by Ben Hope
On the face of it, it has nothing to do with outdoor recreation. However beneath the surface, it has.
The other day there was the announcement that the Broadcasting Standards Authority, (BSA), is to be banished – gone.
Minister for Media and Communications Paul Goldsmith made the announcement. It was just a ministerial announcement and that was that.
There was, no public consultation, nor select committee to respect the public’s views.
Irrespective of whether the government decision was right or wrong, it’s the authoritarian way it was done.
Democracy was shoved aside.
However democracy has been diminishing for quite a while. It is gradual and insidious. Politicians have always had a tendency to crave absolute power.
English Catholic historian, Liberal politician, Lord Acton famously said “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
In New Zealand, the rotting or routing of democracy suddenly surged over 40 years ago when the 4th Labour government taken over by neo-liberal zealots, sold public assets to corporate cronies without any reference to the owners i.e. the people. i
So it is not the first time – it has been happening for decades.
It is rather ironic that in recent years lawyer Geoffrey Palmer who was once a minister and briefly a prime minister in that 4th Labour government has publicly complained about New Zealand’s state of democracy.
However, in 2017 Geoffrey Palmer’s statement was aimed at a National government, led by PM John Key.
This is where the outdoors comes into the picture for former money trader and then prime minister John Key and his Minister for the Environment Nick Smith, backed in Parliament by sycophantic National MPs pushed through the ECan Act, sacking a democratically elected Environment Canterbury (ECan) council.
That was outrageously undemocratic. One critic labelled it akin to a “communist government state takeover.”
To add audacious arrogance to the sacking of Evan’s councillors was the Key government then replaced the previous people’s choice of councillors by a democratic election, with its own choice of sycophantic commissioners.
Repugnant
The move outraged the Law Society which said the ECan Act was repugnant to the “Rule of Law”. Most were appalled.
The trampling over democracy by Key and Smith was said to facilitate the expansion of dairying, particularly of the corporate kind, on the low rainfall plains of Canterbury and south Canterbury.
Worth noting is that corporates are always active in funding political parties.
The low rainfall meant strong demands for irrigation which would come from rivers such as the Rangitata and Rakaia, both notable public salmon and trout fisheries, both protected by Water Conservation Orders (WCO), a protection status comparable to National Park status.
In April 2016, during John Key’s tenure as Prime Minister, in April 2016 Conservation Minister Nick Smith basically said the public’s viewpoint does not matter when he abolished the right of local councils to consider and hear submissions on 1080 poison aerial drops and put the final and only say, with himself as minister. There was no select committee allowed where the public could voice their views on Nick Smith’s dictatorial opinion.
Arguments for or against controversial 1080 poison were not the issue.
The arrogance in denying the public’s right to an opinion and giving Smith, a conceited minister, sole power was audacious, arrogant and astounding.
There have been other numerous and increasing instances of recent governments steam rolling over democracy and the outdoors and environment have been squashed where the select committee process is deliberately not used.
Select Committees
Select committees are where Members of Parliament – fundamentally public servants paid from the public purse – hear the opinions of members of the public on proposed law. But select committees have now been rendered virtually redundant by successive governments.
The current coalition government has displayed absolute arrogance with its Fast Track Approval Act brazenly bypassing the select committee process.
Usually governments use ”urgency” as an excuse to bypass select committees.
According to one source, an analysis of parliamentary records, showed in the first term of John Key’s National government (2008–2011) there was “a high, and at the time, notable use of urgency, which often bypassed the select committee stage to pass legislation quickly”.
The source added “During the Ardern/Hipkins-led Labour government (2017–2023), urgent parliamentary procedures were used to pass legislation bypassing or shortening standard select committee, enabling swift action on urgent matters. Significant examples included bypassing select committee scrutiny for parts of the Three Waters legislation and in 2022, passing 24 bills under urgency, with several skipping the public submission process.”
Again outdoor recreation become inevitably sucked in.
The manner in which the firearm laws were rushed through in a few days, despite 13,000 submissions, by the Ardern Labour government following the 2019 Mosque shooting resulted in bad, ill conceived law that wrongly targeted law-abiding hunting and firearm people and ignored criminals.
