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Posts Tagged ‘open and transparent government’

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

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, comms & IT, democracy
15 Comments

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.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, Red Alert, democracy
41 Comments

Talking about open govt

Posted by Clare Curran on November 18th, 2011

Grant and I had a few things to say outside parliament today as we announced the release of Labour’s Open Government policy.

Not a flash PR video. Just a couple of real pollies telling you how we want things to be. The Labour way.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, #ownourfuture, comms & IT, democracy
7 Comments

It’s time to be more open

Posted by Clare Curran on November 18th, 2011

It’s no secret that many New Zealanders are cynical about politics and politicians.

For three years, Labour has done its best to do things differently and try different ways to bring politics and people closer together.

Red Alert is an example of that. Phil Goff took his caucus out to regional New Zealand to reconnect with New Zealanders. Most Labour MPs regularly use social media tools to build stronger relationships with people.

Today, Labour released its first Open Government policy. It’s a first for New Zealand because it was developed out of an open policy making process involving New Zealanders.

In 2010 Labour trialled OpenLabourNZ, a new way of Labour engaging with communities to seek their input by using new technologies and methods to increase participation drawing on similar processes used in Australia, the US and the UK. This policy is the distilled outcome of OpenLabourNZ.

It commits to producing a comprehensive “Open Government Charter”, based on a set of principles developed by Labour MPs in consultation with members of the public. It’s an important start.

People deserve to know the democratic process around parliamentary law making is sound. Hence, transparency of political offices is the core principle in the Open Government policy.

We believe New Zealanders understand a balance must be struck between transparency and accountability, on the one hand, and the need for the provision of “free and frank advice” to guide effective government and to protect the security and commercially sensitive aspects of advice.

But increasing people?s trust in the political process can only be guaranteed by ensuring a more open government. We believe that wherever possible; open is best.

Today I released our Open Government Policy in Wellington with my colleague Grant Robertson, who has supported me and helped with its development. Many of my colleagues have been actively involved in taking this policy through to fruition today. I thank them. It’s a big step for Labour.

It’s the start of a change in the way government and politics is conducted. I think for the better.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, #ownourfuture, comms & IT, democracy
4 Comments

Thinking outside the square #4

Posted by Clare Curran on October 26th, 2011

Even Singapore is going in this direction. As a many other developed countries. Pretty important. Must be authentic and not window-dressing. Open government is best. As much as possible.

Singapore PM vows ‘more open’ government

(AFP) – 5 days ago

SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong vowed Thursday a “more open” style of government following two elections this year that showed Singaporeans wanting a greater voice in government.

Speaking to the newly convened parliament following general elections in May, Lee said the government will share more information, welcome different views, reach out to diverse groups, and engage citizens more closely.

His remarks followed two elections this year in which the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) saw its popular support significantly dented as voters voiced anger over key government policies.

Apart from soaring housing prices and a liberal policy on foreign labour, voters also voiced their desire for greater government transparency and more public consultation.

Much of the dissatisfaction was voiced through the Internet, which is harder to censor and is now playing a major role in shaping public debate in a country where the mainstream media is perceived to be pro-government.

“We have to take a much more open approach to government and to governance, the way we organise ourselves, the way we conduct our affairs,” said Lee, the son of modern Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew.

The government will “welcome different views, reach out to diverse groups including critics, hear them, exchange with them, pick up ideas from them, persuade them,” he added.

In the May polls, the PAP lost an unprecedented six seats out of the 87 at stake and its share of the vote fell to an all-time low of 60 percent from nearly 67 percent in the previous election in 2006.

During the presidential elections that followed in August, the PAP’s de facto candidate won by a slim margin. His three opponents were all critical of government policies.

In his speech to parliament, Lee said the government will “share more information with the public,” including investments made by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, one of two state-linked firms with stakes in several companies worldwide.

While not everything can be disclosed, Lee said that “wherever possible we will disclose more rather than less… We will review the rules and what we are putting out and I’m sure over time we will do progressively more.

