Introduction

This is a collection of proposals, in blog form, for the people of New Zealand to consider through the political process. I have written it up following the strong response of the Ardern, or Sixth Labour, government to the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog is not to debate whether the response chosen by the Government, and similar responses by many governments around the world, were wise or foolish in the abstract. But the ability of the Government to take the courses it did revealed, in my opinion, real and seris defects in New Zealand's political and constitutional framework. I outline possible measures to improve that framework, philosophical and practical, in the following posts, which will be linked to on this page as I write them.

  1. End Parliamentary Sovereignty
  2. Establish fundamental rights of individuals, families and households
  3. Introduce the Optional Preferential Party Vote
  4. Give a firm constitutional basis to the highest court
  5. Re-establish trial by jury for most criminal matters, and make jury service dignified and well compensated

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