NZ Centre for Political Research

I have had a look at the "engagement plan" that is being proposed by the government's Constitutional Review Panel and they don't seem to be planning to hold ordinary public meetings except with Maori.

Maybe I have got it wrong, but it does appear to be similar to the way the foreshore and seabed change was inflicted on us all.

How on earth do we make sure there is no new Treaty based constitution?

NZers invited to consider our constitutional arrangements
Friday, 15 June 2012
Press Release: Constitutional Advisory Panel


All New Zealanders will have an opportunity to contribute to a conversation about the country’s constitutional arrangements as a part of an engagement strategy released today by the Constitutional Advisory Panel. The Panel will invite New Zealanders to join the conversation when the engagement process is launched later this year.

The independent panel was appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Bill English, and the Minister of Māori Affairs, Hon Dr Pita Sharples, to hear from a wide range of New Zealanders. The Panel will report to the Ministers by the end of 2013 on what New Zealanders have told them and make recommendations.

The Panel’s co-chairs, Professor John Burrows and Sir Tipene O’Regan, said in a statement the plan will ensure that everyone will have an opportunity to make their views known to the Panel.

“We want to hear from those who know a lot about the constitution and from those who have not thought so much about it. The constitution belongs to the people. It is not something that belongs to a few experts.

The Panel feels privileged to have been appointed to support New Zealanders to have their say.”

Professor Burrows and Sir Tipene said the Panel will call for views on a wide range of issues, including the question of a written constitution, the role of the Treaty of Waitangi, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, and the length of the parliamentary term.

“It’s up to New Zealanders to tell us what they think. We don’t know where the conversation will end up, and we are looking forward to finding out.

We want people to start thinking about what they want to say when the process gets underway later this year.”

The engagement plan is in stages:

• Preparing the resources and building relationships that will form the foundation of the process.

• Building public understanding of New Zealand’s current constitutional arrangements.

• Engaging with a broad and diverse range of communities.

• Working with a cross section of New Zealanders to consider the views reported to the Panel

• Reporting to Ministers by the end of 2013.

The full engagement plan, the Panel’s terms of reference, and information about Panel members can be read on the Panel’s interim website: www2.justice.govt.nz/cap-interim/.

What is the role of the Panel?

As the Constitutional Advisory Panel, our main task is to:

establish a forum for developing and sharing information and ideas on constitutional topics and to seek the views of all New Zealanders including Māori in a manner that is reflective of the Treaty of Waitangi relationship and responsive to Māori consultation preferences.

The Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Māori Affairs are responsible for a Consideration of Constitutional Issues. They have appointed the Constitutional Advisory Panel as an independent panel to assist with the Consideration.

We will report to the responsible Ministers by the end of 2013 with advice on the constitutional topics, including any points of broad consensus where further work is recommended.

We are supported by a secretariat that is housed in the Ministry of Justice, as an independent unit.

What topics are going to be considered?

The terms of reference agreed by Cabinet contain the following topics:

Electoral matters:

• The size of Parliament.

• The length of term of Parliament and whether or not the term should be fixed.

• The size and number of electorates, including the method for calculating size.

• Electoral integrity legislation.

Crown-Māori relationship matters:

• Māori representation including: the Māori Electoral Option; Māori electoral participation; and Māori seats in Parliament and local government.

• The role of the Treaty of Waitangi within New Zealand's constitutional arrangements.

Other constitutional matters:

• Whether New Zealand should have a written constitution.

• Bill of Rights issues

Our task is to provide Ministers with an understanding of New Zealanders' perspectives on constitutional issues including any constitutional topics New Zealanders may raise throughout the citizen-driven engagement process.


Download the Terms of Reference [PDF - 82KB]

What's it got to do with me?

New Zealand's constitutional arrangements shape the relationships between you and the government. They are the arrangements through which we the people collectively govern ourselves as a democratic country. Full public understanding and participation is needed for enduring constitutional arrangements that reflect the values and aspirations of New Zealanders.

A key outcome of our work will be an informed conversation with and amongst New Zealanders about constitutional issues. We do not expect that the conversation will stop with our report: we trust that our work will contribute to and support the "long conversation" about New Zealand's constitutional arrangements.

