Red Alert

Archive for the ‘#OpenLabourNZ’ Category

Open and shut

Posted by Clare Curran on February 7th, 2012

Every time there’s a new government elected, each of the Ministries and departments provide their new Minister with a briefing on the policy issues and decisions required in their portfolio. They are called Briefings to Incoming Ministers (or BIMs)

This year, some Ministers have chosen to withhold (or redact) substantial amounts of information in these briefings. The MFAT and Communications and IT portfolios are two examples. There are more.

To understand the importance of the BIM and the basis upon which information is withheld from public scrutiny it’s worth reading this thoughtful post from Lawyer John Edwards:

Briefings to the Incoming Minister – Going Backwards From Openness to Secrecy?

In the months leading up to a general election, officials start preparing their Briefing to the Incoming Minister (BIM).  In the months after the general election, these BIMs start getting released.

There are no strict rules about what goes into a BIM, and no special provisions about how or when they are released.  They are produced under a convention recorded in the Cabinet Manual that “when a new Minister is appointed, the chief executive of the department concerned must ensure that, as soon as the Minister takes up office, he or she is briefed on the department and the portfolio”.

They range in size and approach, from a comprehensive stocktake of what is happening in the department or Ministry to a manifesto of the ideological drivers of the officials favoured approach to the particular policy.

Edwards advises that:

Anyone who is interested in seeing more of the BIMs than the Government has seen fit to release should simply write to the Minister concerned, and if they stick to their predetermined position about the deletions, ask the Ombudsman to investigate.  Perhaps then we will have a clearer idea about the expectations next time around.


Hayden Munro

Posted by Trevor Mallard on February 5th, 2012

Hayden is one of those doing some thinking about the future direction of progressive politics in New Zealand. Patrick on Progress Report has published a series of three blogs that are certainly worth a look.

One. Two. Three.


Is Amy Adams’ work programme a state secret?

Posted by Clare Curran on February 2nd, 2012

I’ve been looking forward to taking on Amy Adams, the new Minister of ICT. I’ve been impressed by her no- nonsense approach to things and her obvious intellect.

I was hoping for an opponent on the other side of the House who would grasp that technology had the capacity to transform our economy. I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope that she’d take seriously the importance of the social objectives of providing more access to technology, other than to pay lipservice, which is pretty much what Steven Joyce did.

But I was pretty appalled today to receive the incoming briefing document from the Ministry of Economic Development to the new Minsiter, which sets out all the major policy issues that lie ahead and provides a list of the pending decisions and actions over the next six months.

Great tracts of the former (policy issues) were removed from the document under the Official Information Act.

When it came to the decision and actions required over the next six months, there was a gaping two page  hole in the document.

VOTE COMMUNICATIONS: BRIEFING FOR THE INCOMING MINISTER 2011

MED1245438 Page 22 of 34

MED1284612

PENDING DECISIONS OR ACTIONS REQUIRED IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS

[Withheld under sections 9(2)(f)(iv) and 9(2)(g)(i) of the Official Information Act 1982]

blank blank blank………

I’ve talked to a few industry people about this today. It’s unprecedented I think. Highly unusual and you’ve got to ask what on earth is so secretive about Minister Adams’ workplan and pending decisions that they all need to be kept secret?

Remember this is taxpayers money that funds Vote Communications. The signs are not good that the taxpayers will get the opportunity to scrutinise how their needs are best being met.

The intro by MED to the briefing reveals that the three big issues are these:

  • The roll-out of the Ultra Fast Broadband and Rural Broadband initiatives
  • The free-up of 4G wireless frequencies
  • Cross sector ICT initiatives in the public service

What can be so sensitive about these issues that the discussion and debate around decision-making can’t be held in public.

The previous Minister Steven Joyce maintained an arrogant and unresponsive approach to the public, and now it appears that Amy Adams may do the same.

When you make something secret you should have a good reason.  The public must be reassured that decisions being made by this Minister are not favouring commercial interests over the public good.

Hopefully an OIA will shine some sunlight on this.


