Major changes proposed for our elections
The voting age should be 16, we should have a referendum on extending the parliamentary term and donations to parties should be capped, says the interim report from the Independent Electoral Review
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, June 6, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: another minister may end up before parliament’s Privileges Committee; Fijian prime minsiter visiting New Zealand; nearly all of Wellington’s council flats have no sprinklers; but first, the Independent Electoral Review panel goes bold on proposed changes to New Zealand’s electoral law
Big changes recommended to New Zealand’s electoral law
The Independent Electoral Review (IER) panel has released a summary of its interim report this morning and it’s recommending some big changes to New Zealand’s electoral law. Toby Manhire has all the details on The Spinoff but the panel has recommended lowering the voting age to 16, capping party donations, a referendum on the parliamentary term and reducing the party vote threshold for heading to parliament. The Electoral Act would be rewritten to uphold Treaty of Waitangi principles and to make it easier to understand. Panel chair Deborah Hart says “There have been piecemeal changes to electoral law over many years, including some recently, but this review is an opportunity to step back and look at the bigger picture. While many parts of Aotearoa New Zealand’s electoral system work well, we found it can be improved.”
16-year-olds should be able to vote
Responding in a press release this morning, Make It 16 Co-Director Sage Garrett says the experts on the IER panel have joined a strong chorus of calls for the voting age to be lowered. A draft report from the Future for Local Government Review last year recommended that the age be lowered to 16 for local government elections. The Make It 16 group, who have been advocating for lowering the voting age, took a case to the Supreme Court late last year with the Court declaring that the provisions of the Electoral Act and of the Local Electoral Act which provide for a minimum voting age of 18 years are inconsistent with the right in s19 of the Bill of Rights to be free from discrimination on the basis of age. That bounced the ball back into the government's court, with prime minister Chris Hipkins deferring the introduction of any legislation to change the age for general elections, while committing to a parliamentary vote on lowering the voting age for local elections only.
Cap party donations at $30k
Under new election donation rules introduced last year, from the start of 2023 donations over $20,000 must be declared by parties immediately and the names of the donors disclosed to the public. In March the Act party reported to the electoral commission that it had received 13 donations, all at the $50k or $100,000k mark. Act held a rally over the weekend with party leader David Seymour pulling up on stage in a Suzuki Swift. The IER review panel is recommending that donations to political parties be capped at $30k per election cycle and be restricted to registered voters only.
Not the only bold plan on the books
It’s not the only big proposal to come out in the last week. Last Thursday, Internal Affairs released a plan to regulate online content with a big focus on social media platforms. Shanti Mathias has a good explainer. As Tom Pullar-Strecker writes, it was released without much fanfare or fronting from Internal Affairs minister Barbara Edmonds. Pullar-Strecker suggests it may be that the government is a bit nervous about it. Alternatively, he writes, “it is perhaps refreshing to see a discussion document released free from the usual suspicion that ministers have already made up their minds on each topic.” As regular readers know, I occasionally develop small obsessions. The lag on the review that preceded this proposal, the static progress PDF on the Internal Affairs website haunting my dreams, has been one of them. That’s come back to bite me, and now you. I had a chat on Newhub Nation about the proposal on Sunday morning with the Herald’s editor-at-large Shayne Currie and joined Mathias and Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss as well.
The effects of an ageing, and super diverse population
Research from outdoor advertisers oOh!media shows that New Zealand's ageing population will have wide-ranging effects into the future as older New Zealanders often seek quieter lifestyles in more rural areas of NZ –redistributing the population away from cities. And with 42% of Aucklanders born overseas, migration plays a significant role in shaping our society's demographics. So how will this cultural shift impact our core attitudes?
Read more of the oOh!media study here (sponsored)
Another minister may end up before parliament’s Privileges Committee
As the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan reports, transport minister Michael Wood did not immediately declare shares he owned in Auckland Airport when he became an MP or when he took up the transport portfolio. That’s despite being the minister responsible for the light rail line to the airport and his role as the minister overseeing aviation regulation. Law professor Andrew Geddis said because Wood did not immediately correct his declarations in previous registers he could be investigated and eventually hauled before parliament’s Privileges Committee. A spokesperson for Wood confirmed Wood “owns shares in Auckland Airport and Contact Energy which he purchased as a teenager in the 1990s” and that “he mistakenly thought that they were held in a trust, which has been declared since his election to Parliament and his appointment as an Under Secretary.”
Fijian prime minsiter visiting New Zealand, Hipkins offered chance to meet Zelensky
Fiji’s new prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka has arrived in the country and will spend Wednesday in Wellington where he’ll meet with prime minister Chris Hipkins, foreign affairs minister Nanaia Mahuta and minister for climate change James Shaw. Rabuka became prime minister last year after a tumultuous election, where his party People's Alliance were eventaully able to form a coalition with the Social Democrat Liberal Party. Back home, Rabuka is dealing with an unprecedented economic crisis, with the World Bank reporting that the country’s debt levels reached 90% of GDP last year. Rabuka has conceded that the new coalition government’s first budget, due to be released on June 30, will not be a popular one. Hipkins has also been offered chance to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv when he attends a NATO summit in July.
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Nearly all of Wellington’s council flats have no sprinklers
As Tom Hunt reports for The Post (paywalled) this morning, only one block in one of Wellington City Council’s housing complexes has sprinklers. An urgent review of multi-level, higher-density buildings of greater than two storeys that provide commercial accommodation options found 25 similar to Loafers Lodge. The list of buildings without sprinklers has not been publicly released. Wellington mayor Tory Whanau says she will support any legislation making it compulsory to retrofit the buildings with sprinklers. Fire and Emergency finished their investigations into the Loafers Lodge fire, where five people lost their lives, and have handed the building back to its owners.
Click and collect
Consumer NZ has received 160 complaints about supermarket specials in the last two months
A seventh councillor expresses no confidence in Let’s Get Wellington Moving while one of the city’s cycleways wins international award despite complaints about it here
Another exciting new face has filed the paperwork for a bid at the 2024 Republican presidential nomination
In case you missed it: all the big King’s Birthday gongs, in 10 deep breaths, plus Sir John Key on titles as a rite of passage for former PMs and not looking at “comment boxes on websites”
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
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The changes to elections have not included the most important democratic need ...a vote that counts and we need to get rid of First Past the Post in any level of government elections . IT IS NOT A FAIR VOTING METHOD.