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Hapū Seek Ocean Status
Taranaki iwi/hapū are making a bid for recognised legal authority and regulatory control over coastal and marine areas, particularly in relation to fisheries management. READ MORE
Leadership Failure: Co-Governance of Resources Being Entrenched
Fiona Mackenzie contends that New Zealand’s political leadership is failing to openly debate and scrutinise co-governance arrangements, allowing them to become entrenched across resource management, including the DOC estate, without a democratic mandate. READ MORE
The Crown versus the People: Reclaiming New Zealand’s Democratic Story
Roger Parrtridge, chair of The New Zealand Initiative, argues that the Supreme Court has overstepped its constitutional role by rewriting statutory obligations that Parliament deliberately chose not to impose, undermining legal certainty and democratic accountability. READ MORE
Reynold Macpherson: Te Arawa 2050: Who Decides, Who Pays, and Who Is Accountable?
Former Rotorua councillor Reynold Macpherson, citing the Te Arawa 2050 co-governance committee, points out that partnership arrangements built without clear limits, accountability, or cost discipline risk displacing democratic decision-making and imposing unaffordable priorities on ratepayers. READ MORE
Steven Gaskell: Greens Push to Lock in Māori Seats Because Some Votes Need Extra Protection
Steven Gaskell argues that the Greens’ proposal to entrench Māori seats would undermine democratic equality by shielding a race-based electoral arrangement from future voter and parliamentary choice, advancing constitutional change incrementally without a clear public mandate. READ MORE
Geoff Parker: Why Hipkins’ Treaty Romanticism Divides New Zealand
Geoff Parker accuses Hipkins of hollow moral posturing: using borrowed Māori concepts and feel-good rhetoric to signal virtue and reassure certain audiences, while deepening fractures by rejecting the foundational principle of equal citizenship under one law in favour of ethnic power-sharing and perpetual identity politics.
Wellington Knows Best?
"New Zealand needs stronger, not weaker, local democratic accountability, such as binding referendums on major spending decisions”, argues Nick Clark. READ MORE
Legality Is Not Legitimacy: How Lawful Appointments Can Erode Public Trust in New Zealand
Zoran Rakovic explains how political appointments, revolving doors, and institutional trust shape New Zealand’s standing and democratic confidence. READ MORE