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Guide to 2008 NZ Election
Archived NZ Parlt 2005-08
Archived NZ Parlt 2002-05
Our Parliament House
International perspectives on democracy
Electing Parliament
General-election results
Parliamentary parties
Labour
National
NZ First
Green
Maori
United Future
ACT
Progressive
Forming the government
Composition of Parliament
The role of the Speaker
Who drafts the laws?
How laws are made
How a bill becomes an act
The Office of the Clerk
Parliamentary Service
MP's pay
A Labour example - Darren Hughes
A National example -
John Key
Select committees
Select commitee members
Petitioning Parliament
Visiting Parliament
Opinion polls
Parliamentary history
The New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust

 

  

International perspectives on democracy 2005

The proportional representation system, MMP, has helped make Parliament more diverse and representative of New Zealand society.

Commonwealth Heads of Government leaders said in their 1999 Fancourt Declaration on Globalisation and People Centred Development:

“If the poor and vulnerable are to be at the centre of development, the process must be participatory, in which they have a voice… good governance and economic progress are directly linked…Good governance requires inclusive and participatory processes at both national and international levels.”

The Commonwealth Foundation “targets priority needs including poverty eradication, health, gender, disability, sustainable development, non-formal education, community enterprise, inclusion of indigenous and other culturally diverse groups…”

Leaders in the Citizens and Governance programme of the Commonwealth Foundation call for “A new compact between the citizen and a democratic state.”

Commonwealth Education Ministers at their Halifax meeting identified the need for citizenship education. Commonwealth Secretariat officials say schools do not deliver citizen education alone. Society has an essential role, including the use of democratic patterns in schools and with parents. They say values and principles are not sustainable till youth are involved.

The Citizens and Governance programme calls for:

  • a strong state and a strong civil society
  • a deepening of democracy through the development of a culture of participatory democracy
  • an enlarged role for citizens and their endeavours and for strong connections among them; between them and government; and between them and civil society organisations.

The common message distilled from wide consultation leading to the Citizens and Governance programme was that: “The new consensus for the next millennium is thus about responsible citizenship, and responsive, participatory democracy. The two are mutually reinforcing and supportive.

Strong, aware, responsible, active and engaged citizens along with strong, caring inclusive, listening, open and responsive democratic governments…

Find out more!
Centre for Citizenship Education
Box 3978, Wellington
Mobile: 027 242 2301
Email: Anthony Haas

     

Don McKinnon, Secretary-General of the London based Commonwealth Secretariat, is a former NZ National Party MP, deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.