“We need to engage citizens more in the decisions affecting them,” he added.

He said it was “necessary and healthy for our politics to adapt to changes in our society”, and it was important to stay in tune with the times, “because if you don’t adapt as a society goes, it’s brittle and one day it will break”.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, #ownourfuture
2 Comments

Integrity of parliament

Posted by Clare Curran on August 3rd, 2011

Simon Cunliffe’s piece in the ODT today is worth a read.

None of us are perfect but I reckon the integrity of the parliament is something to be valued.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, parliament
7 Comments

Joyce caught red handed

Posted by Clare Curran on August 2nd, 2011

Steven Joyce has been caught red handed and is now attempting to worm his way out of reference to privileges committee.

I hope Speaker of the House, Lockwood Smith, who is a straight shooter, can see though Joyce’s ploy.

Yesterday I laid a complaint with Lockwood over whether Steven Joyce deliberately misled Parliament by not revealing the existence of a crucial letter from Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds on the ultrafast broadband project. The letter made reference to the possible structural separation of Telecom. He denied seeing any correspondence on the issue.

This morning, two years after that letter was sent and 21 months after he responded in the negative to a written question by me, he issued a corrected reply.

What a coincidence that his corrected response comes just a day after I laid the complaint with the Speaker.

I find it breath-taking that Steven Joyce can show such cynical disregard for accountability and transparency for Parliamentary procedure. He is treating the entire process with contempt. Whether it’s the Labour Opposition’s right to receive a truthful answer to a question, or the parliamentary process to take its course once a complaint has been laid.

For these reasons I am releasing both my letter to the Speaker and Steven Joyce’s corrected answer (see below).

I hope the Speaker holds Steven Joyce to account for his deliberate obfuscation.

Subject: 15840 (2009) Published – Communications and Information Technology – Corrected Reply

Question: What correspondence, if any, has he received or sent, listed by correspondent and date, about possible structural separation of Telecom?

Portfolio: Communications and Information Technology
Minister: Hon Steven Joyce
Date Lodged:23/10/2009

Answer Text: I have not sent any correspondence about the possible structural separation of Telecom. I have received one letter from Telecom dated 6 August 2009 where Telecom indicated they understood the Government had a preference for Telecom to structurally separate. Officials advised Telecom at the time that this was not the case.

Date Received:02/08/2011

Here’s his original response to the same question:

15840 (2009). Clare Curran to the Minister for Communications and Information Technology (23 Oct 2009): What correspondence, if any, has he recieved or sent, listed by correspondent and date, about possible structural separation of Telecom

Hon Steven Joyce (Minister for Communications and Information Technology) replied: I have not received or sent any correspondence about possible structural separation of Telecom

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, broadband, comms & IT, parliament
5 Comments

Would we ever be brave enough?

Posted by Clare Curran on August 1st, 2011

Last year Labour embarked on the first attempt by a (NZ) political party to develop an open policy. OpenLabourNZ began the process of developing Labour’s policy on open and transparent government. It was an experiment, but it signaled a change in approach.

This is a step further. I believe it’s exciting and heralds a new way forward to bring people and politics closer together.

Icelanders on Friday delivered what may set the template for other governments: a crowdsourced constitution.

A group of 25 citizens presented a draft of the constitution to Iceland’s parliament. The group, which is made up of ordinary residents, compiled the document online with the help of hundreds of others. The constitution council posted the first draft in April on its website and then let citizens comment via a Facebook Page. The council members are also active on Twitter, post videos of themselves on YouTube and put pictures on Flickr.

Iceland’s original constitution was created in 1944 when the country gained independence from Denmark. The country’s economic collapse in 2008 prompted calls for a rewrite with checks and balances to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis. The draft was due before the end of July. It may be put to a referendum without the input of parliament.

Iceland may be ahead of the curve on using social media to inform its new government, but it is not alone: Earlier this month, volunteers at a series of hackathons at Stanford University created a site where Egyptians could discuss their proposed constitution.

Hat-tip @Teh_Aimee on Twitter

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, comms & IT, democracy
7 Comments

Can we work together on some things?

Posted by Clare Curran on July 4th, 2011

The internet was conceived on the ideas of equality and access. People sharing and making new things happen.

In the spirit of this, I participated in a panel discussion last Friday at NetHui in Auckland. The topic was  government and openness. What it might look like in 2020.

During the discussion I asked my fellow politicians on the panel, Nikki Kaye, National and Gareth Hughes, Green, if we could form a cross parliamentary group to see where we could find some commonalities on the important issues facing us in becoming more open.

They agreed. Our first meeting could be this week. We’ll keep you posted.

If you’d like to see the panel discussion click here

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, comms & IT, democracy, digital, internet
6 Comments

The Hobbit – We have a right to know

Posted by Carol Beaumont on May 24th, 2011

Great piece by Brent Edwards on Morning Report this morning. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport (scroll down to ‘Ombudsman backs Government secrecy over Hobbit deal’)

I listened and thought what has the Government got to hide?  $30 million of taxpayers’ money and an amendment to our Employment Relations legislation removing basic rights from all workers in the film industry under Urgency and therefore with no public input - surely we have the right to know why?

We have had a lot to say about this issue. Some examples – Darien Fenton’s April 2011 blog http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2011/04/12/hobbit-revisited/;  my January 2011 blog http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2011/01/06/honesty-and-the-hobbit//; Trevor Mallard’s  December 2010 blog http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2010/12/22/we-believe-in-the-right-to-unionise-some-people-dont/; Sue Moroney’s October 2010  blog http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2010/10/29/whos-next/ and Clare Curran’s  October 2010 blog http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2010/10/29/nz-law-brought-to-you-by-warner-bros/because it is an issue of sovereignty as well as an issue of (mis)use of tax payer money and workers rights.  Furthermore we are a long way from hearing the full story and there have been so many inconsistencies in what the Government has said throughout this whole sorry saga.

 For me the Hobbit saga is a clear example of the moral bankruptcy of John Key’s Government.   He still seeks to manipulate the facts as was evidenced by his appalling Budget speech which referred to Labour members as “Hobbit haters”.

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Filed under: Films, democracy, union, workers rights
18 Comments

WikiLeaks: sunlight the best disinfectant

Posted by Clare Curran on January 8th, 2011
This is the first of a few posts on WikiLeaks.

Labour is committed to a strong policy on open and transparent government based on core principles. One of those principles is that sunlight can, and should be, the best disinfectant.

In 2010, OpenLabourNZ was NZ’s first attempt to develop policy in an open way using online technology.

It would be foolish to say that all matters to do with policy-making and governing should be conducted in the open or available to public scrutiny. But Wikileaks has cracked open many issues that beg the question; why not be more open?

A disturbing new development reveals ongoing attempts to shut down WikiLeaks now involve an Icelandic member of parliament.

Salon, a US online news and entertainment website and the Guardian newspaper have reported that Birgitta Jonsdottir, Icelandic MP and former WikiLeaks volunteer, is fighting a US justice department attempt to get hold of her private messages on Twitter.

DOJ subpoenas Twitter records of several WikiLeaks volunteers

Last night, Birgitta Jónsdóttir — a former WikiLeaks volunteer and current member of the Icelandic Parliament — announced (on Twitter) that she had been notified by Twitter that the DOJ had served a Subpoena demanding information “about all my tweets and more since November 1st 2009.”  Several news outlets, including The Guardian, wrote about Jónsdóttir’s announcement.   

What hasn’t been reported is that the Subpoena served on Twitter — which is actually an Order from a federal court that the DOJ requested — seeks the same information for numerous other individuals currently or formerly associated with WikiLeaks, including Jacob Appelbaum, Rop Gonggrijp, and Julian Assange.  It also seeks the same information for Bradley Manning and for WikiLeaks’ Twitter account.