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union wisely observed “excessive use of urgency motions has been a continual problem in Parliament for decades, but this doesn’t make it any more acceptable now.”
Rushed law is inevitably bad law.
So to the present government.
“The same National-led coalition government in New Zealand significantly increased the mis-use of urgency to pass legislation without select committee scrutiny, with over 30 bills bypassing this stage in the 2023–2025 term.”
The people are losing their democratic rights.
In contrast in Switzerland – population 8 million – the democratic power of the people is deeply embedded.
Switzerland’s !00 Days
In Switzerland, a group of citizens may challenge a law passed by Parliament if they gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. A national vote is scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law.
Is there a party out there who might pledge to install the Switzerland model into New Zealand?
The politicians will fight against it.
The political parties currently in Parliament will scream their opposition. Too bad, their despicable disdain for democracy has brought any such move upon themselves.
The Swiss model would be simple and easy to implement, because it is nonpolitical in that it embraces Parliament in total.
The malpractices of poor lawmaking and ramming ideologically unpopular or arrogant legislation on the voting public are common to governments of the last 50 years but particularly those since 2008 and both sides of the current political scene.
The greatest opposition will come from current politicians who crave for the power to satisfy their egos and of course serve their political donors. They have created a system where democracy is being alarmingly eroded.
Triennial general elections are the only times politicians have any semblance of accountability when the public is granted a brief flutter of questioning policies.
Then there is no guarantee they will honour their promises.
Governments need to be accountable throughout their three year terms.
Editor’s note: The Swiss model of democracy is explained in a book by Nelson author Amy Brooke. Google “Amy Brooke 100 days” which is still available.
The Swiss model really appeals given the abuse of power by governments particularly wiuth the Key/Ardern/Hipkins/Luxon regimes.
“Power’ is the incorrect word. Governments are elected to serve the public and the best public interest.
The article clearly spells out the creeping cancer. Thank you CORANZ
“100 Days” book on how the public can control politicians is a beaut. I got a copy and it is a book all Kiwis should read. Thank you.
The quote about absolute power and corruption of democracy is so true.
Centuries ago, the death of a democracy was often dramatic such as a dictator overthrowing an elected government and seizing power by force, at times violent. But today, it is different.
Instead, democracies in decline usually experience a slow erosion. Elections still occur, but once elected, the esconced government can start to wield an authoritarian hand.
And it is happening. It is assisted by an inept Main Stream Media who fail to report the offending.
MSM should be keeping governments to account but under the Ardern government there was a bribing and muzzling of the media. The media has never really recovered but at the same time, the MSM is big enough to stand up and restore credible reporting, shed bias and not be bought.
Corrupt practices by politicians pollute all areas of life including the outdoors which Minister Shane Jones sees ripe for exploitation, no matter the effect.
Rivers, firearm ownership, public lands 1080 poisoning etc., are all political in the effect.
The cause goes back to bureaucrats and MPs
There must be checks on their behaviour and motives.
I spent this morning conducting a comprehensive AI search on the Rakaia River NWCO, ECan’s nitrate emergency and the role played by regional and central government.
This led me to ask AI blunt questions such as who were seen as the most corrupt ECan Councillors and in a further question on the most corrupt Ministers.
My head is still spinning!
Of course AI answers can be incorrect
‘Without Trust We Cannot Stand’
Confucius told his disciple Tsze-kung that three things are needed for government: weapons, food and trust. If a ruler can’t hold on to all three, he should give up the weapons first and the food next. Trust should be guarded to the end: “without trust we cannot stand” . Confucius’ thought still convinces.
I’ve backed the Swiss binding referenda model for years.
If only a new political party would make it their major policy…..
Helen Clarke destroyed New Zealands democracy when she ignored the referendum to decrease the number of polititians.
How much of New Zealand is owned by New Zealanders, not a lot, democracy has been long gone, western world governments don’t want democracy, not to far of, the word Democracy will be nothing but a space filler, but don’t cry, this is what we all voted for, righ, a government that does what they think is best for the people, not what the people want or have been promised, here’s another word Promise, just a space filler,