Better Democracy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Better Democracy is a non-partisan lobby group in New Zealand, with the objective of bringing about binding citizens' initiated referenda as a form of direct democracy. The group was founded by Steve Baron in 2003, and originally know as Voters' Voice.
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[edit] Petition
Initially Steve Baron applied to the Clerk of the House of Representatives in April 2003 for a petition under the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993 for a referendum to make citizens initiated referendums binding on the government. 20,209 signatures were collected, well below the requirement of 10% of the voting population.
The New Zealand First Party has since officially endorsed binding referendums, although has not pushed the issue under its current agreement with Labour. The small Direct Democracy Party also advocate for binding referendums.
[edit] Prominent supporters
The groups website lists a number of prominent supporters:
- Ian Wishart, editor of Investigate Magazine;
- David Lange, former Prime Minister of New Zealand;
- Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First Party;
- Michael Laws, Mayor of Wanganui, former MP and talkback host;
- Christine Fletcher, former Mayor of Auckland and former MP;
- Roger Kerr, Chairman of the New Zealand Business Roundtable;
- Garth McVicar, Chairman of the Sensible Sentencing Trust; and
- Graham Stairmand, President of the Grey Power New Zealand Federation.
