Tauranga's Reon Hogg admits the idea behind his new political party is ‘experimental', but is confident CitizeNZ Party will get off the ground before the November 26 election.
The fundamental concept of the party is that the public get to vote on its policy, leader and direction.
Reon Hogg hopes Western Bay of Plenty residents will be able to vote for the CitizeNZ Party at the election in November.
'It's a little experimental – we are open to public discussion,” says Reon, who is also the interim leader.
'As far as I'm aware no-one has been brave enough to try it.”
The party still has to attract 500 members before it becomes registered with the Electoral Commission and CitizeNZ Party appears on the voting ballots at the general election on November 26.
'I'm very confident we will get there – people we have spoken to have had extremely positive feedback.”
Reon says the party will engage voters through social media, such as Facebook.
Policy will be discussed, feedback sought and then opinion polls formed to finalise party principles.
Each opinion poll requires a two thirds majority before the policy becomes officially adopted by the party.
Reon denies running CitizeNZ in this way will lead to instability.
'What we do not want is a mob mentality, there's always that around an issue when it arises.
'We want to put in a few safeguards to give our policies more time.
'We certainly would not have an issue swaying as rapidly as daily or weekly.”
People can find more out more about CitizeNZ at their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/CitizeNZ-Party/163168787065819
4 comments
enfranchisement
Posted on 07-05-2011 17:41 | By morepork
I have no problem with someone starting a new political party, but I have 2 reservations about this one: 1. The fundamental basis of Democracy is that EVERYONE has a right to vote. It's called enfranchisement. In this case, people who are NOT on Facebook will have no say. Now, you can argue that anyonce CAN join Facebook but there are some of us who don't want to, for reasons that have nothing to do with our rights in a Democracy. If you make Facebook registration a pre-requisite for participating in Democracy, you are headed for Government by the Internet. 2. The more small parties there are, the less chance there is of anyone actually getting a majority mandate. That is fair enough and we accept it as part of our system; various systems like Proportional Representation address this with varying degrees of success. However, it does mean that if you start another party you need to be clear exactly what your goals are (the platform) and they need to be worthwhile so it isn't just a waste of time and energy. Under point 1 above I see this as an already flawed party because it excludes people from what is a fundamental right. That makes it hard to take anything else they may do seriously. This could be a good "club" for Tweeters and Facebookers, but I don't see it getting credibility as a political party that could pass legislation we are all sublect to, whether we are on Facebook or not.
Re: Enfranchisement
Posted on 08-05-2011 16:16 | By Reon Hogg
firstly i want to thank you "morepork" for your comments, they are just what we were hoping for. i mainly want to address your point "1" as point "2" i agree with mostly, so yes we are currently using Facebook & it is the only place we are at the moment as we are just starting, but we are working on a website of our own & looking into other social websites too to enable more people to participate. Facebook is elegantly set-up in such a way that we could get going quickly & cheaply, but you are right we would be far too limited thus ineffective if we failed to grow beyond just one social network provider.
Woolly thanking or purple haze material
Posted on 08-05-2011 19:02 | By Hebegeebies
Probably need a real new party to nail all the current cretans but what on earth is this one all about -'experimental CitizeNZ' I just cannot follow the logic of this .It looks like something you dream when you are out on the piss with the boys.
@Reon
Posted on 09-05-2011 13:19 | By morepork
I understand you are just starting, but I think you missed my point. It isn't about how many social networks you embrace, or how many web sites. (I know it's hard to believe, but there are still people in our society who don't even have dial-up; sometimes because of ignorance, sometimes because they don't want it.) Democracy (if it is to be taken seriously) CANNOT exclude ANYBODY. You simply cannot make Internet access a pre-requisite for citizenship and enfranchisement. You CAN use it as the basis for a Club or Movement, because people can opt in if they want to, and the ones that don't, still have a voice. Before you become a political Party you need to consider carefully what you are trying to achieve. A vague desire for change, and "empowering" the people to pass legislation by Internet Poll, is not going to cut it. Nevertheless, I wish you well :-)
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