The last chance to enrol is today. You can’t enrol on election day.
Well, we are finally here. This is just a quick final post to share with you what a friend just told me his mum told him years ago – ‘you must vote out of respect for your ancestors who fought and often died in order that you could vote.’ Today is the last day to...
Candidate
Candidate, like On the Fence, is an initiative that takes the form of an online questionnaire. Users can answer policy-based questions with a ‘thumbs-up’ or ‘thumbs-down’, and are ultimately told how their opinions align with the policies of the parties. A tutorial is offered before undertaking the survey to ensure users understand the process. Candidate...
Voting … and Animal Welfare
Not long now … In the run up to the election MPs and parties have been debating a range of issues – from economics and jobs to climate change and the environment. However, as one of the participants from EmpowerNZ informed us, very few focus on animal welfare policies. If you are interested, check out the...
Political Cuts
In the run up to the election this Saturday, 20 September, a pop-up political hair salon opened next to the i-SITE in Wellington Central for the first week of September. The salon was called ‘Political Cuts’ and gave passers-by the chance of a free haircut and space to discuss New Zealand politics and the upcoming...
Ask Away
Informed voters are key to democracy. With the election mere weeks away, many voters want to know how different parties would handle important issues if given their vote. However, relying solely on party statements and political debates can leave questions unanswered and policies unclear. A clever innovation released as part of Massey University’s Design and Democracy Project has made...
On the Fence – Voter Engagement
This is the first in series of blogs looking at voter engagement in the run up to the 2020 National Election next month. Our first focus is the online voter questionnaire On the Fence, launched at Massey University, Wellington on Friday, 8 August. Since then it has been popping up all over social media, particularly...
Exhibition combining food, art and a constitutional preamble – closes 15 March, Wellington
Kieran Stowers, one of the EmpowerNZ participants and a designer at both the LongTermNZ and LivingStandardsNZ workshops, has done a simply amazing job combining design, food and a constitutional conversation. I went to the opening of the exhibition of the 2020 Masters of Design students at Massey University’s College of Creative Arts and was simply blown away. Kieran’s thesis project was a designed ‘potluck...
Explore the world’s constitutions
A new project developed by the Comparative Constitutions Project with seed funding from Google has recently been launched. Constitute allows users to read, compare and search 160 constitutions around the world. The beautiful website allows you to pick from hundreds of themes, as specific as ‘trial in native language of accused’ to broad characteristics...
Done and dusted!
I am very pleased (and relieved) to announce the Institute’s submission to the Constitutional Advisory Panel is now on the website. It has been a big piece of work – starting at StrategyNZ in 2020, developing into EmpowerNZ in late August 2020 and culminating with a workshop to prepare a youth submission in July 2020....
Is there a place for the environment in the constitutional conversation?
As we get deeper into our constitutional korero, it is fitting that we draw on the experiences of other countries especially other democracies with strong constitutional cultures. Our Chief Executive, Wendy McGuinness, has just attended a conference facilitated by the European Sustainable Development Network. The conference was held in Austria, a country that has had...
What’s your burning question?
Last night the Institute had the pleasure of attending an event hosted by Megan Salole and her team at ActionStation to launch their new website www.wethepeople.kiwi.nz. “There is a constitutional review taking place in Aotearoa New Zealand. In the past, it has been impossible for all the people of a nation to join the conversation, and have their say....
TONIGHT: Second Te Papa Treaty Debate
Te Papa is hosting the second Treaty Debate tonight, featuring a panel of young people answering the question: What issues in the Constitutional Review do you care about? Chaired by Radio New Zealand presenter Kim Hill, the panel will include EmpowerNZ participants Reed Fleming, Duran Moy, Julia Whaipooti and Mihiata Pirini who was a facilitator...
![20160906 McGuinness Institute - TacklingPovertyNZ Workshop – Far North Flyer [FINAL]](/wp-content/uploads/20160906-McGuinness-Institute-TacklingPovertyNZ-Workshop-%E2%80%93-Far-North-Flyer-FINAL-1-50x50.png)