The information demanded by the DOJ is sweeping in scope.  It includes all mailing addresses and billing information known for the user, all connection records and session times, all IP addresses used to access Twitter, all known email accounts, as well as the ”means and source of payment,” including banking records and credit cards.  It seeks all of that information for the period beginning November 1, 2009, through the present.  A copy of the Order served on Twitter is here.

The sunlight in this case is on the DOJ’s intention, regarding the individuals named in the subpoena, and re Twitter, one of the world’s leading social media outlets.

I myself follow the WikiLeaks Twitter account and discovered this story a short time ago on Twitter.

My concern is whether there is an attempt to shut down, restrict or compromise the ability of a social media outlet to exist and for people who use Twitter to communicate freely.

I don’t think it will work. And I think that the attitudes of those in government regarding openness don’t necessarily reflect the attitudes of the people they represent. And it’s time for change.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ
21 Comments

Redefining democracy: Open

Posted by Clare Curran on December 4th, 2010

Two things struck me tonight as I watched the TV news.

First, the story about youth suicide with the clear message that if the community doesn’t, can’t, talk about it, then it will keep happening. Common sense to me.

Second, the Wikileaks story. The TV3 piece wasn’t a particularly definitive story. But the message seems clear.

If social democracy can provide leadership and guidance in how humans interact, then could we be more open, less afraid and cut out a lot of the bullshit. I might get moderated. I might be naive.

There’s too much cynicism about politics. It’s a sickness.

Today’s ODT editorial was good. Mostly. But I disagree that the world will be less safe by being more open.

People want open-ness. They don’t want spin, they want to be to be told what’s what. No matter who they are and where they live.

It might hurt. It might mean arguments. But it’s more honest.

If diplomacy means whispering about each other behind closed doors,  I’m over it.

Could we redefine democracy. People?

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, comms & IT, democracy
74 Comments

Judicial Inquiry into SCF now urgent – NZ Herald

Posted by David Cunliffe on October 20th, 2010

Fran O’Sullivan has written a very strong opinion piece on SCF in the  NZH here.

“The credibility problem that Feeley faces is that after four months investigating Hubbard’s smaller entities, he has still to make a decision on whether to file fraud charges against the SFO founder on that score.

When Feeley announced his initial Hubbard probe he went in with all guns blazing. But after several weeks of saying the SFO was close to making a decision, nothing has materialised.

Hubbard has major beefs with the process.

He has also taken issue with the way the statutory managers who have control of his own affairs as well as Aorangi Securities and other small entities are managing affairs. “It is like the way the Nazis treated the Jews; they grabbed all their assets under trumped-up charges. You have to wonder who the National Government will pick on next.”

There are too many layers of regulators, too may issues around the statutory management process, too many issues about the role of the Securities Commission, and frankly too great a contrast between the government’s handling of SCF and the plethora of other finance company failures, many with much more obvious concerns apparent to all.

One commentator to Fran’s piece says as follows:

“Just as intriguing. Why isn’t Feeley taking the same approach to Hanover, BridgeCorp, Hanover, Blue Chip, Hanover, Strategic, Capital & Merchant, and . Hanover? These are all prima-facie, far more obvious instances of self interested activity and related party dealings. Keep up the good work Fran.”

Or  is there something else going on?   Selective leaks from inside sources to settle old scores?  A sad attempt to bury a frail old man while he is still alive?

Of course we cannot know everything about SCF.  No-one does. 

Only a full, independant judicial inquiry can answer these questions.

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Filed under: Uncategorized, business, commerce, economic, economy, south canterbury finance
28 Comments

Open is the new black: new thinking

Posted by Clare Curran on October 16th, 2010

This afternoon at the NZ Labour Party conference there will be a new thinking workshop on OpenLabourNZ, Labour’s experiment in developing policy out in the open, involving anyone who wanted to participate.

