Janine Hayward

Mandatory Māori wards in local government: Active Crown protection of Māori Treaty rights

Historically, few MÄori have been elected to local government. In the last 10 years the Crown has created two opportunities for local government to increase the number of MÄori elected: the Local Electoral Act 2001 allows a local government to change its electoral system from the first-past-the-post (FPP) to the single transferable voting (STV) system; and the Local Electoral Amendment Act 2002 allows a local government to create local MÄori wards and MÄori constituencies (replicating the model of MÄori representation in the House of Representatives). Very few local governments have implemented either option. A small (and declining) number of councils have changed to STV. A few councils have polled their electors on the matter of establishing MÄori wards, but each poll rejected them. In 2010 the Crown renewed its commitment to the ‘option’ of local electoral reform in establishing the new Auckland City Council. The Crown rejected a Royal Commission recommendation to guarantee MÄori representation in the reconstituted council, preferring to allow the council and Auckland voters to engage in electoral reform if they wish to do so. Following the 2010 local government elections, MÄori are still chronically under-represented amongst elected councillors. This article argues that the Crown is failing in its duty of active protection of MÄori in laws relating to MÄori representation in local government. Drawing on Kymlicka’s arguments about group representation, the article argues that the Crown has dual obligations to MÄori in relation to local representation. It must recognize MÄori as a community of interest in local electoral boundaries and it also must increase the number of MÄori elected to local government. Both obligations can be met through the mandatory creation of MÄori wards in all local government. This article also defends guaranteed local MÄori representation against some common objections.

Media Takeover or Media Intrusion? Modernisation, The Media and Political Communications in New Zealand

To what extent does media logic influence political communication in New Zealand? In seeking an answer to this question, this article investigates the significance of the ‘modernisation’ process in New Zealand in the latter half of the twentieth century. It considers the impact of the process on political communication strategies and marketing techniques, especially during election time. The impact of commercialization on the media, particularly journalists’ perceptions of their roles within the media-journalism relationship, is also examined. The conclusion is that media intrusion is evident but not a media takeover of political communication.

The Coverage of Post-War Election Campaigns: the Otago Daily Times

The paper examines the coverage of election campaigns by the Otago Daily Times for the period 1946-2002. Four aspects of campaign coverage are addressed: the degree of partisanship of editorials, and party balance in news stories and their placement; the presidentialisation of coverage; the relative shares of ‘game’ and substance stories; and the extent to which coverage is national rather than local in focus. The paper finds clear evidence of a decline in both partisanship of editorials since the 1970s and balanced party coverage in other news stories across the whole period. There has been an increase in stories devoted to party leaders and the horse-race and hoopla aspects of the campaign. There has also been an increase in nationally focused stories. However, there remains substantial coverage of parties and their policies, and during the 1990s there was evidence of an increase in local and regionally focused stories. Overall, readers of the Otago Daily Times have significant opportunity to become ‘informed’ voters.

ANGER AND CONSTRAINT? NEW ZEALAND'S ELECTORAL POLITICS 1992 TO 2014

New Zealands electoral referendum in 1993—at which New Zealand abandoned first-past-the-post in favour of mixed member proportional representation—has been described as ‘an electoral earthquake’ after ‘generations of dormancy’ [Norris, P. 1995. Introduction: the politics of electoral reform. International Political Science Review 16 (1): 3–8, p. 4]. Alan Renwick [2010. The Politics of Electoral Reform: Changing the Rules of Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] has argued that the referendum is an example of electoral reform by elite–mass interaction, which is very rare in Western democratic nations. New Zealand is, therefore, a valuable case for analysis of electoral reform. Even more exceptional by international standards was the follow-up referendum New Zealand held in 2011/2012 on the electoral system. This article brings analysis of New Zealands electoral politics up-to-date to include these recent events; it specifically asks whether Renwicks theory of elite–mass interaction also explains the outcomes of New Zealands electoral politics in 2011/2012. It reveals that the 2011 referendum does not fit easily with the stages in Renwicks model (and New Zealands previous experience) because the 2011 referendum was manufactured by government elites, not demanded by the New Zealand public. But the principle underpinning Renwicks model—that mass discontent with the general state of politics acts as a legitimacy constraints on elites—still has important analytical value in explaining the New Zealand case; unlike in 1992/1993, in 2011/2012 the New Zealand government was able to ignore the (complacent) publics electoral system preferences without fear of being punished at the polls.

Book Review: Andrew Erueti and Claire Charters (eds.), Maori Property Rights and the Foreshore and Seabed: The Last Frontier (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2007), pp. 205, paper

chapters by Boston, by Boston in collaboration with Chapman, Ward and Kengsmana, and by Chasek offers a strong introduction to, and overview of, the suite of issues in play in international climate negotiations and also provides fine analysis (in part now outrun by negotiations at and since Bali) that in turn sets the ground for considering what New Zealand should include in its international and domestic climate policy stance. The second ’half of the book with its treatment of New Zealand’s domestic