Baldock launches new referendum

Larry Baldock has now launched his new referendum, “Should Parliament be required to pass legislation that implements the majority result of a citizens initiated referendum where that result supports a law change?”

Please help by downloading the petition click here and collecting signatures and or distributing the petition forms to businesses in your area. It would be wonderful to collect enough signatures to allow this referendum to be held at the next election alongside the MMP referendum.

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Press Council complaint withdrwan

Following is my letter to the Press Council withdrawing my formal complaint about my perceived bias NZ Herald reporting.

NZ Press Council

Dear Mary

I have received the information package you forwarded to me from the NZ Herald. Thank you for that.

I have studied it at great length and although some of what the Deputy Editor has had to say is incorrect, there was indeed a number of articles I had not been aware when I made my study. Most of these articles were in fact supportive of the smacking referendum. Although the altered figures still show a very slight bias by the NZ Herald, I believe it also shows a far more balanced coverage than initially thought.

I would point out that my omissions were genuine. It was not my intention to be bias nor to support my beliefs, in fact I did not cast a vote in the referendum and indeed think that it may possibly be a good thing that this Bill was introduced.

Taking all this into consideration, I would therefore like to withdraw my complaint and apologise for the time wasted by all parties.

Best wishes

Steve Baron
Better Democracy NZ
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Sign our online petition

In a continued effort to keep pressure on our politicians for change, we have started an online petition. click here to sign.

To the House of Representatives, we the undersigned, demand that a binding referendum be held on the following question;

"Should the law be amended to make the results of citizens initiated referenda binding on the New Zealand Government?"
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Sydney or Auckland???

An interesting article by Richard Green from economics blog Club Troppo about Urban Planning and Corporate Governance. Probably some lessons here for the new Auckland supercity.

The Sydney Morning Herald has been trumpeting a study they supported (click here) by on the future of Sydney’s public transport and urban structure. Beneath the being overly pleased with themselves, with “we’re above petty politics” harrumphing there is a genuine effort to talk about the policy issues in depth. That’s a big relief compared to the usual scandal mongering and whinging vox pops that we usually get from the media on the issue.

A major theme in the study is differing potential models for future development. One is a “European model”, which is described as a web of transport routes and urban centres across the metro area, which is officially the current plan. The other is an “East Asian” model which is described as a small number of dense urban centres from which public transport spokes extend, each covered by a spine of high rise residential developments and with land prices that rise exponentially with their access to these centres. The report reckons that we’re headed to the latter, which is A Bad Thing.

I am not convinced this is solely a issue of government policy though. A large part is due to decisions made by companies on where to provide jobs, and subsequently where the transport infrastructure is forced to be built to relieve what is already there. More specifically it’s about where the management of these companies decide to site their operations, particularly compared to what you might expect firms to do. I think this is partially an issue of corporate governance.

Why are companies intent on putting so much of their operations in such a narrow number of places, leading to these dense spoke systems? In NSW; The CBD, North Sydney and Macquarie Park? Why aren’t they willing to put more of these operations in outer suburbs where places like Norwest Business Park are keen to have them, or in regional centres or elsewhere? There’s good reasons why a self interested company would consider it. The rent is cheaper for a start. Workers are probably willing to trade off salary for a shorter commute as well. I think most accept a lower salary if their work doesn’t require them to live in expensive suburbs; suburbs expensive mainly because you can access jobs easily. And workers with smaller commutes are likely happier, more well rested and probably more productive.

There’s a number of possible reasons why a self interested company wouldn’t.

a) The value of networking. Workers need to be in contact with other workers and firms in the modern knowledge economy. I don’t think this explains a lot. It may be true for a variety of worker, but not most. A worker comes into a building, spends all day at their desk, eats lunch there and goes home. They do all this in front of a machine that is literally built for networking and is packed with features to do so from almost anywhere! They’re certainly not using the location itself to network. Macquarie Park, originally envisioned to link Macquarie University to corporate Australia, hasn’t even seen enough need for many footpaths, so little is the need to move between buildings.

b) They need to place themselves where the workers are, or in places the workers want to work. Of course, if the first part was true, why would there be a transport problem with clogged arteries out to outer suburbs or the Central Coast ex-urbs? The latter part doesn’t ring true. Macquarie Park has no real appeal and North Sydney and the CBD lack almost any urban appeal for the specific reason they are now just business parks, packed with offices and sombre suited and expressioned workers.

c)Firms need prestige locations for signaling. Just like banks used to signal their wealth (and hopefully solvency) by building absurdly ornate buildings, financial institutions now use prestige locations for the same purpose. This rings true a little. It does dovetail with the lack of appeal mentioned above using Jane Jacob’s model of “self destruction of diversity” – where financial and corporate offices seeking the prestige of an area create a homogeny that destroys the appeal they’re seeking. It can only explain so much and most industries have easier ways of signalling the quality of their service/goods.

