Category: imported_weekly
There is no doubt that the concept of citizens’ democracy is a powerful one. It is, after all, attributed with building Switzerland into a successful and prosperous nation. But the question that advocates should be asking right now is whether the policy of binding referenda is feasible within New Zealand’s constitutional framework?
Official data shows that the biggest foreign investor in New Zealand land during the five years from 2009 to 2013 was the US, followed by Canada, Israel, the UK, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Monaco, with China in tenth place.
It is a fundamental tenant of democracy that all citizens should be treated equally in law. We believe that should start with the removal of race-based seats and electoral rolls. We would like to reach out to as many other New Zealanders as we can with that message, and we are asking for your help.
Quite why New Zealand governments have wanted to penalise households and small businesses, with an ETS that is far more onerous than that of the European Union, is not clear - especially when our country is one of the cleanest and greenest on earth, with human habitation covering less than one percent of our total land area.
The threat of a compulsory warrant of fitness for rental housing should evoke the strongest possible response from property investors. They will be well aware that such a scheme would come at a considerable cost, which would not only drive up rents, but would force some property owners to sell. By increasing rents and reducing the availability of rental housing, this misguided policy would hurt the very families that the advocacy groups purport to want to help.
The July 3rd discharge without conviction of Korotangi Paki on charges of burglary, theft, and drink driving, on the grounds that he is the son of the Maori King, has caused widespread outrage.
In June, a subcommittee of the Auckland Council announced plans to make grieving families apply for permission to scatter their loved ones' ashes in public places. The new bylaw would have prevented ashes being scattered in cemeteries, parks, even beaches, unless a fee was paid and written approval obtained from the council or the Wahi Tapu Maori Komiti.
To the surprise of many, the Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has begun attacking the free market, going so far as to declare it a “new tyranny”. But before you start thinking that here in New Zealand we are relatively immune from any such radical influence on public policy, you might consider the similarities between Pope Francis and David Cunliffe.
With the September 20 election less than three months away, and voters increasingly tuning into politics, we should expect to see a range of political advocacy groups promoting their causes. A particular target will be the 800,000 registered voters who failed to vote in 2011, since this voting bloc could affect the outcome of the election.
Housing is set to feature strongly in the forthcoming election campaign as a result of widespread concerns about home affordability and the so-called declining rate of home ownership. The problem is that both of these issues have become so highly politicised that it is difficult to differentiate fact from fiction. So, for the record, let’s set down some facts.
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