Democracy Should be a Big Election Issue in November

Opinion by Tony Orman

Democracy  is under siege from politicians and is involved in every facet of our lives, even the environment – and even fishing and hunting

Democracy is dying, in case you haven’t noticed.

It’s exemplified by governments’ – note plural –  increasing use of by-passing the select committee process. 

Select Committees comprising Members of Parliament sit and listen – or are meant to listen – to members of the public giving their opinion on proposed law.

So what has a perceived erosion of democracy got to do with the outdoors and environment and even down to fishing and hunting?

The answer is everything – so read on.

In 2017 former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer wrote a startling blog post expressing concern about the state of democracy in New Zealand. 

It surely should have been headline news but it wasn’t. Which raises a large question marks about the media’s competency and sense of responsibility. But I digress. 

Geoffrey Palmer’s statement was aimed at a National government, led by John Key.

Geoffrey Palmer had very good reason to be concerned for various issues around the National government led by ex-money trader John Key.

Among a number, one action by the government was totally unprecedented.

Almost eleven years ago, on April Fool’s day 2010, Nick Smith, then minister for the environment and government by pushing the ECan Act through Parliament, sacked the democratically elected Environment Canterbury (ECan) council and installed hand-picked sycophantic state commissioners.

Outraged

The move outraged the Law Society Rule of Law Committee which denounced the ECan Act as repugnant to the “Rule of Law”. Most were appalled.

But it went through pushed by National’s Nick Smith.

Involved was ECan’s failure to protect the integrity of the Water Conservation Order (WCO) protection, akin to a National Parks status, applying to rivers such as the Rangitata and Rakaia, both notable public salmon and trout fisheries.

The erosion of democracy underlies every issue – and the outdoors is no exception.

For example, in April 2016 Nick Smith was at his dictatorial best when he removed 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. The public’s democratic right to input was abolished.

The point is the merits or demerits of 1080 isn’t the issue.

The alarming aspect was the undemocratic way in which a dictatorial measure was installed rendering the public mute. 

I can recall making submissions on trout farming in the early 1970s where I was allowed to speak for an hour and then answer questions from MPs for half an hour. I made submissions to other Select Committees. To the Maori Fisheries Bill 1990 I was granted over an hour. In the same year 1990 to the Conservation Law Reform Bill almost an hour.

Full Steam Ahead

But the erosion of democracy was already underway and gathering pace. 

In 2004 the government’s ERMA review of 1080 was a “kangaroo court” with the vast majority of submitters restricted to only five minutes. It was a token gesture to consultation – lip service only.

The two big poison spreaders DOC and OSPRI had requested the review. That was a pointer to it being a farce. Not surprisingly the ERMA review in 1080 gave the poison the green light even before all public submissions had been heard.

The Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of New Zealand (CORANZ) expressed deep concern at the time, that parliament’s select committee democratic process was being undermined at the expense of the public giving submissions.

CORANZ Chairman Andi Cockroft made an oral submission to a select committee dealing with the Resource Management Act (RMA). 

After being beforehand, granted 15 minutes speaking time the chairman Labour’s Duncan Webb interrupted Andi Cockroft’s submission after five minutes and said the committee had heard enough thereby cutting the oral presentation short by ten minutes. Duncan Webb should have known better. He is a lawyer.

It was an insult to CORANZ – and to democracy.

MPs are Public Servants

Usually not acknowledged is that MPs are really public servants voted in to serve the public and the public interest. 

Calling our Prime Minister our leader is a misnomer. National’s John Key and Bill English, Labour’s Jacinda Adern and Chris Hipkins and the current PM Christopher Luxon were each simply the most senior public servant in NZ. 

The National government was voted out in 2017. 

But the new coalition government of Labour continued the government trend of diminishing democracy. 

Firearm law changes following the Christchurch March 15, 2019 mosque tragedy, were rushed through in just a few days. Over 12,000 submissions were considered in just two days – defying credibility and integrity. 

The hasty clumsy law targeted law abiding, firearm owning citizens. Criminals and gangs invariably with no firearm licence yet possessing illegal firearms, were ignored.

Also ignored was the blatant, incompetent way in which the offender an Australian terrorist, obtained his firearm licence, despite glaring inadequacies in his application.

Arrogance

The current coalition government has been brazen to the extent of arrogance  with its Fast Track Approval Act bypassing the select committee process. But it was nothing new in considering the last 50 or so years. After all in the late 1980s, the 4th Labour government known as Rogernomics, sold public assets at heavily discounted rates, to corporate friends without any consultation with the owners, the people.

Since Rogernomics, the tendency to skip public input has characterised governments and increasingly so to the present day. 

All governments of the last 50 years or so, have been guilty.

Back in 2011 a Victoria University study revealed that urgency motions were conducted 230 times on more than 1600 bills from 1987 (a year of a Labour Government) through to  2010  (a year of a National government). Staggeringly, over half the bills introduced to Parliament during that time were accorded urgency at least once in their enactment process. 

The Victoria University study pointed to a lack of justification, as another critical element of concern. 

Unjustified

“Reasons given for issuing the motion were consistently dubious and vague in their nature and, although valid motives cropped up sporadically, it was evident that a significant number of urgency motions passed were based on either freeing up the order paper or, occasionally, an element of something more sinister.”

According to one source, an analysis of parliamentary records, shows 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”. 

“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.” 

Deliberate Euthanasia?

There was no pause in the quiet euthanasia of intentionally ending the life of ailing democracy with a change of government in 2023.

“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 “urgency” motion is an extremely powerful mechanism at the hands of Parliament. Bills moved under it may be rushed through up to all stages in just a couple of days. Not only are extra-sitting hours permitted, but critical periods of consultation such as the select committee can be completely side-stepped. 

This means that chances for public input are extinguished and time for reflection and review by law experts is extremely difficult to the point of being impossible.

Misuse of “urgency” motions is nothing new in New Zealand’s Parliament. However “urgency” is a dangerous tool very vulnerable to hard nosed politicians who have little or no respect for the people and the public’s democratic rights.

The zeal of sitting government should never trump the importance of proper parliamentary and public scrutiny.

This year is election year. 

The erosion of democracy should be a key issue.

Footnote: Tony Orman has served on fish and game councils for 30 years and is a former president of the NZ Recreational Fishing Council, CORANZ and NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers.

Select Committee deliberating?