What I think is happening is a typical corporate principal-agent problem. The executives of these businesses are siting operations based on two considerations of personal, rather than the companies interest. They want the personal prestige of an office location, and more importantly, they want to minimise their own commute.

There’s fairly limited limited housing options for a status seeking manager, and if you invest the time and effort and schmoozing it takes to climb the corporate ladder, you’re probably much more status obsessed than most. Whilst in most places suburbs rise and fall in relative prestige due to man factors, geography and harbour views mean that in Sydney the Lower North Shore and Eastern Suburbs are very stable in this position at the top of the heap.

The managers chose to live there, but they don’t want a long commute any more than anyone else, so they’re likely to make sure their workplaces are where they can get to them easily. It helps explains Macquarie Park, just over the Lane Cove River from the Lower North Shore as well and its success compared to rival business parks. Macquarie Park was also well off existing train routes until clogged roads forced a train line through last year which adds creedence to the idea that development isn’t just following the options provided by public transport.

As for the Western Suburbs? Regional centres? Buggered if I’m going out there!

And in person networking probably does help when you’re getting each other elected to each other’s boards and having pissing contests, in so far as these things help the company at all.

Of course, this means they pay more for real estate and wages and have less happy and productive workers, but they’re not going to be called on it. The smaller shareholders aren’t going to use their questions at the annual meeting to complain when there probably more vexing issues, and the heads of the institutional shareholders are probably guilty of the same sins. The employee’s ability to respond is buried by monosonistic alternative options.

Complaints about limited liability companies and the structure of corporations aren’t exactly new or confined to certain political beliefs. Real concerns about the financial and ethical decisions they lead to go back to Adam Smith at least! 300 years without easy answers probably means there aren’t many. Still, these problems bear considering.

Maybe if there was a form of stakeholder capitalism here things would be different. Say, if we had representatives of employees on the board like European companies, our urban outcomes would be, in Christie’s terms, more “European”. That of course would also bring a whole bunch of other issues .

Alternatively, a hypothetical world where companies in and of themselves are maximising agents, we would end up in urban places that required less massive infrastructure for funnelling people and less trade offs of wages for commuting time. Such companies would probably result in less savoury results as well.

All I can say is the system of corporate governance in a country can have quite far reaching effects on almost any aspect of life. Society is complex.

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Campaign For Democracy Update # 6

This update comes to you from day two of the Southern Field Days in Gore. We are having a great response to the petition with about 7 out 10 of

those being asked to sign the petition agreeing to do so. Just on 1000 signatures in the first two days!

On Friday Barbara and I will return to Dunedin to collect at the Farmers Market and other venues of the weekend.

Until you actually spend some time out collecting it will be hard to comprehend fully how New Zealanders feel about the rejection of the Referendum last year. To be sure some are skeptical about whether another referendum will be listened to, but the vast majority are prepared to give it a go. Knowing that it will almost certainly be held at the election in 2011, they can understand that the referendum will apply considerable pressure on all political parties to address the current lack of any proper check and balance to restrain the potential abuse of executive power in NZ.

Next Tuesday, 16 Feb, we will be back in Auckland to hold a press conference as we officially begin the road trip to promote the Campaign4Democracy (location and exact time to be announced shortly). Join us if you are able.

We will then drive to Napier for a week of events surrounding the Art Deco Festival.

Then up to Kataia for the A&P show and down to Dargaville March 4-6 for the Northern Field Days. Tentatively it will then be activity around Auckland until we head to Palmerston North and Fielding for the Field Days there Mar 18-20. (All suggestions for locations to visit welcome)

If you can help at any of these events, or perhaps arrange any meetings for us along the way, please get in touch. I am keen to stop for a few days in Whangarei while in the north.

Attached to this email is a pdf of the signs we are using to advertise the petition. You can order some from us or take this pdf to your local sign producer.

Till next time,

Warm regards,

Larry Baldock

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Novel idea for a govt

Mauritius launches referendum on way forward for the Island

The Mauritian government will, on Thursday, 18 February, launch a national referendum at which the people will express their views on how to make the country a "durable Island", PANA reported from the Mauritian capital, Port-Louis.