Become an MP – lose your right to comment on policy

Posted by Trevor Mallard on January 11th, 2012

I’m slowly working my way back from the summer break. Not spending much time looking at blogs but had my attention drawn to one by a green who uses the psudenom Zetetic on the Standard.

He starts off by stating the obvious – that the next Labour government must focus again on employment – but then denies the right of members of the Labour Party to have policy ideas on how do do some things better and to discuss them.

He doesn’t like the idea that I suggest it is worth thinking about the tax benefit interface as we develop policy. And that every now and again I link to speeches and articles that have a different approach.

He suggests a conspiracy with John Pagani who I haven’t seen for nearly a month and haven’t had a conversation with for three.

And he suggests that Labour MPs should only be allowed to have one post a week. Channelling Whaleoil.

Well I’ve got news for Zetetic – people in Hutt South elected me and they didn’t do it with the expectation that a person who prefers to be anonymous would dictate what I say and how often.


Inside the sausage

Posted by Clare Curran on January 4th, 2012

I’ve had a bit of contact with Birgitta Jónsdóttir. Would like more. She’s an advocate for open government. And I agree with her view that it is essential to make” the process of lawmaking more transparent and accessible for everyone who cares to know or contribute”.

Birgitta is an advocate for more direct democracy and some of her views are quite radical. I think they’re worth thinking about and discussing. I think the way we practice politics needs to change. I’ve never made a secret of that. It’s threatening to politicians and the parliamentary structures. But while there’s a lot of good in our existing structures, and most MPs work damn hard and are committed to what they do, there’s also a lot of bullshit that goes on.

People know that. I agree that MPs need more direct accountability. The review of MMP will no doubt throw up a few ideas. Constitutional change is inevitable in New Zealand. It’s a matter of when.

Having a real debate about how we could improve our democracy for New Zealand’s sake is surely a good thing.

Here’s a start. Birgitta wrote this piece in The Guardian in November 2011

The Dutch minister of internal affairs said at a speech during free press day this year: “Law-making is like a sausage, no one really wants to know what is put in it.” He was referring to how expensive the Freedom of Information Act is, and was suggesting that journalists shouldn’t really be asking for so much governmental information. His words exposed one of the core problems in our democracies: too many people don’t care what goes into the sausage, not even the so-called law-makers, the parliamentarians.

If the 99% want to reclaim our power, our societies, we have to start somewhere. An important first step is to sever the ties between the corporations and the state by making the process of lawmaking more transparent and accessible for everyone who cares to know or contribute. We have to know what is in that law sausage; the monopoly of the corporate lobbyist has to end – especially when it comes to laws regulating banking and the internet.

The Icelandic nation only consists 311,000 souls, so we have a relatively small bureaucratic body and can move quicker then in most countries. Many have seen Iceland as the ideal country for experimentation for new solutions in an era of transformation. I agree.

Iceland’s experience is fairly extreme. But their response to crisis has some lessons for us all.

I like the analogy of the sausage. Especially given it’s summer and we’re all eating a few no doubt


UK to review applicability of their FOI to ministerial communications

Posted by Trevor Mallard on December 30th, 2011

In New Zealand there is no doubt that emails or texts between, to or from Ministers even to and/or from private email addresses or phones are not protected from the OIA. The issue is to be considered in the UK after what some consider a surprise ruling there.

MPs are planning to consider whether freedom of information requests are being too widely granted, following a ruling that they should apply to private emails and even text messages between ministers.

The chairman of the public administration committee, Bernard Jenkin, is understood to be considering a select committee inquiry next year in the wake of the recent ruling by Christopher Graham, the information commissioner.

Graham ruled that information held in private email accounts by public authorities can be subject to FoI law if it relates to official business.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ

Re-thinking Red Alert

Posted by Clare Curran on December 29th, 2011

As signalled in a previous post, I’m having a bit of a re-think about Red Alert. In particular, how to build on its strengths and address some of the issues that have arisen in the last couple of years.

In the last term of parliament, Red Alert was a bit of an experiment in how NZ Labour politicians could communicate directly with the public and have some honest conversations about policy, issues of the day and expound our thoughts in general.

It was a bit ad hoc, which was largely a strength as the blog is pretty widely acknowledged as being real and honest. The voices on Red Alert are MPs. They aren’t paid staff. That should continue.

However, there’s always room for improvement and here’s a few preliminary thoughts from me. I welcome your constructive  input.

I’ve been given a new portfolio called Open Government, perhaps a first for any major political party as a formal portfolio. I’ve been doing a bit of research  and will write a piece in the next couple of weeks about the portfolio, its importance and what it can achieve. It’s unusual to have an opposition portfolio which doesn’t match up to a Government Ministry.  It should be noted that the National Government is most unlikely to actively promote open government, despite Bill English doing some good work in pushing for more open data in the public sector. Red Alert will be a vehicle for demonstrating how a Labour Government would promote Open Government.

Red Alert is no longer an experiment. It’s now part of the fabric of political discourse in this country. It may have also changed things a bit. I’d like to see Red Alert and Labour’s strong presence generally in social media become more focussed. As I see it our purpose is two-fold.

First, to continue to engage in direct conversation with New Zealanders about our thoughts and ideas. Second, for the medium to be a tool to build campaigns.

I’d like to see us concentrate more on the second. It will require more effort to work collaboratively across the political spectrum with those we can work with. It requires building more skills. And tolerance of differences.

However, there are some challenges. The biggest, as I see it, is  those who would deliberately use underhand and hostile tactics  to undermine attempts to demonstrate open-ness and a different way of engaging with New Zealanders. Red Alert’s tolerance will not extend to them.

Honest debate and disagreement is one thing. It’s an important part of democracy. Personal attacks, abuse and pack behaviours designed to destroy new voices and new ideas and a different way of engaging are another.

Red Alert is a vehicle for Labour’s caucus to communicate directly with New Zealanders. We know and welcome the scrutiny and sometimes criticism from the mainstream media. We also welcome the engagement with bloggers and commentators in the new media environment provided by the internet.

I believe that there should be consistency with new media  in the rules and protocols applied to mainstream media. Red Alert is just one of those new mediums. We are not journalists. Nor should we ever presume to be. But we have responsibilities in how we communicate. And we can show an example.

The voices on Red Alert are of elected politicians. People who believe that the only way to make change happen is to make it happen. I believe that that if politicians are seen to do things differently, then New Zealanders can begin to have more faith in us.

It’s worth considering that around a third of eligible New Zealanders didn’t vote in the last election. For any party. That’s something we should all be grappling with.


Shearer’s first speech as leader

Posted by Clare Curran on December 13th, 2011


Posts

Posted by Clare Curran on December 13th, 2011

On Red Alert have been a bit light in number over the last few weeks. We’ll resume transmission soon.


Leadership results

Posted by Trevor Mallard on December 13th, 2011

In the first contested election since the early 1990s David Shearer and Grant Robertson have been elected as Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

Chris Hipkins and Darien Fenton are the Senior and Junior Whip and Clare Curran is the Caucus Secretary and rep to NZ Council.

I might do a more considered post at some stage about the process but that requires more thought.


David Cunliffe

Posted by Clare Curran on December 6th, 2011

Cunliffe

I want to bring about positive change in Labour.  Change to the way we look, change to how we work, and change in who we have been talking to and why. Our programme is one of significant modernisation and rejuvenation, which will be driven by our entire caucus. I have the skills, the vision, the plan and the Deputy to achieve this with you.

Here are the principles that would guide my leadership. First, our mission is to serve New Zealanders, not ourselves. Second, Labour must be true to its core values as a social democratic party. Third, we must rebuild a modern Labour Party together. Finally, we must create a winning team with integrity and purpose.

