NZ Skeptics

NZ Skeptics is a New Zealand incorporated society created in 1986, with the aim of promoting critical thinking. The main areas of interest to the NZ Skeptics are claims of psychic abilities, alternative medicine, creationism and other pseudoscientific claims. At its founding in 1986, it was known as the New Zealand Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. In 2007 the name was formally changed to NZ Skeptics Incorporated.

History

NZ Skeptics was co-founded by David Marks, Denis Dutton, Bernard Howard, Gordon Hewitt, Jim Woolnough, Ray Carr and Kerry Chamberlain in 1986. Other similar organisations exist in the USA, Australia and India. Denis Dutton was the first chair. Vicki Hyde took over as the first chair-entity from 1997 to 2010. Gold, who founded the New Zealand Skeptics in the Pub, was chair-entity from 2010 to 2014. Mark Honeychurch was chairperson between 2014 and 2017. As of 2024, Bronwyn Rideout is the current chairperson. Vicki Hyde continues in the society as a media spokesperson. The English spelling of the word "skeptic" was chosen over the British spelling "sceptic" to more closely associate with the American organisation, and to avoid negative connotations of "being cynical and negative". In 2007 the committee decided to formally change the name to NZ Skeptics Incorporated.
The society does not address the topic of religion, not only because there are other organisations better equipped to deal with it, but also because religion is not testable unless the supporter makes a specific claim. The founders felt that people with religious beliefs could also be skeptical of claims of the paranormal and did not want to exclude them.
Due to a concern that the word "skeptic" was being confused by the public and media with respect to climate change NZSI made the following statement in 2014:
Shortly after its inception in 1986, the society produced a quarterly journal, The New Zealand Skeptic, which they sent out to all members. In 2015 NZSI adopted a logo that incorporates a kiwi, koru and a question mark, and released a new website and journal. The website was updated in 2020, and around that time the journal was discontinued and replaced by an emailed newsletter and a fortnightly podcast.
In 1989 after its first conference NZSI had 80 members; by 1999 there were over 500 members. Some notable skeptics such as James Randi, Richard Dawkins, Susan Blackmore, Ian Plimer and John Maddox had visited in that time.

Activities

NZ Skeptics holds an annual conference during the New Zealand summer. Conferences generally alternate between the three major New Zealand cities of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with other cities hosting as and when there is sufficient interest.
On 30 January 2010, members in Christchurch participated in a mass overdose, a protest against the selling of homeopathic remedies in pharmacies. The protest was in line with similar activities held on the same day by the 10:23 campaign in the UK.
The first New Zealand SkeptiCamp was held at the Black Dog Brewery in Wellington.
Skeptics in the Pub events are held throughout New Zealand in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Sue Nicholson

Sensing Murder psychic Sue Nicholson spoke at the 2013 Wellington conference about her 21 years of experiences as a psychic medium. Organiser Vicki Hyde applauded Nicholson's willingness to speak at the conference, saying "many people working in this profession are very reluctant to expose themselves to any critical scrutiny." Hyde is quick to add that "critical" in this case "involves a spirit of genuine interest and inquiry", even if proof of spirits from the after-life continues to be elusive.
Nicholson talked about her life history as a psychic for 18 minutes and opened up the lecture for questions. Despite being skeptical, the audience remained respectful and questioning.
Nicholson stated that her friends told her not to attend the conference, but she said, "I believe in healthy discussion, and we all have our opinions and that's great. I'm not here to prove anything. I'm not here to convince you. We all have our thoughts, we all have our ideas and that's how the world goes around."
3 News attended Nicholson's lecture and wrote, "But despite a colourful performance from Ms Nicholson, this lot remains unconvinced." Nicholson agreed to talk at the conference with the stipulation that the $500 speakers fee would be donated to a Women's Refuge."
The organisation has remained critical of psychics such as Nicholson. In 2018, NZ Skeptics denounced those who claim they can help locate missing persons, contacting families with information. Referring to one such case, NZ Skeptics Society chair Craig Shearer insisted those "grief vampires" never actually helped police solve a disappearance.

Legal action

In 1988 NZCSICOP member Trevor Reeves wrote a series of letters about psychic Shona Saxon and sent them to the editor of the Dunedin Star Midweek paper, to the Citizens Advice service, to the Dunedin police, and to social welfare. Saxon sued Reeves for malice, claiming embarrassment, humiliation and loss. According to Saxon, Reeves stated that she was "misleading people", "persuading people to go off their prescribed medications" and "upsetting disturbed people... on welfare benefits". The high court judge ruled in favour of Saxon. "ssentially because he did not believe that Ms Saxon had deliberately set out to deceive clients". The judge held that Reeves' "statements were actuated by malice... by gratuitously attack Ms Saxon's personal integrity." Saxon was awarded a total of $12,000 damages, $6,000 against Reeves and $6,000 against Allied Press Ltd. Reeves appealed to the High Court and the damages awarded against him were reduced to $4,500.
Because of the way the NZCSICOP public statements were worded, they were not a party to this action, and escaped what could have been a crippling penalty. The constitution provides suspension or expulsion of any member who brings the society into disrepute. Reeves left NZCSICOP shortly after the judgment was made. The case is recorded as Saxon v Reeves High Court Dunedin A39/87.

