On Monday 23 March, Hon Dr Duncan Webb and Dr Vanessa Weenink MP hosted around 200 influential thinkers from various backgrounds at a cross party forum at Parliament. The purpose was to share ideas about how to ensure our democracy is preserved and enhanced.
Themes included participation, Pacific democracy, open government, inclusion and cohesion, access to power, and the democratic process. Hon Duncan Webb envisioned that this forum would focus on issues that really matter in protecting our democratic framework in an increasingly threatened environment.
The threats are well known: populism for its own sake; poor political tricks including the use of urgency and fast track legislation to avoid public participation; foreign interference in democratic processes; the uneven influence of those with large pockets on decisions around the allocation of resources and on health decisions; and attempts to weaken the ‘separation of powers’, so necessary for a healthy democracy.
The forum delivered, with many robust discussions in panel sessions and during the breaks. The participants felt renewed energy to take on some of the gnarly issues - how to achieve an Inclusive and cohesive New Zealand, the effectiveness of the Official Information Act, Pacific indigenous forms of leadership, lobbying transparency, and how to improve integrity in Parliamentary processes.
Transparency International New Zealand was active at the forum with Anne Tolley leading a panel session on Public Access to Power and Philippa Yasbek leading a session on Open Government. Session leaders also included Political Scientist Bronwyn Hayward, Helmut Modlik, Tumu Whakarae of Ngāti Toa, highly respected Pacific experts Toleafoa Alfred Schuster and Caren Rangi, and democracy expert Simon Wright.
Forum attendees heard keynotes from Hon Phil Goff, Hon Christopher Finlayson KC, and Dr Stephen Rainbow. Each offered practical proposals for improving the status quo. Recordings of these are available at these links:
