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Who Knows Best? The Creation of the Citizen‐initiated Referendum in New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

John Parkinson
John Parkinson*
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
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Extract

Among Arguments Advanced In Favour Of Direct Democracy, legitimacy pleas loom large. If the rules governing people can only be legitimate when those rules arise from and represent the will of all, then it is commonly argued that people should have the right to vote not just for representatives but on substantive issues of public policy as well. To claim otherwise is regarded as anti-democratic: for example, Bogdanor writes that ‘in the final analysis, the arguments against referendums are arguments against democracy’, while Saward asks, ‘What better way to maximize responsiveness of rulers to the ruled than by fostering a system in which the ruled themselves make the decisions?’

Type
Original Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , July 2001 , pp. 403 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 2001

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References

1 The research for this paper was conducted largely in the Department of Political Studies, University of Auckland, with comments and criticism from Helena Catt, to whom I am eternally grateful. My thanks also for the useful comments from the two anonymous referees.

2 Bernard Manin, ‘On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation’, Political Theory, 15:3 (1987).

3 Vernon Bogdanor, The People and the Party System: The Referendum and Electoral Reform in British Politics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981.

4 Michael Saward, The Terms of Democracy, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1998, p.84.

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7 Dryzek, John discusses some examples in Deliberative Democracy and Beyond: Liberals, Critics, Contestations, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 9.Google Scholar

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9 Simpson, Alan (ed.), Referendums: Constitutional and Political Perspectives, Wellington, Department of Politics, Victoria University of Wellington, 1992 Google Scholar. For a short history which suggests links between antipodean direct democracy and the Progressive movement in the United States, see Hughes, Colin, ‘Australia and New Zealand’, in Butler, D. and Ranney, A., Referendums around the World: The Growing Use of Direct Democracy, AEI Press, Washington DC, 1994.Google Scholar

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15 For a general discussion of the rights of Maori in New Zealand’s democracy, see Mulgan, Richard, Democracy and Power in New Zealand, Auckland, Oxford University Press, 1984 Google Scholar; the key work on the history of the treaty is Claudia Orange, The Treaty of Waitangi, Wellington, Allen & Unwin/Port Nicholson Press, 1987; for a discussion of government efforts to address treaty issues in the 1980s, see Kelsey, Jane, A Question of Honour?: Labour and the Treaty 1984–89, Wellington, Allen & Unwin, 1990.Google Scholar

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17 Royal Commission on the Electoral System, ‘Report of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System’, Wellington, 1986, p. 176.

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20 New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, ‘Homosexual Law Reform Bill’, Wellington, 1986, Vol. 472, p. 2596.

21 Coalition of Concerned Citizens, ‘What is the “Coalition of Concerned Citizens”?’, The Coalition Courier, October 1985, p. 1; Coalition of Concerned Citizens, ‘Constitutional Issues — the Public Referendum’, Coalition Courier, June 1988, p. 3.

22 B. Laxton-Blinkhorn, ‘Half-hearted Democracy’, pp. 43–53.

23 Royal Commission on the Electoral System, op. cit., pp. 175–6.

24 B. Laxton-Blinkhorn, ‘Half-hearted Democracy’, pp. 50–3.

25 New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, ‘Citizens Initiated Referenda Bill’, Wellington, 1992, Vol. 522, pp. 6749–7134; vol. 538, p. 17965.

26 David Butler and Austin Ranney (eds), Referendums Around the World: The Growing Use of Direct Democracy, Washington DC, AEI Press, 1994; California Secretary of State, Ballot Initiatives: the Ins and Outs of Getting an Initiative on the California Ballot, 1998, PDF document, available from http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_h.htm (accessed August 1999); California Voter Foundation, internet site available from: http://www.calvoter.org/ (accessed July 1999); Catt, 1996, op. cit.; Cronin, 1987, op. cit.; Winston Crouch et al., California Government and Politics, Englewood Cliff, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1964; Kris Kobach, 1993, op. cit.; Linder, 1994, op. cit.; Magleby, 1984, op. cit. Note that New Zealand does not possess an equivalent of the Swiss facultative ballot or the Californian referendum.