Dowsing

NZ Skeptics has been vocal in the fight against the government use of the pseudoscience of dowsing in New Zealand. The Carterton District Council uses dowsing to find underground pipes and cables despite the NZ Skeptics evidence that dowsing has been discredited. The Wellington City Council paid the Downer Group to use dowsing to find buried water pipes in early 2019. The City Council and a Downer Group representative both stated they were satisfied their work despite complaints by the NZ Skeptics. The Wellington City Council and the Downer Group were co-awarded the Bent Spoon Award for 2019.

Conferences

The annual NZ Skeptics Conference hosts a wide range of local and international speakers. The location usually alternates between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Hamilton, but has also been held in Rotorua and Queenstown. In 2019, the conference was held at the Christchurch Arts Centre / Te Matatiki Toi Ora from 29 November to 1 December.
International guests have raised New Zealand's general awareness of skepticism. In July 1993 James Randi toured New Zealand, visiting Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington. "However, those unable to see him in person had plenty of opportunity to see him on TV, hear him on radio and read about him in newspapers and magazines. He was tireless in submitting himself to the punishing round of interviews, etc, arranged by our enthusiastic Media Representative. Every interviewer wanted to see him bend spoons, and he left behind him a trail of bent and broken cutlery, the bill for which was not negligible."
George Hrab travelled to the North Island on 1 December 2014, stopping over in Wellington for a special skeptics dinner event. Seating was limited to twelve, and tickets were auctioned in a blind auction on the NZ skeptic website.

