The Opportunities Party goes all-in on citizens’ assemblies

But can it make them a reality?

Summary:

• The Opportunities Party (TOP) will campaign next year on a big push to increase the role of citizens’ assemblies in political decision-making

• A Parliamentary Commissioner to convene the assemblies, and help cement this new way of working, is a key part of their proposal

• The question, as ever, is how much influence TOP can actually wield

TOP says: You’re the Voice

The Opportunities Party (TOP) has announced that it will be pushing citizens’ assemblies – and, with them, a deeper role for ordinary citizens in shaping policy – in the run-up to next year’s general election.

Their policy, dubbed the Citizens’ Voice, pledges to convene citizens’ assemblies “on the big issues successive governments are failing on”. Such assemblies might bring together a representative group of 100 New Zealanders – the country in one room, effectively – to spend a week, or a series of weekends, being informed about a key issue, discussing it deeply, and coming to a set of consensus recommendations. TOP describes the process as allowing ordinary people to “consider all the angles of a big, thorny issue that politicians aren't solving, like housing, infrastructure, superannuation, or healthcare”.

A central – and novel – element of the TOP policy would be the creation of a new Parliamentary Commissioner (alongside the Ombudsman, the Auditor-General and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment). This new commissioner would “convene Citizens' Assemblies on gridlocked issues and amplify the voice of everyday people using new democratic tools like digital forums and consensus-finding software”. The commissioner would also give citizens’ assemblies “institutional backbone, ensuring continuity across electoral cycles and demanding government engages seriously with citizens' recommendations”.