Good Faith Yarns Wellington
Description
The Free Speech Union New Zealand is proud to present the Good Faith Yarns Tour!
This winter, the Free Speech Union New Zealand is hitting the road. The Good Faith Yarns Tour brings honest, good-faith conversation to ten communities across the country, including the regional centres that so often get left out of the national conversation. With a general election on the horizon, public debate is getting louder and more polarised. We want to do something different.
Should New Zealanders have the right to choose when and how they die? The End of Life Choice Act settled the question once — but the debate is far from over. With ACT's Todd Stephenson pushing to extend eligibility and critics warning of a slippery slope, the conversation is back at Parliament's doorstep. And Wellington is exactly where it should be had.
Joining Ani O'Brien are two of the sharpest voices on opposite sides of this debate: Todd Stephenson, the ACT MP championing an extension to the law, and Simon O'Connor, one of New Zealand's most principled and outspoken opponents of assisted dying. This is what good-faith disagreement looks like — two people who hold deeply different convictions, talking it out in public.
📍Legislative Council Chamber, Ground Floor/1 Molesworth Street, Pipitea, Wellington 6011
📅 Wednesday 5 August 2026
🕐 6:30pm-8:00pm
🎙️ Guest Speaker: Todd Stephenson, Simon O'Connor
Speakers
Ani O’Brien
Ani O'Brien is one of New Zealand's most fearless political voices. A writer, commentator, and Free Speech Union Board Member, she's known for holding views that cut across conventional political lines and saying what others won't. Expect honesty, not headlines.
Todd Stephenson
ACT MP Todd Stephenson believes dying Kiwis in enormous pain deserve choice and control over how, when, and with whom they spend their last moments. He has championed an amendment to the End of Life Choice Act incorporating all 25 recommendations from the Ministry of Health's independent review — and he's not stopping until the law catches up with the people it's meant to serve.
Simon O'Connor
Trained as a priest and a National MP for Tāmaki from 2011 to 2023, Simon O'Connor has never shied away from his socially conservative convictions — even when they cost him. He chaired Parliament's Health Select Committee and led its major inquiry into assisted dying, and remains one of New Zealand's most thoughtful and persistent critics of the End of Life Choice Act. He went into Parliament to be himself — and that hasn't changed.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
Get tickets
This event has passedGet tickets
This event has passed