8/14/2019 Binding referendums anyone?
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Steve Baron
Cambridge's Eye on Democracy
binding Referendums Anyone?
(507 words)
Thousand of New Zealanders, and at least one person from
Cambridge (me) participated
in the 'March for Democracy' up Queen Street in Auckland on the
21st November. They
were protesting because the government has ignored yet another
referendum and they
were calling for referendums to be made binding. While New
Zealand is indeed a
wonderful place to live, and certainly far more democratic than
most countries, our
democracy can always be improved.
In August of 2009, New Zealanders were faced with a citizens
initiated referendum,
Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal
offense in New
Zealand?. The purpose of this referendum was to repeal the
Crimes (Abolition of Force
as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Billwhich had
been introduced to
parliament by Green Party MP, Sue Bradford. Overwhelmingly,
87.4% of those who voted
answered 'no'. The Taupo (Cambridge) electorate took a very
strong interest in this
referendum with a higher than average turnout and a higher than
average percentage of
'no' voters than many other electorates. The trouble is, in New
Zealand, unlike Switzerland
where referendums have been in use for over one hundred and
thirty years, referendums
are not binding on the New Zealand government.
When the CIR Act was first being introduced there was much
comment and
discussion. Cabinet Minister Sir Douglas Graham said in
parliament in 1993,
The Citizens Initiated Referenda Bill gives the freedom to
engage the entire nation
in any topic of our choosing. . any Government that fails to
respect the outcome
of a non-binding referendum will have to convince us at the next
general election
that its decision was justified. It is my belief that we will
rarely witness by Parliament
the rejection of a referendum result.
The recent referendum was not the only referendum that has been
ignored. In the past we
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8/14/2019 Binding referendums anyone?
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have had a referendum to reduce the number of MPs to 99 with
81.47% agreeing, but the
government ignored it. There have also been others. Cabinet
Minister Murray McCully was
quoted back in 1992 as saying,
To those who want to step immediately to binding referenda, I
say that they will
have their opportunity when the legislation is in force to
express that view by themechanism that the bill will provide. In
other words, those who wish to promote that
referenda shall be binding will be able to initiate a
non-binding referendum to
demonstrate public sympathy for their view. I commend that
course to them.
Well this is exactly what is about to happen. Larry Baldock, a
former MP, is proposing a
new referendum to make referendums binding on the government.
Whether or not Mr
Baldock is successful in collecting the huge amount of
signatures required to trigger this
referendum remains to be seen. However, if New Zealanders want
this change then this isthere opportunity to get in behind the
referendum process by signing Mr Baldock's petition
to have a referendum, helping to collect signatures, voting and
putting pressure on our
politicians for change.
Steve Baron is an author, Founder of Better Democracy NZ, and
a
regular contributor to publications throughout New Zealand.
He
resides in Cambridge. [email protected]
www.betterdemocracy.co.nz
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