In order to achieve this we must earn the confidence of New Zealanders. We must reach out to communities we have lost touch with. The loss of votes in 2011 to other parties shows we need to rebuild our relationship with working Kiwi families, including middle income earners and small businesses. We must be clear that women, Maori, Pasifika and those most disadvantaged in New Zealand should also feel that Labour is their political home. Labour is the party that will work hardest in their interests. Right now these people don’t think it is, and many did not turn out to vote.

If elected as Leader, my first priority will be to reunite the caucus and to build a winning team. We will do this by taking a principled approach to our mission, empowering every member of the Caucus to give their best, allowing their talents to shine, and supporting them with modern, professional management systems and effective resources.

I will work in cooperative partnership with the broader Labour Party to modernise party and caucus structures and processes to best support a dynamic team fitted for victory in 2014. Expertise in and around Labour can assist us to build a capable political organisation that is the leading force in New Zealand politics. We must renew and rebuild our organisation from the ground up to ensure a strong presence throughout New Zealand, including in our provinces and rural New Zealand.

I will bring about a new era in Labour, one built on our founding values but also one that is more modern, agile and responsive to the New Zealand of today and tomorrow. I will lead a Labour Party that looks and feels like New Zealand, is true to our core values, that is reunified and rejuvenated and that will win the confidence of New Zealanders in 2014 to serve with purpose, integrity and passion.


David Shearer

Posted by Clare Curran on December 6th, 2011

Shearer

I joined Labour in 1984 because our party is the primary force for progressive change in New Zealand.

I’ve spent my life working on inequality and fairness here in New Zealand and overseas.

When it comes to taking New Zealand forward and widening the net of opportunity, Kiwis have always looked to Labour, because Labour wants opportunities for you to make your life better tomorrow no matter where you live nor where you start.

But our success as a political movement hinges on our ability to build and retain deep connections with New Zealanders.

And if we are honest, we have to accept some of our connections to communities have frayed over time, and we need to renew them.

We need to act urgently to rebuild, and especially in places where New Zealand deserted us in huge numbers at the last election.

For our vision of renewal in New Zealand to be credible, we must be prepared to renew our party first – as we did when Helen Clark and David Lange led Labour back to government.

I want Labour to be a big tent, the voice of New Zealanders’ hopes and aspirations.

So we must offer our families and our communities a future full of potential, where they can achieve their hopes and dreams. I want our businesses to look to the Labour Party as the party that can best help them prosper.

Today an authoritative report was published showing the gap between New Zealand’s rich and poor has widened more than in any other developed country during the past 20 years.

It shows emphatically that increasing wealth doesn’t automatically trickle down, and so many of our young are locked into poor opportunities.

As the report showed, the most powerful tool to bring every New Zealander into the circle of opportunity is to give people skills, starting with children before they even start school and all the way through to work.

Opportunity for all is the immutable clause in Labour’s contract with New Zealand families.

We must not budge from this, and under my leadership we will not.

But I am asking your support to lead Labour because I will lead change and renewal.

I’ve worked in extreme pressure – sometimes life-threatening. I’ve built teams, led sensitive political negotiations in some of the world’s most dangerous places, and renewed  services like schools, hospitals and power stations with a multi-billion dollar budget.

And I will bring these skills to lead Labour back to Government.


Grant Robertson

Posted by Clare Curran on December 6th, 2011

Grant

For me this leadership contest is about putting together the team that can win the 2014 election. It is only through winning that election that we can put in place the programme that will see the Labour values of fairness, equality and opportunity for all become a reality.

In my time as a member of the Labour Party I have done everything from being a branch member to being an MP.  I have always tried to act in what I believe to be the best interests of the Party and the people we work so hard to represent.  It is in that spirit that I am putting my name forward as Deputy Leader in this contest.

While we face significant challenges as we acknowledge our defeat at this election, this is also an opportunity to rebuild our party, both inside and out, and to be an active participant in our communities.  I believe that our approach needs to be equal parts organisation and inspiration.

In terms of organisation I welcome the announced review of the Party.  Our core values endure, I believe we have a strong policy platform, but we must look afresh at all aspects of our organisation. Some specific issues we need to address are the recruitment and nurturing of talent, particularly women, in the party and the process for selecting candidates both in constituencies and on the list.