The workshop will outline why and how OpenLabourNZ came about, what we did, the issues we encountered on the way, outline some of the main ideas that have been suggested and discuss what we do now.

A report has been produced bringing together all the material to date. Here it is. It’s pretty good. I hope you’ll read it.

Because the workshop hasn’t happened yet, I can’t predict the outcome. But here’s the basic premise:

Should government fear being more open and transparent?
Should the Labour Party fear being more open and transparent in the way it crafts policy?

No doubt there are some risks involved. But there are compelling reasons for more openness and transparency in politics and the way government engages with its citizens.

One of the most compelling is that while it might not be the natural inclination of government and many political parties to open up, it certainly is the inclination of the people they are elected to represent and to serve.

I’ll update this post later after the workshop. But this is new territory for Labour. It’s outside in policy. I hope we’ll use this experience to develop more policy. And I hope that out of this will come a damn good policy on open and transparent govt to take into next year’s election campaign.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, comms & IT, democracy
7 Comments

Can the Nats do “open”?

Posted by Clare Curran on October 6th, 2010

In 10 days at the Labour Party conference, a first cut at Labour’s policy on open and transparent govt will be discussed.

There’s been an attempt through OpenLabourNZ to generate real discussion and debate about all the issues that NZers  would like to see in such a policy. It’s been conducted largely online, but a public event in late August (livestreamed) allowed face to face discussion while hundreds beamed in from cyberspace.

A start.

The main thing is that the process has been open and transparent.

I’ve been musing about whether the National Govt has been thinking about this stuff. It seems they have a bit. Though just exactly what it all means is a bit of a mystery.

Computer World reported today:

The Government will announce its ICT plans later this week, after Cabinet signed off on Monday on “Directions and Priority for Government ICT”.

There are five key areas of focus:

- Cross-government leadership, based on the Ministerial steering group and a group of chief executives.

- More open and transparent data sharing.

- Integrated service delivery.

- Common capability and rationalised infrastructure, with the Department of Internal Affairs providing a central purchasing role for common capability.

- Efficiency and effectiveness. This will relate to the Treasury benchmarking study, known as Better Administrative Support Services, of shared services across 12 agencies.

Computerworld understands State Services’ strategic ICT role will be merged into DIA, which will lead ICT procurement.

Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy will make the announcement later this week.

That’s good. The cross govt leadership bit sounds especially promising. Though in order to be open, you kind of need to be “open”. And involve people. Wonder whether anyone’s been consulted. It all sounds a bit like “how to save money and get rid of people”.

And I wonder whether Steven Joyce is hiving off responsibility for the thinking part of his technology portfolio to Nathan Guy. Sounds like it. Not that important then.

If being open and transparent was really important, the PM would announce it.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ
5 Comments

Last chance to vote on OpenLabourNZ ideas

Posted by Clare Curran on October 3rd, 2010

Open Labour Logo

By 2.30pm Sunday, 7293 votes have been cast on 96 ideas on what Labour’s policy on open and transparent government should look like.

Those votes have been cast by 445 people who have registered at the ideascale site. If you haven’t already done so I urge you to register and cast your vote. To vote go here.

As previously noted, this does not necessarily mean they will end up in the policy, but we are taking your input seriously.

For each suggestion you can ‘vote it up’ (if you agree with it) and ‘vote it down’ (if you disagree). You can also leave comments on each suggestion. If you have a suggestion that isn’t there, you can add that too (please read through the existing suggestions so we don’t get double ups).

There were originally 63 ideas put up a week ago. Users have added extra ones.

We will close off the vote tomorrow midday-ish. After that a report will be compiled and a workshop on OpenLabourNZ will be held at the Labour Party conference in mid October.

