I just had a brainwave about how to address low voter turnout in local body elections in Aotearoa. Could the solution be liquid democracy?
One reason people don't vote in local elections is that we don't really know who the candidates are. But most of us know at least one person who shares our values, and is really engaged in council politics. What if there was a simple, formally recognised way to delegate our vote to them?
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To ensure that the potentially toxic chemicals in batteries are contained at end-of-life - and ideally recovered and re-used retail outlets that sells them ought to be legally obliged to provide a collection point in-store for dead batteries. Similarly with the wholesalers who sell them to retailers, the importers who sell them to wholesalers, and the producers who sell them to importers.
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What I suggest is, rather than set up KiwiMarket, set up KiwiDelivery;
* Buy a fleet of electric vans, and charging stations hooked up to sodium ion battery banks, hooked up to solar panels
* Hire some local app designers and open data people to build Free Code ordering app software (workers who will then spend at least some of their earnings in Aotearoa)
* Set up an ordering portal using onshore hosting (growing the local hosting market)
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1) As mentioned above, robust enforcement of the ban on wholesalers using price discrimination to allow supermarkets within their own chain to compete unfairly
2) Educate shopkeepers about their right to access wholesale goods at fair prices, and how to report any discrimination they're experiencing
3) Rent control on commercial lease buildings when at least 50% of what they sell is food (not junk), with an obligation to let them rent-to-own the buildings their shops are in
(16?)
A forward-looking government would legislate for a competitive market where citizens can choose one streaming provider, and get access to any program they want to see. So streaming platforms have to compete on the quality of their customer service. While videomakers in Aotearoa (and elsewhere) can seek investment for productions, with a guarantee of distribution on all available platforms, without discrimination.
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Maybe council rates bills needs to be itemized to show what proportion of the rates they charge is going on capital spending (ie local infrastructure) vs. operational spending (council expenses, community and arts funding, etc).
My hunch is that people are much less likely to carp about "wasteful" operational spending if they see what a tiny proportion it is of total council spending. Or where it isn't, maybe they have every right to carp about that.
I couple of weeks ago we got a leaflet in our letterbox arguing for limiting eligibility to vote to citizens, on the assumption this would limit it to the people affected by government decisions. I decided to respond as an open letter, to add my thoughts to the public conversation on election rules, and who potentially benefits from changing them;
https://strypey.dreamwidth.org/8279.html
#elections #NZPolitics #ElectionsNZ #PolicyNZ #ElectionRules
I would suggest a ban on selling alcohol in glass. But I think a ban on glass stubbies would do it. Put beers, RTDs and other stuff that currently comes in stubbies in either aluminum cans, or plastic bottles.
So you can still have wine and spirits in glass. There's a whole lot less of them, and they're a small fraction of the smashed glass pollution problem. They're almost never the ones I find smashed on streets, in green belts, or at festival sites.
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NZ needs to set a NetZero-style goal for when all software the NZ government depends on to fulfill its statutory functions is published as Free Code.
If the rationale for this isn't self-evident, see the Public Money Public Code campaign by @fsfe;
https://fsfe.org/activities/publiccode/publiccode.en.html
In the rest of this thread, I'll go through some specific steps to move us towards that goal;
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I hope one day my grandchildren will tell a similar story about fossil fuel products. That governments around the world passed laws against carrying advertising for them. Then slowly expanded that ban to apply to businesses that totally depend on them. Like transport services that burn fossil fuels, or service stations that make most of their money selling them.
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Strypey