27 Magleby, David, Direct Legislation: Voting on Ballot Propositions in the United States, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984, p. 148.Google Scholar

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29 See Parkinson, ‘Deliberative Democracy and Referendums’, for a discussion of the policy-framing process in the Swiss context.

30 Catt, Helena, Democracy in Practice, London, Routledge, 1999, p. 16.Google Scholar

31 ‘Citizens Initiated Referenda Bill’, New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, Wellington, 1992, Vol. 522, pp. 6704–5.

32 Ibid., p. 6711; Vol. 537, p. 17609.

33 Graham, Hon. D., ‘Citizens Initiated Referenda Bill’, New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, Wellington, 1992, Vol. 522, p. 6705.Google Scholar

34 H. Catt, ‘The Other Democratic Experiment’, pp. 33–4.

35 Royal Commission on the Electoral System, 1986, op. cit., p. 180.

36 Hon D. Graham, ‘Citizens Initiated Referenda Bill’, p. 6708.

37 Ibid., p. 6703.

38 Fletcher MP, C., New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, ‘Citizens Initiated Referenda Bill’, Wellington, 1992, Vol. 522, p. 6713.Google Scholar

39 Hon. D. Graham, personal communication to B. Laxton-Blinkhorn, 1996.

40 H. Catt, ‘The Other Democratic Experiment’; Ministry of Justice, The General Election 1999, Wellington, available from http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/ 2000/election_e9_1999/; Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, ‘Citizens Initiated Referenda’, Parliamentary Bulletin 94:10–99:23 (1994–99). The question wording given in this Table is the final wording determined by the Clerk of the House, not the original wording of the sponsor. In most cases there is very little difference, but the original text of the question, from the Free New Zealand Party Society is worth noting for comparison. The original text was: ‘Should government let New Zealanders have democracy by referendum where any individual or group can submit an idea and if we vote for it, then anyone can submit opinions which get numbered so we can list what we agree with and list what we disagree with, then the results are sent to four independent committees who create four separate laws and we vote for the most suitable one?’ The turnout figure is percentage votes cast over the number of registered electors.

41 California Secretary of State, election returns, available from http:// www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm

42 W. Cooper MP, quoted in H. Catt, ‘The Other Democratic Experiment’, p. 36.

43 These examples are discussed in more detail in S. Church, ‘Crime and Punishment’.

44 ‘Busting Burglars’, Letters to the editor, The Press, Christchurch, 17 November 1999; Victoria Clausen, ‘Penal Reformers Seek Poll Rejection’, The Press, Christchurch, 19 November 1999.

45 S. Church, ‘Crime and Punishment’.

46 S. Church, ‘Crime and Punishment’, op. cit.; Royal Commission on the Electoral System, op. cit., pp. 126–7; ‘Acting on Referendums’, The Press, Christchurch, 30 November 1999, editorial; Bernard Orsman, ‘Yes Vote Likely for Referendums’, New Zealand Herald, Auckland, 25 November 1999.

47 Hofstetter et al., Richard, ‘Information, Misinformation and Political Talk Radio’, Political Research Quarterly, 52:2 (1999), pp. 354–5.Google Scholar

48 ‘The Left’s Last Frantic Gasp’, National Business Review, Auckland, 8 October 1999, editorial.

49 S. Church, ‘Crime and Punishment’, op. cit., Table 18.4, p. 198.

50 ‘Acting on Referendums’, The Press, Christchurch, 30 November 1999, editorial.

51 S. Church, ‘Crime and Punishment’, p. 194.

52 H. Catt, personal communication.

53 H. Catt, ‘The Other Democratic Experiment’, p. 33.

54 Electoral Commission of New Zealand, available from http:// www.elections.govt.nz

55 California Secretary of State, Ballot Initiatives: The Ins and Outs of Getting an Initiative on the California Ballot, Sacramento, 1998, available from http:// www.ss.ca.gov (accessed August 1999).