Professor François Odendaal, facilitator for the project 'Mauritius for a durable Island', announced that the referendum would be opened to all shades of opinion and citizens -- women, men, fishermen, small and medium-sized companies, corporate sector, local authorities and the various ministries.

The referendum will be on for six months, Professor Odendaal said, adding that after the event, Mauritius would drafted a document defining the national vision for a durable Island.

According to him, "Mauritians will have to express their points of view on the model of country they want to live in 20 or even 50 years from now and their priorities."

"If they succeed, they will be an example not only for themselves, but also for the other Islands of the Indian ocean and even to for the bigger countries in Africa." he said.

He emphasized that Mauritius was not currently a durable Island because the country imported most of its food.

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Minimum Wage Is Hurting Young NZers

Press Release by Hon Sir Roger Douglas, ACT New Zealand. Thursday, February 4 2010

It's very rich of Labour's Annette King to blame National for the high rate of unemployment for young New Zealanders when it is, in fact, Labour's abolition of youth rates that has caused this problem, ACT Finance Spokesman Sir Roger Douglas said today.


"Since youth rates were abolished in early 2008, the unemployment rate for 15-19 year-olds has almost doubled. The number of unemployed youth has risen by 18,800 people," Sir Roger said.


"It is pretty clear what is causing this to happen – if you look at the 10-year period before the abolition of youth rates, youth unemployment peaked at 15.9 percent. Today, it stands at 26.5 percent.


"An excessive minimum wage denies young people the opportunity to get a job, as employers cannot afford to hire them. When unemployed, they can't gain work experience, don't receive on-the-job training, and never develop a work ethic.


"If Annette King really cared about those young people who cannot find a job, she would end support for the policies that Labour voted for that caused it. Instead, she seems to think the solution is make-work schemes paid for by the taxpayer or hiding the problem by allowing more to become students.


"Labour has caused the excessive rise in youth unemployment and now wants taxpayers to pick up the tab," Sir Roger said.

ENDS

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Baldock: On the road 4 Democracy

Update #7: Larry Baldock On the Road 4 Democracy

800 signatures collected at the Art Deco weekend in Napier. Thanks for your help Harold and Cynthia Manning, Stephen Jenkinson and Alan Frame. Also thanks to Bruce and Julie Collingwood for your hospitality.

Helensville A & P show 400 signatures collected thanks to Graham Braddock for helping and Tim and Sharon Forlong for your hospitality.

Dargaville Field Days 1000 signatures. Unfortunately the last day of the show was rained out at 11.30 after we had already collected 200 signatures in the first couple of hours.

Kaitaia 50 signatures in just one hour on Monday morning in the main Street.
We decided to go all the way to Cape Reinga Sunday afternoon to collect a few signatures at the top of the country. See photo evidence

Later in the year we will do the same at Bluff, possibly even Stewart Island as suggested by Kevin Kerr in a recent email. (see below)
Your comments!

Hi Larry, 
great to see you & your wife on the road for democracy! I have downloaded the petition forms for this campaign as I did for the last petition on the repeal of the Anti smacking bill. I think I collected roughly 300 to 400 hundred signatures for that one on my own & should easily surpass that this time as I am more determined than ever that we have democracy in this wonderful country of ours. Time to get our A's into G and do something about it.
Maybe next time you’re down for the southern Field days you might come to Bluff and perhaps Stewart Island, it would be great to meet you & your wife.

Cheers

Oh for a few hundred people as determined as Kevin and the job will be half done.

Mailbox
Barbara and I are meeting many on the road who are very keen to see this referendum succeed and the database is growing. The only disappointment is the news from home that our mailbox is not full. Many thanks this time though to John Kilford who sent in 100 signatures recently.

Please
If you haven’t begun collecting already, could I ask you to begin by trying to get at least one page of signatures completed this week from family, friends and workmates and post them in.
By next week I expect we will have collected more than 5000. If we had just one page from most of you we could see that figure treble very quickly. Petition forms are on the website to download.

Over the next week I will post on the website some answers to the frequently asked questions we get (FAQs). It will also include answers to some of the objections that are often given about binding referenda.
For those who wish to do some further reading you will find some interesting articles at the Better Democracy website run by Steve Baron http://www.betterdemocracy.co.nz/studies.php

Regards

Larry & Barbara Baldock.

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