Not enough checks and balances to protect democracy in New Zealand

Democracy in New Zealand is being undermined by, amongst other factors, a lack of checks and balances on central Government as evidenced by the heavy-handed sacking of Environment Canterbury’s board and the rushed Auckland Super City legislation.

This was the conclusion made at the latest of the Do Something! series of seminars held at Victoria University on Tuesday night (last night, 2 June 2010) after presentations made by Sir Kerry Burke, Green MP David Clendon and Polly Higbee, Research Fellow at the NZ Centre of Public Law.

The seminar heard from Sir Kerry Burke that the decision taken this year to replace the elected representatives at Environment Canterbury (ECAN) with appointed commissioners and the passing of an enabling bill under urgency was a “full frontal Government assault on democracy”.

In setting out the context of the removal of the sitting ECAN representatives, including himself, Sir Kerry emphasised his view that ECAN had been caught in what amounted to a pincer movement consisting of central Government’s regard of ECAN as a political roadblock, the complicity of local mayors at surrounding local authorities and a false rural-urban divide around which rural interests have sought desperately to cling to power.

“The tussle for power has been about a resource grab,” said Sir Kerry. “There has been a good old fashioned gold rush to lock up the water resource. It may be odourless and colourless but people smell money in it”.

Sir Kerry said the Government’s handling of the ECAN sacking struck at the heart of the principle of “no taxation without representation”. “Democracy has been well and truly shot in the head, and now all we have is another creature of central Government in a country dominated by creatures of central Government”.

Speaking about Auckland’s transformation into a one-mayor city, Green MP David Clendon noted that the original Royal Commission report on reforming Auckland had been almost entirely ignored and that processes followed to impose institutional structures for the so-called ‘Super City’ have been “patently undemocratic”.

“The degree to which Auckland was ‘broken’ has been grossly overstated. What’s at stake now is a loss of the unique character of the distinct former cities of Auckland, whose cross-boundary issues were well on the way to being improved”.

David Clendon predicted that a ‘hidden agenda’ of privatisation of Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) in Auckland will emerge as a hot topic in the local government elections this year and in the 2011 General Election. He also predicted that the CCOs are likely to develop as independent silos which will act as “laws unto themselves” with dysfunctional consequences for Auckland.

Speakers agreed that more checks and balances are needed in New Zealand’s parliamentary system so that laws cannot be passed under urgency without more scrutiny and debate. The point was made that neither the ECAN sacking nor the legislation for structuring the new Auckland Council would have passed muster in Australia or the USA where federalist and constitutional principles limit the power of central government, and allow for more decentralised decision-making in those countries.

Attendees at the Do Something! seminar were urged not to sink into passivity on issues of local, regional or national importance where their voices should be heard. They were challenged to do something toward protecting New Zealand’s vulnerable democracy by voting in elections, participating in the select committee process and being vigilant of breaches of democratic legitimacy of the type spoken about by Sir Kerry Burke, David Clendon and Polly Higbee.

Presentations, audio and video interviews with the speakers for all Do Something! forums can be found at www.dosomething.org.nz

ENDS

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