We are committed to hearing from a wide range of New Zealanders, including a wide range of Māori, throughout the engagement. The role of the Treaty of Waitangi in our constitutional arrangements is one of the topics in the terms of reference. Any conversation about the Treaty must fully involve Māori, as Treaty partners.

Have any decisions been made?

Our job is to listen to a wide range of New Zealanders on constitutional issues, not make decisions. We will then report to Ministers on these views and on whether we recommend any further work in the light of what New Zealanders have said.

Any actual constitutional change would be a lot further down the track, after the Panel has reported.

How much will this cost?

The Consideration was allocated total funding of $2.1 million within Vote Justice, and $2 million within Vote Māori Affairs to support robust and inclusive engagement on constitutional issues.

We are committed to delivering our independent engagement programme and advice to Ministers within the funding allocated to our work.

Consider Constitutional Change Carefully
Tuesday, 27 March 2012, 10:24 am
Press Release: Maxim Institute

“Many people assume that New Zealand does not have a constitution or at least that it lacks a proper constitution,” says Dr Richard Ekins of the Faculty of Law at The University of Auckland.

New Zealand’s constitution is now officially under review. The government’s recently appointed Constitutional Advisory Panel will soon begin a programme of public consultation about our constitutional arrangements.

In advance of this consultation, Dr Ekins is giving a series of lectures hosted by the Maxim Institute aimed at preparing New Zealanders for the constitutional review. He will address the questions of what constitutions are and what they are for, what is distinctive about New Zealand’s constitution, and the principles to consider when contemplating constitutional change.

“A well-formed constitution creates, allocates and disciplines the exercise of public power,” says Dr Ekins. “There is more than one form of constitution, but any good constitution will help a political community live well.”

The review will consider a range of questions including the length of the parliamentary term, the size of Parliament, the constitutional status of the Treaty of Waitangi and the M?ori seats, and whether New Zealand should adopt a written constitution.

“For the review to go well,” argues Dr Ekins, “New Zealanders and their representatives must ask the right questions and think carefully about what our constitution is now, about what it should be in the future and about how and why it is reasonable to change the constitution."

Thanks, Amy. However, 'radical nutters'?? There has to be a stronger word than that!! Imagine if they had even a teeny weeny bit to do with running our country? One has to wonder at their thought processes. How can they even suggest we be like Bolivia? Perhaps we should send them Mike Butler's article.

I do hope the masses support John Ansell when he starts his campaign. Surely he will spell it out so that even the most densest person will understand the implications of what the Government is proposing with their totally biased Committee.

I don't think the constitution is an issue that most people understand, Nellie.

Yet it is obviously hugely important.

Have you read Mike Butler's blog on Bolivia? It is here: http://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.co.nz/2 ... model.html

This is the model that Margaret Mutu and the Iwi Leaders apparently want for the country.

They are clearly radical nutters!

Hear, hear, Amy. John Ansell is also running a concerted campaign. I'm wondering if the organisers should get together and have one big campaign instead of several separate ones and that way hopefully momentum and motivation will gather that much quicker and people will inspire each other to be vocal and mobile. I want to see marching in the streets because I think it has to be highly visible and with great numbers to have any impact on this disgraceful Government who clearly don't have the interests of the country at heart. They are more interested in themselves and staying in power. Let's shame our politicians into finally listening to the people.

That is a very informative article by Mike Butler.

It just shows how biased National is in pushing the Maori Party's agenda.

Why aren't National Party members rising up in opposition?

Is this going to be like the foreshore and seabed, where National MPs replace public rights with Maori rights?

All power to you Muriel to fight against the inflitration of racial bias in all areas of government, especially our constitution.

A colour blind state is indeed a necessary objective if this country is ever to succeed and prosper.

Mike Butler has prepared an excellent appraisal of the Constitutional Review carried out by a Parliamentary Select Committee in 2005 - see his Breaking Views blog "Be careful with the constitution" here: http://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.co.nz/2 ... roken.html.

He outlines how the committee found that our constitution is not 'broken' and does not need fixing.

Against that backdrop, the new constitutional review is simply designed to achieve the ambitions of the Maori Party to include the Treaty of Waitangi as a cornerstone within a new New Zealand Constitution.