Labour’s policy on open and transparent government will be released at some point after that.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, Labour Party, comms & IT, consultation, democracy, policy
13 Comments

Vote takes off for open govt ideas

Posted by Clare Curran on October 1st, 2010

Open Labour Logo

Well you know what? It appears that doing things a bit differently can have a positive impact.

In the last few days more than 6000 votes have been cast for 90 different ideas to help Labour form a policy on open and transparent govt.

I’m hugely pleased with the engagement on Ideascale. It’s a new thing we’re trying out. If you haven’t already, go and look at it here.

So far there’s been 90 ideas put up (63 of them came out of the work done to date and 27 ideas are new)

6305 votes (as of 1pm Friday)

388 people have registered on ideascale to vote.

If you haven’t done so already I urge you to. It’s your chance to have a say on what ideas you like and don’t before we close it off, write up a report and take it to the Labour Party conference for further discussion in mid October.

After that, a policy will emerge to take into the 2011 election.

As previously noted, your voted preferences will not necessarily mean they will end up in the policy, but we are taking your input seriously.

It’s been an interesting and exciting process and I hope a number of my colleagues will take it up and develop some of their own policy ideas in an open environment.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, Labour Party, comms & IT, consultation, democracy, policy
6 Comments

OpenLabourNZ: Vote for the policy ideas you like

Posted by Clare Curran on September 28th, 2010

Open Labour Logo

Thanks for all of your contributions to OpenLabourNZ so far.

The policy principles and the discussions under each theme have been put on the wiki here, and will be incorporated into the final report.

Through the process many different suggested actions have been received. We’d like you now to vote for those, so we can see which ones you consider are the most important for Labour to have in our policy. As previously noted, this does not necessarily mean they will end up in the policy, but we are taking your input seriously.

To vote, please go here

For each suggestion you can ‘vote it up’ (if you agree with it) and ‘vote it down’ (if you disagree). You can also leave comments on each suggestion. If you have a suggestion that isn’t there, you can add that too (please read through the existing suggestions so we don’t get double ups).

There are currently 63 suggested actions in total. You don’t have to vote for all of them, if you don’t have time, just choose the ones that are most important to you. The suggested actions are listed under each of their themes, so you might want to focus just on the themes that matter to you the most.

If you were at one of the discussion tables for a particular theme at the OpenLabourNZ event, it’d be particularly good to have your input, and any additional comments you’d like to add. Here are the links to suggested actions grouped under each them on the IdeaScale site:

These suggested actions will be listed in the final report, with the number of votes each received, so this is a chance to have your say. Voting doesn’t require a log in, and can be done in one click.

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Filed under: #OpenLabourNZ, Labour Party, comms & IT, consultation, democracy, policy
10 Comments

Systemic Market Failure?

Posted by David Cunliffe on September 22nd, 2010

When this country is in recession and Kiwi families are doing it bloody tough, I cannot bear to stand by and see rich and powerful private interests – whom I will not name at this point and this post is not about SCF – rorting the rules and using their clubs and networks to finesse processes.

It makes Godzone look like “the coldest banana republic in the world”.

For goodness sake interests associated with the Natural Dairy Crafar farms bid (potentially with Nat links) reportedly gave $200,000 to the National Party while the Natural Dairy application was still before the OIO and while National has a ministerial policy review underway. 

National should IMMEDIATELY reject that bid – otherwise what is left to separate this from complete corruption?  Brown envelopes?  Is David Garrett really the only sick or crooked puppy on the Govt benches? 

Was it OK for the OIO-overseeing Minister of Finance to lease his (trust’s) house to the govt for a staggering ministerial rent, or accept hours of free TV for his “Plain English” ads?  Isn’t it time we Kiwis stood up and demanded that the tories do sweat the small stuff like the rest of us?  Isn’t it time John key held SOMEONE to account for SOMETHING rather than smile, wave and make excuses?