From this base, we move from organisation to inspiration. We must listen and connect or re-connect with a wide range of New Zealanders. We need to hit the road and hear from New Zealanders about their hopes, dreams and show them that Labour is on their side.

Our campaign must begin immediately.  The first steps are to enrol, engage and inspire the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who did not vote at this election.

In politics I believe there are two fundamental emotions, hope and fear.  There is much to be fearful of in the agenda of a visionless government that will see off our future and see the gap between rich and poor grow.

Where I believe Labour must do better is in inspiring New Zealanders. We must give them hope. Hope that we have the people and the plan that will support them in achieving their dreams, and look after them when they fail. Hope that we will make sure they get a fair go and that we will celebrate their success.

I believe I have the experience and political nous to make sure that our message is heard.  I know that I can hold my own and best any of the National frontbench in Parliament and on the hustings. I believe I can connect and empathise with the wider NZ public. I can help unite the Caucus around our vision of a New Zealand as a country where everyone, no matter who they are is given the chance to achieve their potential and play their part in our success as a nation.


Nanaia Mahuta

Posted by Clare Curran on December 6th, 2011

nanaia

Teenaa Koutou. Like many, I love Aotearoa and I am passionate about our people, our diverse communities, our cultural identity as a nation and our natural heritage.

I was raised in the small town of Huntly. During those early years the major source of employment were the coal-mines, the Huntly Power station, AFFCo freezing works and the Railways. Our community was hardworking and they suffered under the 1990s drive to privatize SOEs. That’s why towns like mine looked towards community led solutions and better educational opportunities to get ahead and make a living. I believe that a strong platform of investment in education, skills and training makes all the difference for many hard working families.

Our communities are diverse. We need to harness the creative energy of all our young people so that they can contribute to a thriving and vibrant new economy. Better paying jobs in new industries must be articulated in policies that optimize the potential of our young people, drive science and innovation, r&d investment and look towards our export potential.

Young people are thinking in a different space where the new economy is critically linked to better environmental stewardship. Green growth, renewable energy generation, alternative fuel, clean-tech solutions, and labour intensive green jobs are a natural range of policies for a progressive Labour movement. For Maori, the concept of kaitiakitanga is strongly felt and can be complimentary to this different way of doing things.

To say that New Zealand is a great place to live, inequality and child poverty must be tackled head on. It’s my strong view that we must look for new and dynamic solutions. The Labour model for growth and wealth creation is just as important as sharing prosperity through better paying jobs for our people. Getting people into good paying jobs lifts families out of dependency. We have to look for solutions that are more targeted and support families towards transformative change. That will mean a greater emphasis on front-end investment where the benefits will be gained over time rather than immediately. This will mean that the old guard of economic thinking must go. This means a strong emphasis on job rich, high skilled, high paid employment for everyone.

I fully support an organizational review which can energize a new wave of Labour membership to join our “party of ideas”, mobilize activism at a community and regional level, build organizational infrastructure to mount campaigns and attract funding support. It seems that this would be followed by a constitutional review to revisit that way “we do things” against expectations of what it takes to sustain a modern political organisation.

I want to make a contribution to a Labour leadership team to reset our compass, to move forward with energy, conviction and passion for the people we serve. The aspirations of Maori, Pacifika and Ethnic communities are at a critical juncture. The values of Labour assure us that there is space for diverse communities to see themselves reflected not only in the party, but really helping to steer the Labour waka in a purposeful direction where there is a clear choice for change where everyone benefits!

Kia Ora Nanaia.


Taking the leadership contest to Red Alert

Posted by Clare Curran on December 6th, 2011

I am about to put up a post from each of the contenders for leadership and deputy leadership of the Labour Party.

The posts will be in my name and will moderated by myself, Trevor, Chris Hipkins and Darien Fenton. Moderation will be tight.

I will flip a coin to determine the order in which each of the leadership contenders and deputies are posted.

