Guyon Espiner: New Zealand isn’t voting in 2024 but our democracy is still on the line
Guyon Espiner: "New Zealand, with one chamber of Parliament, no written constitution and no Supreme Court to strike down unconstitutional laws, has few checks and balances." Photo / Supplied
2024 is democracy’s biggest year ever. Four billion people, half the world’s population, will vote in 40 countries.
New Zealanders might feel a little smug at how “democracy” plays out in other countries.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s opponents were in jail or in their graves.
In the US, it’s a sequel of a movie that bombed last time: Donald Trump, who faces 91 felony charges, against Joe Biden, an octogenarian even his supporters believe is too frail for four more years as President.
But what of our own democracy? I’m reluctant to predict what will happen in politics this year. It was Winston Churchill who said, “Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year and to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.”
But, as Paddy Gower might say, we have issues.
In its first 100 days, the coalition government has demonstrated a casual disregard for democracy and evidenced-based policy.
Major reforms, including scrapping the Māori Health Authority and rolling back smoke-free laws, have been done under Parliamentary urgency, where the select committee process and public submissions are set aside.
Why the rush?
Urgency is necessary at times and all governments use it. But the average number of bills passed under urgency across an entire Parliamentary term is 10. This coalition passed 14 bills under urgency in just seven weeks.
The explanation for such haste, it seems, is that the policies were promised within 100 days - but this is a milestone with little relevance for New Zealand.