Press release:

2^nd June, 2014

For immediate release:

New Zealand suffering from democratic deficit says lobby group:

Fast-tracking the introduction of Internet voting and ensuring that governments implement the outcomes of Citizen’s Initiated referenda are two ways to address New Zealand’s democratic deficit, according to a newly released documentary this week.

While most New Zealanders probably believe they live in a democratic society, Better Democracy New Zealand and its Founder, Steve Baron, suggest otherwise and have produced a documentary to substantiate their argument.

In the You Tube documentary, which is already attracting a large number of viewers and positive reaction, Better Democracy New Zealand suggests a number of significant changes to New Zealand’s democratic system. These include using the rollout of Ultra-fast broadband to address inadequacies in the voting system by enabling online voting, scrutinising legislation coming from the House of Representatives and introducing a direct democracy system that is enjoyed by more than 70% of Americans and all Swiss citizens.

The documentary titled, New Zealand’s Democratic Deficit, raises issues about many other aspects of the New Zealand political system;  the façade hiding what actually happens in Parliament, the quality of political leadership and their disregard for political processes, the lack of a codified Constitution, the fallacy of entrenched laws, the dilemma of ‘conscience votes’ in Parliament, the abuse of the ‘urgency’ process, along with what the documentary is calling New Zealand’s “Hall of Shame” which highlights the dark side of numerous past and present Members of Parliament.

Steve Baron says, “The feedback from people viewing the documentary has been very encouraging and the content has struck a chord with New Zealanders right across the political spectrum because they know there’s a problem with their political system but they just haven’t been aware of what the solution is, until now. It’s time we took a deep and thoughtful look at our very weak political system and made much needed changes”.

“It’s ironic that the Internet Party, which announced Laila Harre as its new leader this week, doesn’t even advocate for the use of the internet to improve our electoral system, says Mr Baron.

This documentary leads the viewer to consider what it suggests are powerful tools New Zealanders can use to resolve this democratic deficit—direct democracy, the Swiss based system of binding Citizens’ Initiated referendums, Veto referendums and Recall referendums which have held the Swiss political system in high regard by many political scientists around the world for over 140 years.

Mr Baron says, “We give our politicians too much power with the only check and balance being an election every few years which simply isn’t satisfactory in a modern, well educated, well informed society which now demands more say over issues that directly affect their lives”.

END

This documentary may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-sH4vM6CD8

For more information please contact:

Steve Baron

Email: steve@betterdemocracy.co.nz

Ph: +61457032081