Conference report back

Democracy, ethics and the public good – The 2014 Geering Event

Our conference took place on the weekend of 1/2 August and attracted a good crowd.
Listed below is information about the presentations made and organisations represented at the conference. Panel presentations, workshops and time for networking helped us to refresh the language of democratic engagement and think about how to secure the quality of our democracy. A final report identifying priorities for further work will be published shortly.

Kickstarting a NZ-wide conversation
about the quality of our democracy

Conference Presentations

Person		Media	paper
Public Good conference overview
Professor Sir Lloyd Geering		Democracy and ethics Video 14 minutes 20 secs
Dr Bronwyn Hayward	Understanding Our Social Handprint pdf presentation	Understanding our social handprint video 26 minutes
Dr Michael Macaulay	The Open Government Partnership video 25 minutes	Slides
Prof Jane Kelsey	Trade agreements and democracy video 25 minutes	It’s our future website TPP No certification website outlines newly clarified US powers over trade agreements
Wendy McGuinness	The Constitutional Review	McGuinness Institute Website
Sandra Grey and Charles Sedgwick	Stomping all over ‘grass-roots’ advocacy and activism	Fears, constraints and contracts
Ben Knight	Loomio and Democracy	Loomio Website
Max Rashbrooke	Inequality presentation	Inequality website
Bill Ryan	Emerging visions, emerging realities: Democratic deficit, deliberative democracy.
Barbara Bedeschi-Lewando	Participatory Democracy 1 minute video	Participatory Democracy
Julia Amua Whaipooti	Unlocking Prisons	JustSpeak
Cath Wallace	(coming)	ECO
Megan Howie	Askaway
Kieran Stowers	Onthefence
Myles Thomas	Coalition for Better Broadcasting
Stephanie Rodgers	Boots Theory

We wanted to open the debate on the quality of our democracy and seed ideas about future approaches to building a deeper and more inclusive democracy in NZ.

Speaker Biographies and Presentation Topics – PDF

Programme – PDF

Why we wanted a conference on democracy

democracy defined

In recent years we have seen a deterioration in the quality of some aspects of our democracy. On one hand we can celebrate MMP and the diverse set of representatives for our communities. The 2013 Transparency International report identified much that is first class about New Zealand’s democratic arrangements and the government is committed to seeing New Zealand join the Open Government Partnership using the Transparency report’s recommendations as one of the guiding criteria. On the other we have seen democratic protections over-ridden too many times in recent years. These protections can sometimes seem tedious, technical and procedural but without proper process our democracy and our citizenship are weakened. Whether it is seeing the MMP review which recommended an end to small party ‘coat-tailing’ ignored, the use of urgency in Parliament, schools closed without proper consultation, protest at sea criminalised or elected representatives replaced with political appointees the incursions are seemingly constant. Are New Zealanders alert to the pervasiveness of these challenges? In addition poverty and inequality leave hundreds of thousands of us disengaged and surviving rather than thriving. With insufficient income for food, power and decent housing, how can people participate fully in society?
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Supporters

Democracy, Ethics and the Public Good has been kindly supported by
Noble Painting Wellington
Unity Books Wellington
Dr Ganesh Nana
McGuinness Institute Website
Dr Richard Norman