The Alliance Party has released its Te Tiriti o Waitangi,
Democracy, and Constitutional policy which aims to
redistribute power to ordinary people by advancing
constitutional transformation with Te Tiriti o Waitangi at
the centre.
Alliance Party president and
constitutional spokesperson Tom Roud says the policy builds
on the party’s commitment to redistribution of more than
wealth alone.
“Our policies tend to deal with
immediate, material needs of ordinary Kiwis with an emphasis
on the redistribution of wealth in this country.
Redistribution of wealth without a rebalance of power would
represent a gilded cage for working people, so we want to go
further,” he says.
The policy is built on the
principles of popular sovereignty, participatory democracy,
social justice, and upholding Te Tiriti o
Waitangi.
“The Alliance Party and the workers
movement in general have a proud history of standing with
Māori in their struggle with the Crown to address the
criminal attacks on mana motuhake, tino rangatiratanga, and
breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Our re-established party
pays respect to our own whakapapa, and our previous
relationship with the political party Mana Motuhake has
provided us with a legacy of sound policy that respects
Māori rights,” Mr Roud says.
On democratic issues
the policy supports lowering the threshold for entering
parliament, ranked-choice voting, and establishing processes
for the recall of elected candidates by their
electors.
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“We are proud to be a radically democratic
party that would see a system where no vote is wasted, where
power does not become entrenched through custom and
practice, and where elected officials are not given a few
years of power without any recourse for voters to oust them
if they so wish.”
“Accountability can’t just
happen every few years at the ballot box, it is a
relationship that our politicians must be expected to
maintain. If they can’t manage that, voters should be able
to remove them from office,” Mr Roud says.
The
Alliance supports advancing a written constitution, designed
by the people of Aotearoa New Zealand through participatory
democracy, and enshrining the constitutional status of Te
Tiriti o Waitangi.
“The Matike Mai report was an
enormous step forward for a serious constitutional
conversation in this country. Tangata whenua have provided a
framework, and now the rest of the country must come along
for the conversation.”
“These are not easy
subjects to cover, they take courage and a spirit of
kotahitanga (unity) if we are going to come into our own as
a country.”
“I am a republican, my neighbour may
be a constitutional monarchist, how will we reconcile this?
What would ‘the Crown’ come to mean in our existing
legislation if we went down a republican route? How do we
ensure we honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi in any new
constitutional arrangement? Is an upper chamber
undemocratic, or a necessary check on power?” Mr Roud
says.
“Like almost everyone in this country I am not
an expert on these issues. Regardless, the Alliance Party
knows these are questions that will only become more and
more central to the future of the country. It is time for
Aotearoa New Zealand to decide who we want to be, and work
through any nervousness and fear about that together.
Tūwhitia te hopo, mairangatia te angitū: feel the fear,
and do it
anyway.”
