Strypey

"As one famous Australian constitutional lawyer said, and it remains the case even under MMP... NZ is an Executive paradise. The sovereignty of Parliament in NZ - which means Parliament can pass any law it likes - is actually the sovereignty of the Executive, not of the Parliament. And that is why so many Opposition MPs have such a frustrating life, because they have very little influence over anything."

Sir #GeoffreyPalmer, 2017

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-9th-floor/story/201839427/the-reformer-geoffrey-palmer

#podcasts #RNZ #The9thFloor #NZPolitics

The Reformer - Geoffrey Palmer: Prime Minister 1989-90

In The 9th Floor, a landmark new series for RNZ, Guyon Espiner talks to five former NZ Prime Ministers, starting with reforming lawmaker Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who became our 33rd PM in 1989.

RNZ
Feb 26, 2024 at 11:07pmWeb
Show threadStrypeyFeb 26, 2024

"You say that our current [constitutional] arrangements pose dangers to the peace, order and good government of New Zealand, if demagogues take over."

#GuyonEspiner to Sir #GeoffreyPalmer, 2017

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-9th-floor/story/201839427/the-reformer-geoffrey-palmer

I guess we're about to find out...

#The9thFloor #NZPolitics

The Reformer - Geoffrey Palmer: Prime Minister 1989-90

In The 9th Floor, a landmark new series for RNZ, Guyon Espiner talks to five former NZ Prime Ministers, starting with reforming lawmaker Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who became our 33rd PM in 1989.

RNZ
Show threadStrypeyFeb 27, 2024

Sad that Palmer was still defending Rogernomics in 2017, when even Jim Bolger was issuing mea culpas;

https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/bolger-and-neoliberalism

Palmer rolls out the "too far, too fast" line, shifting most of the blame for the consequences of neoliberal reforms onto the Bolger government's continuation of them. But defends his own government's corporatisation of the economy, and the privatisation that converted publicly-owned core infrastructure into "imports" we have to export or borrow more to pay for.

(1/5)

Bolger and Neoliberalism — Pundit

If Jim Bolger now opposes Ruthanasia, why did he preside over its implementation?

Pundit
Show threadStrypeyFeb 27, 2024

Palmer bemoans a perceived lack of interest in voting, while refusing to see this political disillusionment as a natural consequence of extreme inequality, created by decades of neoliberal policy.

Only someone so totally insulated from the reality of working class life in the 2020s could fail to understand how time poor most people are now. Why spend precious free time on electoral politics, when all voting seems to change is what variation of the same economic policy we get?

(2/5)

Show threadStrypeyFeb 27, 2024

What's Palmer's proposed fix for this political ennui? Does he advocate economic policies that prevent poverty, so people have the time and energy to participate more in public life? What about democratic reforms to create opportunities for meaningful public participation in decision-making (eg citizens assemblies)?

No, he wants "compulsory voting", ie punishing people for exercising their democratic right *not* to vote. Then moments later he's bemoaning the tyranny of the majority 🤦‍♂️

(3/5)

Show threadStrypeyFeb 27, 2024

Palmer apportions some of the blame for the weakened state of our democracy to the slow collapse of the news media. The lack of rigorous journalism holding the government's feet to the fire of on a daily basis.

He ignores the role of the net in creating space for citizen journalism, like MMP opened up space for activists in Parliament. But there's some truth to what he says here. The fact that there are more fulltime PR flacks than fulltime journalists in NZ is certainly a problem.

(4/5)

Show threadStrypeyFeb 27, 2024

But does he acknowledge that a huge amount of this is also the consequences of Rogernomics? No. The media deregulation, toothless antitrust enforcement and the defunding and/or privatisation of public media that began with his government are not mentioned.

Like a classic liberal, he cannot or will not see the role of economic policy in exacerbating and perpetuating these problems, and his role in allowing them to happen.

(5/5)

Show threadStrypeyFeb 29, 2024

Classic example, one of the two TV newsrooms in Aotearoa was just closed down by its overseas owners, Warner Bros Discovery;

https://theconversation.com/with-the-end-of-newshub-the-slippery-slope-just-got-steeper-for-nz-journalism-and-democracy-224625

This is what "foreign investment" looks like. If the Overseas Investment Commission had teeth, corporate raiders would never have been allowed to buy our major news media companies, and then downgrade or asset strip them when it's not profitable enough to own them.

#NewsMedia #ForeignInvestment

With the end of Newshub, the slippery slope just got steeper for NZ journalism and democracy

It’s been 35 years since Aotearoa New Zealand’s first private network brought real competition in the television news market. Yesterday Warner Bros Discovery announced an end to all that.

The Conversation
Show threadStrypeyFeb 29, 2024
If it wasn't for a furious rearguard action by activists, market fundamentalists would have had the government sell off TVNZ and RNZ. If they still existed they'd probably be in overseas ownership too, and facing the same shaky future as TV3.
Show threadStrypeyMar 1, 2024

Could a staff buyout save NewsHub? When Stuff was facing a similar fate at the hands of overseas owners, a member of staff bought it for $1. It's now a much better news service for being journalist-driven, instead of profit-driven. It would be even better if it put social enterprise principles into its constitution to enshrine that.

#NewsMedia #NewsHub #Stuff

Show threadThomas BeagleFeb 26, 2024

@strypey This is partly because our Parliament, and its MPs, voluntarily give up that power.

A few back-benchers refusing to obey the party whip on occasion would help reset things.

Show threadStrypeyFeb 28, 2024

@thomasbeagle
> A few back-benchers refusing to obey the party whip on occasion would help reset things

What incentive do they have to do that? If they don't tow the party line, list MPs can be punished by being moved down or off the list, and electorate MPs by losing the party's endorsement (eg Gaurav Sharma). The power parties now have over who gets to be an MP is one of the few major downsides of MMP, and why I now think STV is better.

Show threadStrypeyFeb 28, 2024
@thomasbeagle
Also one of my reasons for proposing an upper house for electorate MPs a week or so back.
Show threadThomas BeagleFeb 28, 2024
@strypey Yes, I agree that we have strengthened political parties too far.
Show threadsj_zeroFeb 27, 2024
It's a major problem with the parliamentary system, that the prime minister being the head of the executive and also the leader of the party with the most seats means the position can often wield dictatorial powers, and it's not just a case with NZ, but most commonwealth parliamentary democracies.
Show threadStrypeyFeb 28, 2024

@sj_zero
> it's not just a case with NZ, but most commonwealth parliamentary democracies

Aren't we one of the few with a single house of representatives and a Supreme Court that can never effectively overrule the Executive?