Universal representation by Māori men, men, and finally women
…in 1868, 1879 and 1893 respectively, qualifies Aotearoa as the World’s first full democracy
Twin tweaks to conquer local-democracy deficit
Status quo would be the less satisfactory option. Corner to corner, the Rodney Local Board area stretches 86 kilometres—a 165-kilometre, 2-hour drive by road, plus at least an hour’s walk at either end. In the context of an area of nearly 87 000 hectares, local board is an…
Representing hundreds and thousands
On average, each of Auckland region’s part-time local board politicians represents 9500 people. But a report prepared for Auckland Council argues for the number of local boards and local board members to be halved, which would double the number each…
Four-year term terminal for turnout long-term
The need for Aotearoa to have a codified constitution is self-evident. Despite that, the initiative of constitutional lawyer Dr Andrew Butler and former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, launched in August, has failed to fire up a nation-wide discussion in the mainstream…
Health boards and the triennial panning of STV
Every local-body election since its introduction, sees the same disinformation. The rock-solid single-transferable-vote system, first computerised in Aotearoa and used by her for 12 years, is set to endure its triennial onslaught of…
Best understood by least represented
Cohort that best understands the enormity of anthropogenic global warming is that which is least represented in Parliament. It is also the age-group that is least enrolled, and votes least. But given the great gulf between the awful reality of global warming…
After a little shadow voting elect the prime minister
It must be exercising the mind of ‘Mattiavelli’ McCarten. Simply give the job of prime minister, post the election, to ‘Wily’ Winston. After all, it is entirely up to the winning bloc as to who the prime minister should be. Across all voters, Winston…
Getting handle on potential conflicts
As one who encouraged you to stand for Rodney District Council, it seemed to me that the best reason for having you elected was to have a committed advocate for the harbour and its catchment in that body. As a councillor, I believed you could…