it must be our aim that it is not treated as a petition. If you have access to the Internet, go to http://www.rag.org.au/rag/petqld.htm and study the onerous requirements that must, by law, be observed in order to produce a petition that a state parliament will accept. Then click on Creative Petitioning at the bottom of the page to learn how easily parliaments can disregard petitions. Our state parliaments have refused to accept petitions that had many tens of thousands of signatures on them, simply because the form of the petition was not exactly correct. If you don’t have access to the Internet, suffice to say that conventional petitions to our state and federal parliaments are largely a waste of time. In addition to circulating the “Statement of Will” form, write an individual “MY WILL” letter, similar to the one below, to your local state member of parliament and encourage others to do the same. Don’t forget to date the letter and provide your name and address so the parliamentarian can confirm that you are a constituent. Dear Sir (or Dear Madam), I know that it is my duty to keep you informed of MY WILL on any matter that comes before Parliament, or that should come before Parliament. IT IS MY WILL that you take immediate action to end the “closed shop” that electricians enjoy in relation to “electrical work”, and that you promote the replacement of current electricity related legislation with legislation that is essentially equivalent to the New Zealand Electricity Act and Regulation, which allows householders to do their own “electrical work”, including appliance repairs and the installation of fixed wiring. Yours Faithfully, (signed) 4  Silicon Chip Above all, don’t enter into written argument with a politician. Politicians are masters in the art of avoiding what they don’t want to face up to, and become experts in manipulating words to their own benefit. Should your parliamentary member try to sidestep (and they are extremely adept at doing so) taking positive political action on your behalf (ie, they rattle on about what his/her party is or is not doing instead of agreeing to act in accordance with your WILL), you simply write back and state: Dear Sir (or Dear Madam), Further to my letter of (insert date of your original letter) and your reply of (insert date of their inadequate or fob-off reply), and in accordance with my lawful obligation to keep you informed of MY WILL, I again inform you that IT IS MY WILL that you take immediate action to end the “closed shop” that electricians enjoy in relation to “electrical work”, and that you promote the replacement of current electricity related legislation with legislation that is essentially equivalent to the New Zealand Electricity Act and Regulation, which allows householders to do their own “electrical work”, including appliance repairs and the installation of fixed wiring. Yours faithfully, (signed) If you have access to the internet, go to http://www.rag.org. au/ rag/mywillet.htm and learn about the background and potential power of the “MY WILL” letter. For each “MY WILL” letter you send to your parliamentary member, send a copy to SILICON CHIP so we can monitor the level of involvement in the campaign for reform. If your local parliamentarian shows interest in the issue, provide them with copies of relevant SILICON CHIP published correspondence and editorials, etc, or ask them to contact SILICON CHIP directly. Come on SILICON CHIP readers, you asked us to help you with this one – if you don’t want more and more restrictions, get those signatures rolling in! This information (including a copy of the "MY WILL" form) may also be downloaded from the SILICON CHIP website, www.siliconchip.com.au Statement of Will: Reform of Electrical Legislation The primary responsibility of parliamentary representatives and governments is to do the will of the people. Electors must make their will known to their parliamentary representatives and governments. We, the undersigned, hereby assert that it is our will that the government of *______________________________ acknowledge that current electrical safety legislation unjustifiably discriminates against ordinary householders as well as electrical and electronic engineers, technical officers, and technicians and that the effect of its enactment has been, and continues to be, to protect a monopoly for licensed electricians. We also hereby assert that it is our will that the government of *___________________________________ acknowledge that the potential dangers of “electrical work” are grossly exaggerated by the state electrical licensing boards and that the New Zealand electrical fatalities and accidents statistics belie these claims of dangers. We further assert that it is our will that the government of *______________________________________ repeal, in a timely manner, all current electrical safety legislation to replace it with legislation that is essentially equivalent to the New Zealand Electricity Act and Regulation, which allows ordinary householders to do their own “electrical work”, including appliance repairs and the installation of fixed wiring. * (insert state or territory)     Name           Address    Signature 1............................................. .......................................................................................................................................... ............................................................. 2............................................. .......................................................................................................................................... ............................................................. 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