The contenders will be invited to participate in comments on their posts.


Blog psychology on leadership

Posted by Trevor Mallard on December 2nd, 2011

Interesting to watch the line of the right on the Labour leadership.

Faux support for one candidate.

Is it because they think the Labour MPs will be put off. Or don’t recognise a double play.

But of course we will just ignore them.


The importance of a contest

Posted by Clare Curran on December 1st, 2011

I’ve been watching with suprise and growing excitement the unfolding contest for the leadership of the New Zealand Labour Party.

Everyone has an opinion. There are hundreds of comments on Trevor’s Red Alert post(s). I haven’t managed to read them all yet. There’ve been polls taken on TVNZ’s Close Up. There’s been talkback discussions.

Some of the contenders have appeared on national radio and television shows. There have been countless articles written by commentators and reporters opining on the merits of this or that combination.

Labour Party members are demanding involvement in this process and a series of leadership forums will be held around the country for party members to hear from the candidates and enable real discussions to occur.

It feels healthy.

The leadership will be determined by the 34 votes of the Labour caucus on 13 December. But those votes will have been informed by the countless discussions occuring in all forums. At my children’s school camp yesterday south of Oamaru  it was a hot topic and I was provided with various theories on the qualities of leadership.

It’s a contest. And people feel a bit involved.

There is a view that the process is too truncated. I agree it would have been good to allow time for more engagement. But let’s work constructively with what we’ve got.

I was selected by my party to stand for the seat of Dunedin South. I won the seat to represent the people of Dunedin South. In my party’s caucus I get a say in determining who should be the leader. That’s our constitutional process.

In the coming weeks I hope we’ll be taking a good look at our constitution and how it can bring more involvement by members in decision-making across the party.

But between now and 13 December we have a leadership contest. Let’s make it a real one.


Labour leadership

Posted by Trevor Mallard on November 29th, 2011

Phil Goff and Annette King have announced their intention to resign as leader and deputy leader of the Labour Party in a fortnight.

At some stage I will do a considered post to thank them and to highlight what I think are unreasonable expectations we place on political leaders in New Zealand.

There will almost certainly be a contest for both the leadership and deputy leadership.

Like most people I have a view, albeit preliminary. It is not the view ascribed to me by a colleague who thought they were anonymous when they spoke to the media.

I will be discussing the issue with Hutt South party members next week. Others are welcome to comment here or email me direct.

This blog gives the wider public a chance to express their views. It will be tightly moderated so please do your best to avoid editing or deletion. Remember we don’t moderate what you say but how you say it matters to us.

Most Labour MPs will read this. We will look for reasoning that is fresh rather than just names or copied comments.


Your comments on the campaign

Posted by Trevor Mallard on November 27th, 2011

The campaign, and in fact the last three years, has been tough. It has been pretty clear right through that leading a government was going to be a big ask but at times we looked tantalisiing close.

I want to say thanks to Phil who worked relentlessly when an enormous amount of shit was thrown at him and to a campaign team consisting of candidates, managers and thousands of activists who worked their butts off.

We have lost some incredibly talented MPs. Some will be back. And our caucus has some brilliant new additions.

We did some things well. There is plenty of room for improvement.

There will be plenty of internal post match analysis. This is a place for you to have your say.


Thanks

Posted by Clare Curran on November 25th, 2011

to everyone who has posted and commented on Red Alert since May 2009.

It’s an important forum for political discussion run by dedicated Labour politicians, committed to real, honest debates.

Red Alert has seen  some great ideas grow and innovative new ways of doing things. Policies have been developed and grown to fruition.

It’s been a collaboration between people and politicians.

Thanks to all colleagues for contributing and making it work. Thanks especially to Trevor and Grant for being the core Red Alert team and for their amazing work on our campaign.

Its been an intense campaign, and it has been great to have your support.

We have a simple message for tomorrow.

Vote for the future of all New Zealanders – vote to keep our assets, vote to end child poverty in NZ .  Two ticks for Labour.