Category: Guest Posts
I have been campaigning for more direct democracy in our political system since 2003, but just recently I looked at some old newspaper clippings from 1985 and realised I was even talking about referendums way back then. Having an interest or passion for politics is rather peculiar in this day and age. It is not uncommon at the first signs of a political discussion, for the person standing in front of me to have an immediate attack of ocular revulsion (eye rolling). I often wonder why I've always had this interest.
Over the last few weeks various economists and tax experts have been trying to predict the economic effects of Labour’s capital gains tax (CGT) proposal. What the experts do agree on is the best tax is one that is simple, has a broad base and few exemptions and incentives.
Dr Muriel Newman and I, the co-founders of the Coastal Coalition, are leading a Citizens Initiated Referendum (CIR) on the question “Should the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011be replaced by legislation that restores Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed?” The question has two parts - repealing the Act, and replacing it with a new Act that restores Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed.
There is an old adage that observes that if you want the same result, just keep on doing the same things. The loss of the famed Jewelled Gecko to wild life smugglers continues unabated from the Otago Peninsula and no doubt - else where. In fact they (the Geckos) are no sooner returned by Customs and DoC to their “natural” surroundings when some other foreign or indigenous scoundrel nicks them again.
The Auckland City Council’s plans for a $2.6 billion rail loop to assist in easing the city’s transport woes have encountered, as all Aucklanders will be aware, a perhaps unexpected obstacle. One Glenn Wilcox, a member of the Maori Statutory Board which ‘assists’ the council, has pointed out to its transport committee that the rail tunnel between Mt Eden and the Britomart Centre proposed as part of the loop would trespass on the territory of Horotiu. Many Aucklanders had probably forgotten about Horotiu, but he is a taniwha. The taniwha is the principal monster of Maori mythology, and this one’s territory, Mr Wilcox tells us, evidently runs (how does he know?) from Myers Park to the sea, therefore including the area of the Town Hall and Queen Street. ‘The tunnel goes right through his rohe[territory]’, Mr Wilcox told the committee. He added that ‘[i]t concerns me that they [the council] do not see Maori as a component of the city, and that is where I come from’.
How hard can it be to collect enough signatures for a referendum? Well first let’s look at the history of Citizens Initiated Referenda (CIR) since Parliament passed the legislation to allow for such a democratic process in 1993.
In New Zealand today we have our own Hydra; our system of family law. Like the multiplying heads of the mythical Hydra, the costs and delays of the Family Court have grown out of control.
Six years ago when the Labour government was planning to abolish minimum pay rates for youth, our organization, the Employers and Manufacturers Association, said the move was certain to hurt the very people it was intended to help. So it has proved.
The recent Budget raised the question: What should we be doing to grow the economy? Its focus on reducing government debt and spending was positive, most said, and essential for getting our finances on a firmer footing to head off future problems with overseas creditors and consequential interest rate rises. But beyond that, many felt it did not contain much direction for strategic change.
I wonder how you voted in the last binding referendum. I refer of course to the 2008 election in which we the people decided the mix of representatives for the next 3 years. Of course there is another binding referendum (election) later this year but is one every 3 years enough? I think not. Indeed I suggest that it is time that Citizens Initiated Referendum (CIR) became binding.
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