The Fendalton and Queen St methods are different from the Crafar one but they are even more dangerous and subversive: very polite circles of influence in the clubs and boardrooms - with massive flows of funds through anonymous trusts that violate the intent of the Electoral Finance Act.  Prestigious law firms and lobbyists.  This is up with the worst sort of influence peddling  I saw in Washington D.C. -  One dollar one vote:  permanent plutocracy unless we fight back.

Beyond political donations, look at the ability of the rich and powerful to get their way while the poor and middle struggle: $2 billion a year of tax avoidance through LAQCs and trusts that National in government has refused to touch.  Half the top 100 welathiest NZers are still not on the top tax rate!

This post is not about SCF, but researching that issue has opened my eyes to the complexity of the company and accounting structures in daily use around the markets.   One prominent international investment broker told me he tells his clients never to invest in NZ other than through an ASIC-regulated (Australian) vehicle, because our market is a wild west.

Well what is the point of getting our savings rate up (and asking hard working families to go without consumtion) if the investment vehicles we need to get the money to our struggling firms are being milked and siphoned by fees and sweet deals to the cronies in the markets?  Why would any sane Kiwi sweat 80 hours a week to build a real business here?  Where will our kids choose to live?

We are talking the need for a full scale root and branch reform.  For example, is the Trustee model not a fiction?  Issuers want tame trustees; trustees want clients.  How do you prevent a race to the bottom?  I will wager now the FMA Bill will not do the job.  We have BIG problems here folks. 

It might have been cool to point the finger at Labour when the champers was flowing during the bubble hype days; but corporate influence peddling is about as attractive as a bucket of sick in the middle of a recession.

There is a real risk of systemic market failure in the NZ financial markets.     They remind me of telecommunications markets in the 1990s – time for a big cleanup.

It is not right and not fair on the silent majority who play by the rules and who are getting absolutely screwed. 

It will only get worse until we have a Govt with the guts to stand up to it.   The smiling millionaire from Bankers Trust is hardly likely to do that!

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Filed under: Tax, Tax Working Group, Uncategorized, bank, business, civil liberties, democracy, economy, finance, inequality, journalism, national, perks, politics, privatisation
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Mr Botherway Must Step Aside

Posted by David Cunliffe on September 21st, 2010

The Chair of the Financial Markets Authority Eastablishment Board, Simon Botherway, now has no choice but to step aside pending the outcome of the Ombudsman’s inquiry into the mangament of his potential conflicts of interest in placing Allan and Jean Hubbard into statutory managment.

The public cannot understand how the Securities Commission took this step reportedly on the basis of a single anonymous complaint, timed shortly after Mr Hubbard transferred the bulk of his remaing assets into SCF to protect investors.  

Further, the Ombudsman must widen the terms of its inquiry to include questions around any potential or perceived conflicts of interest around Mr Botherway’s long standing business relationships with Mr George Kerr, Director of Torchlight Fund, one of the primary beneficiaries of the taxpayer funded bailout of South Canterbury Finance depositors.

These associations are reportedly of long standing and reportedly included at Spicers Portfolio Management and at Brook Asset Management, as well as in relation to several other funds.  Mr Kerr is also a Director of Pyne Gould Corporation, which has announced that it is seeking to set up a “heartland bank” centered on rural South Island lending. 

It must be totally transparent that neither Mr Botherway nor any of his interests have any ongoing relationship whatsoever with this proposed new bank.      

In short it is imperative that if wide ranging financial markets regulatory powers are to be concentrated in the hands of a single regulator, the holder of that office must be beyond reproach, with an impeccable record, and no possible or perceived conflicts of interest with former, current or potential business associates.

Mr Simon Botherway, who was John Key’s former Deputy at Bankers Trust, must now step aside from from the FMA Establishment Board Chair pending the outcome of a broadened Ombudsman’s inquiry.

Furrther, the Key Government cannot now clear the air on SCF withut a full and independant judical inquiry into the circumstances leading to its recievership and New Zealand’s largest investor bailout.

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Filed under: Uncategorized, business, commerce, economic, finance, south canterbury finance
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