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Friends oppose local board bid to control regional parks
Friends of Regional Parks (FORParks) has joined ratepayer and resident associations and others across the region in opposing the move by some local boards to take control of ‘decision-making and oversight’ of regional parks in their wards. Local board control of...
Road would ruin future for Mahurangi coastal trail
The grandest entrance to the harbour is from the sea, under sail. Coming a sublime second is to discover the Mahurangi on foot, from Waiwera. Currently, this requires closely judging the tide and some determined wading, to cross the Pūhoi. Once across the…
Thoughts from the front of the class
I am now three months off age 64. And I think I am finally over waking up election morning and making sure that me my children and one mokopuna go out and vote. My paternal grandfather urged his children to ‘tick the paper or don’t moan.’ I am of the same ilk, as was...
Tactics and polls or preference voting
It was uncannily similar to ancient Greece. In Saturday’s tactical voting, where 54% could be said to have voted against John Banks, citizens were mimicking the first formal Greek use of the ballot, which was to ostracise a civic leader—his name having…
Mixed-member means rout no landslide
The word has been expunged from the electoral lexicon. Had the election been held under first-past-the-post, the result would have been a landslide of global warming proportions. In its first successful election, in 1949, National won 51.9% of the vote…
Actions after election make history
It should probably start with the less-important issue. In this hypothetical ‘operation hymn sheet’, the leadership of the National and Green parties have been whisked away, their respective election celebrations still ringing in their ears, to a nice quiet place in...
Supplementary is mixed-member-disproportional
There are two mixed member systems on offer. Mixed member proportional and mixed member majoritarian, also known as both supplementary member and parallel voting. At a glance, one system appears to be fully proportional, and the other semi…
Graduatedly preferentially fixing fixed threshold
The two things are tied together. The coattails provision and the 5% threshold, in New Zealand’s implementation of mixed member proportional. But first, it is necessary to consider why either might be necessary. Mixed member…