Peter Dunne on Constutional Issues
Peter Dunne has blogged his wishlist/policy for constitutional issues. Worth taking them one at a time. A referendum on the future of MMP, in 2010, to allow the New Zealand people to review the...
View ArticlePreviewing Waitangi Day
AUT History Professor Paul Moon previews Waitangi Day: Few people will miss the bad old days, when our national day was punctured by protests, revealing one of the less edifying sides of our country’s...
View ArticleJudges’ Pay
The Herald reports: Prime Minister John Key expects other high-earners paid from the public purse to follow MPs and the Governor-General by asking not to get a pay rise this year. Parliament yesterday...
View ArticleA constitutional examination
The HoS reports: Top constitutional lawyer Alison Quentin-Baxter and Dundee University law professor Janet McLean will spend three years examining strengths, uncertainties and inadequacies in the...
View ArticleReconstituting the Constitution
I’m attending the Reconstituting the Constitution conference today and tomorrow. Topics being discussed are: Overseas constitutional reform lessons The republican question The need for a written...
View ArticleLabour should be consulted
NZPA report: Labour expects the Government to consult with it over a constitutional review to consider such issues as Maori representation, leader Phil Goff says. … Mr Goff said constitutional issues...
View ArticleThe constitutional review
Bill English and Pita Sharples have announced: The Government will conduct a wide-ranging review of New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and Maori Affairs...
View ArticleThe Elias speech
The media have suddenly found a speech by Chief Justice Elias and are reporting: The country’s top judge has taken a veiled swipe at the Government’s justice policies, warning that some Cabinet...
View ArticleCan they ever be constructive?
Radio NZ reports: New Zealand First is refusing to take part in the Government’s constitutional review. The review is looking into matters such as the size of Parliament, Maori representation, the role...
View ArticleHistory revisisted
Audrey Young at NZ Herald reports: Former National Party leader and New Zealand’s ambassador to the United Nations Jim McLay today revealed more details around Plan B to deal with the economic caused...
View ArticleThe Constitutional Advisory Panel
The Constitutional Advisory Panel has published a discussion booklet. Some of the issues they are looking at are: Should the size of Parliament be changed? Should the term of Parliament be increased?...
View ArticleCullen on the constitution
Sir Michael Cullen writes in the NZ Herald: It is no great secret that I am, by and large, a constitutional conservative, supportive of parliamentary supremacy, and therefore opposed to a written...
View ArticleThe term of Parliament
Simon Day at Stuff reports: Prime Minister John Key wants to extend the parliamentary term to a fixed four-year period as part of the Government’s constitutional review. One hundred and 73 years after...
View ArticleConstitutional Issues Forum
Audrey Young at NZ Herald reports: The issue of whether MP Brendan Horan should resign from Parliament now his party has expelled him could be part of the legitimate public “conversation” on a wide...
View ArticleDebating the Constitution
The NZ Centre for Public Law at Vic Uni has a series of debates on constitutional issues. They run for the next five Mondays at 6.30 pm. The details are: 8 April, Hunter Council Chamber – “What’s the...
View ArticleA constitutional issues poll
I’ve blogged at Curiablog the details of a poll by ResearchNZ on constitutional issues. Pleased to see 58% support for a four year term, but that is not the surprising result. If NZ does adopt a...
View ArticleSST readers on constitutional issues
The SST did a survey of readers on constitutional issues. Not a scientific random sample, but some interesting results. They are: 27% for a republic, 55% against Preferred President – John Key 20%,...
View ArticleShould blood determine seats?
The Listener has a lengthy article based on a submission by Michael Littlewood to the constitutional review. Well worth buying the latest issue for the whole article. A few extracts: In the past three...
View ArticleConstitution and confidence votes
The Governor-General made some interesting points in a speech this week: It is worth remembering that a party or grouping of parties may be able to secure a majority even if it does not hold more than...
View ArticleConstitutional Recommendations
The Constitutional Review Panel has made a number of recommendations to Cabinet. Mostly they are general stuff about further talking, but a few specific views emerge. They include: notes that although...
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