We are inviting people who want to oppose this new Treaty-based constitution to register here: http://www.nzcpr.com/petition_CONSTITUTION.php.

We will be running an aggressive campaign to oppose a new constitution and to push for the total removal of race-based bias in government, phasing out divisive politics and policies that support race-based separation and or preference - removing Maori seats, race-based laws, and the Waitangi Tribunal.

The NZCPR is committed to public institutions being prohibited from discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on race, and will continue the fight for a colour blind state.

I would say they all are apart from perhaps one and what can he do on his own? It's an utter disgrace and I'm so disgusted with Deborah Coddington. I thought she had more sense but she's obviously been sucked in like so many and doesn't think for herself.

Everyone who cares about this country really must assist John Ansell in any way possible. Here's one man willing to go that extra mile and with his experience perhaps he really will do it but none of us can sit in our armchairs and leave it to others or tell ourselves there is nothing we can do because no-one will listen. People power works if you can get enough numbers and people up on their feet determined to make a difference.

Non-iwi Kiwis: don’t count on Coddington

Despairing at the racial bias of the Constitutional Advisory Panel, I emailed the one panellist I thought I could count on to stand up for the rights of the 85% of New Zealanders who are not Maori.

(And also, I hope, a large number of those who are.)

That panellist was Deborah Coddington.

I now realise I was wrong. I now realise that Deborah, like most, if not all, of the others, has been chosen for her pro-Maori bias.

http://johnansell.wordpress.com/2012/03 ... oddington/

Excellent Winston, and thanks Monica. I hope this makes the papers with big headlines. We will have to wait and see what our wishy washy Press do about it. Probably nothing. I'm so glad I voted for Winston and I hope he keeps this up and doesn't let it go away.

This anti - democracy stance also applies to the MMP review where we are not allowed to mention the Maori seats or the no. of MP's. This is a dictatorship of the Maori sovereignty movement and needs to be declared illegal. Shame on John Key and go Winston Peters - we need this ToW mumbo-jumbo completely exposed.



Peters Rejects National/ Maori Party Constitutional “Sham”
Tuesday, 13 March 2012, 2:13 pm
Press Release: New Zealand First Party

Peters Rejects National/ Maori Party Constitutional “Sham”

New Zealand First has told the Government it refuses to take part in the constitutional review organised by the National and Maori Parties because it is a “sham” designed to sneak Treaty of Waitangi “principles” into all laws governing everyday existence in this country.

Rt Hon Winston Peters today released a letter rejecting an invitation from Finance Minister Bill English and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to nominate a representative to take part in talks about the review.

“This is not a serious constitutional review aimed at giving people more say in our democracy, it is part of the coalition deal arranged by the National and Maori Parties.

“The Treaty of Waitangi will be the cornerstone of any constitution designed by these people and it means that every New Zealander will be subject to the irrational psycho-legal-babble that surrounds the Treaty’s mythical principles.

“The constitutional review will not help ordinary Maori who simply want jobs, good healthcare, education and housing for their families.

“It will become a gold mine for the Treaty travellers and the Bro-ocracy. The long suffering taxpayers of all races will face decades of expensive, politically correct, culturally sensitive, obfuscated mumbo jumbo.

“Every New Zealander should be very afraid of this constitutional review. Remember how these political parties sneaked off to the United Nations in the dead of night to sign up to a declaration of indigenous rights?

“Our proud democratic traditions mean nothing to these people. It’s all about a political deal in a back room,” said Mr Peters.

Where can we find evidence regarding the establishment and rationale of the Maori seats. As I understand, they were established during the nineteenth century to allow Maoris to escape the land ownership requirement in order to enroll as voters and I also believe they were initially established for a fixed period of time. It would be helpful to have sources to cite when making a submission.

Totally agree GW - getting rid of the Maori seats would be my priority!

This is an issue for the constitutional review so we should encourage everyone to put in a submission calling for the abolition of the Maori seats!

Well mostly Amy, but how about we get rid of an extra 7 and save us not only their salaries, but the huge cost associated with all racist base initiatives in this country..... But your point was well made....