The new frontier of democracy? A Treaty-based citizens' assembly

ALSO: the key stats on growing poverty and corruption from this week's reports

Summary:

• A citizens’ assembly starting in Porirua this week attempts to overcome the potential tensions between Western and indigenous approaches to democracy

• One key graph from this week’s State of the Nation report underscores the need to tackle poverty with renewed vigour

• We look at how to arrest New Zealand’s continued slide in the (perceived) global corruption rankings

Porirua’s latest innovation on democracy and climate change

The Good IDEAs Bulletin is pleased to provide an exclusive preview into an exciting democratic innovation starting this Saturday: a citizens’ assembly process, adapted for the context of the Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o Waitangi, on tackling climate change in Porirua. The theoretical ideal of a citizens’ assembly – a group perfectly representative of the wider community based on its demographics – can be in tension with a power-sharing approach that would mandate a 50:50 Māori:Pākehā make-up. The approach outlined below may offer a way through that tension. Our thanks to Peter Glensor, one of those helping organise this process, for this account.

Saturday 15th February is the first of four Saturdays when the Tiriti-based Porirua Assembly on Climate is being held. A Whole Community Group, made up of 50 randomly selected Porirua people, will sit alongside a Mana Whenua Group convened by Ngāti Toa Rangatira. Both groups will hear from local and subject-matter experts, and will consider this question:

Learning to live in Porirua’s changing world together: how do we connect and respond as our climate changes?

Our Porirua Assembly will use a Te Tiriti o Waitangi framework – a first for Aotearoa, as far as we know.

Separate spheres united

The Whole Community Group is made up of 50 everyday Porirua people, with the same mix of age, ethnicity, place of residence, etc. as we find in the wider community. Given the youthful nature of Porirua’s community, and the future-oriented nature of the question, it was decided that this group should include people 15 years and over, instead of the more normal 18-years-plus. This group will have around 20% each of people who identify as Māori and as Pasifika.