Dates	Location	Speakers	Themes and notes
8–10 August 1986	Dunedin	"What is Pseudoscience?" and "Psychics, Clairvoyants and Cold Reading" by Denis Dutton, "Creationism and the Misuse of Biology" by Gordon Hewitt, "The Australia-New Zealand Stop-over for International Psychics" by Mark Plummer, "Psychics I Have Known" by David Marks	First conference held at the University of Otago. Registration $5–$10.
1989	Christchurch		Firewalking held
1992	Wellington	"UFO update" by Felke de Bock, "E-Meter" by Eric Geiringer, "The Placebo Effect" by Bill Morris
3–5 September 1993	Christchurch	"Police Use of Psychics" by detective Ian Holyoake, "Naturally Skeptical" by Margaret Mahy, "Satanic Panics" by Michael Hill, "Maori Science" by Mike Dickison, "The Manna Machine" by Feike de Bock	Membership moves to over 300 persons.
1994	unknown	Dave Wilson, "Grand Interplanetary Hoax of 1952" by John Scott
1995	Auckland	"Active Skepticism" by Vicki Hyde, "Pseudo-medicine" by John Scott
1996	Hamilton	Malcolm Carr, Big Muffin Serious Band	Held at the Chanel Conference Centre
1997		Vicki Hyde, "Political Correctness at the Supermarket" by Jay Mann, Denis Dutton, Mike Bradstock, Alan Clarke, David Novitz, Debra Nation, George Balani
1998	Wellington	"Satan's Excellent Adventure in the Antipodes" by Michael Hill, "Can Sharks Save the Human Race?" by Paul Davis, "Real Memories of False Facts" by Maryanne Garry	John Welch opened conference with "do-it-yourself acupuncture". Conference attendees over 140.
1999	Auckland	"Hedgehogs, Counselling and the End of the World" by Annette Taylor, "The Danger of Absolute Safety" by Felicity Goodyear-Smith, "The Global Messenger Hoax And The Misinformation Economy" by John Scott, "Reading Cats’ Paws" by Ken Ring, "Philosophical Skepticism Based on the Work of David Hume" by James Allen	"You Are Not Alone" Conference title "From ERA to EAV, the Sorry Saga of the Black Box" by David Cole
2000	Dunedin	Ian Plimer, David Marks, Bill Peddie, Barbara Benson, Warwick Don, "Kaikoura UFOs" by Bill Ireland, Richard Mullen	Theme Evolution, Creationism and Education
21–23 September 2001	Hamilton	Bernard Howard, "Gulf War Syndrome" by John Welch, Nick Kim, Mike Clear, Raymond Richards, Doug Edmeades	Held at the Waikato Diocesan School for Girls
13–15 September 2002	Christchurch	"How To Stop a Witch-Hunt" by Lynley Hood	Held at St. Andrews College
19–21 September 2003	Wellington	"Science and Environmental Policy – Challenges and Opportunities" by Bruce Taylor	Held at the Victoria University
10–12 September 2004	Christchurch	"The Mesmerisation of the Media" by David Mcloughlin, "Why are we crying into our beer?" by Owen McShane	Held at St. Andrews College
30 September – 2 October 2005	Rotorua	"Skeptics and the environment" by Keith Garratt, Raymond Bradley, "Maria Duval scam" by Martin Craig, Harry Pert, Kinsley Logan, John Petrie, Hamish Campbell	Held at the Millennium Centre, Rotorua Boys High School
29 September – 1 October 2006	Auckland	Jonathan McKeown-Green, Te Radar, Grant Christie, Judith Goodyear	Held at King's College; 20th Anniversary Celebration
21–23 September 2007	Christchurch	Michael Woolf, Geoff Diggs, Mark Orton	Held at St. Andrews College
26–28 September 2008	Hamilton	Matthew Dentith, Nikos Petousis, Felicity Goodyear-Smith, Alison Campbell, Nathan Grange, Kamya Kameshwar, Zachary Gravatt, Martin Wallace, Glynn Owens, Vincent Gray, Lisa Matisso-Smith	Held at Waikato Diocesan College
25–27 September 2009	Wellington	Bernard Beckett, Matthew Dentith, John Robinson	Documentary Poisoning Paradise: Ecocide in New Zealand was shown and dissected by the Skeptics as a "political push to stop 1080 poisoning that isn't based on sound scientific facts."
13–15 August 2010	Auckland	Mental magic by Wayne Rogers	Firewalk on Friday the 13th, conference registration $60–80.
26–28 August 2011	Christchurch	Mark Quigley, Kylie Sturgess, Michael Edmonds, Martin Bridgstock, Mark Ottley	150 in attendance
31 August – 2 September 2012	Dunedin	Michael Edmonds, Nick Barbalich, David Winter, Richard Walter, Ewan Fordyce, Andrew Scott, Colin Gavaghan, Jean Fleming, Mark Ottley, Dave Veart	Held at Otago University
6–8 September 2013	Wellington	Kylie Sturgess, Siouxsie Wiles, Martin Manning, Matt McCrudden, Pamela Gay, Aimee Whitcroft, David Bulger, Elf Eldridge, Sue Nicholson, Vicki Hyde, Peter Griffin, Loretta Marron	Keynote Pamela Gay Free conference registration for anyone using psychic powers revealing contents of a sealed envelope.
5–7 December 2014	Auckland	George Hrab, Steven Novella, Rebecca Watson, Jay Novella, Bob Novella, Evan Bernstein, Helen Petousis-Harris, Steven Galbraith, Nicola Gaston, Michelle Dickinson, Toby Ricketts, Ben Albert, Ngaire McCarthy, Siouxsie Wiles, Vicki Hyde, Karen Toast Conger, Darcy Cowan, Mark Hanna	Pricing $195–155, live recording of the SGU podcast. SGU quiz show on Friday night run by George Hrab.
20–22 November 2015	Christchurch	Siouxsie Wiles, Kim Socha, Mike Joy, Karl Haro von Mogel, Shaun Holt, Colin Gavaghan, Grant Jacobs, Douglas Campbell, Karen Healey, Vicki Hyde, The Nerd Degree podcast	Called "Apocalypse How?"
2–4 December 2016	Queenstown	Richard Saunders, Loretta Marron, Susan Gerbic, Andrew Digby, Mark Hanna, Tania Lineham, Catherine Low, Mark Bryan, Scott Kennedy
24–26 November 2017	Wellington	Cara Santa Maria, Joseph Bulbulia, Haritina Mogosanu, Tracey McDermott, Ken McLeod, Kevin Hague, Dr Alison Campbell, Dr Vanessa Jordan, Dr Jonathan Broadbent, Vinny Eastwood	Theme – Get Thee To The Nunnery!
16–18 November 2018	Auckland	Ian Bryce, Russell Brown, Professor Kathleen Campbell, Dr Gavin Ellis, Associate Professor Jennifer Frost, Dacia Herbulock, Dr. Daniel Hikuroa, Dr Justine Kingsbury, Dr Nick Kim, Kathleen Kuehn, Dr. Alex Taylor, Dr. Simon Connell	Venue – Butterfly Creek
30–1 November December, 2019	Christchurch	The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Steven Novella, Susan Gerbic, Cara Santa Maria, Professor David Wiltshire, Jacinta Cording, Professor Maree Hackett, Mark Edward	Main venue – The Great Hall, in the Christchurch Arts Centre and pre-conference gathering at a reputed haunted house
24–26 November, 2023	Dunedin	Susan Gerbic, Anke Richter, Melanie Trecek-King, Greg Dawes, Frank Kueppers, Lynley Hood, Zafir Ivanov, David Hood.	The conference was held at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. The speakers included an acupuncturist listed as a "mystery guest" who, in answer to a question after his presentation, said that he didn't like "being grouped with pseudoscience". One reviewer expressed their opinion that there is value in those practicing alternative medicine and skeptics having "polite and calm conversations about difficult subjects".
15-17, November 2024	Auckland	Craig Hoyle, Gavin Ellis, MacGregor-Reid, Michael Bankcroft, Natasha McKean, Niki Harre, Patsy Spicer, Robert Bartholomew, Stephane Janson, Tim Welch	This joint conference of NZ Skeptics and the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists was held at the Fickling Convention Centre.