Voting rights

What is it with America’s current obsession with restricting voter eligibility as well as making the actual act of voting more difficult? To me and most Kiwi’s that is the antithesis of what democracy is all about. And might I add that their obsession with non-citizens voting seems to be little short of xenophobia. For a nation built by immigrants this seems highly hypocritical. Admittedly most nations restrict voting rights to citizens, but the US seems to have taken it more to heart than almost anywhere else.

New Zealand is one of a few nations in the world that grants voting rights to non-citizens in national elections and referendums. I can find only four countries (New Zealand, Malawi, Uruguay, and Chile) that allow permanent residents to vote in national elections without any restrictions. New Zealand is the most inclusive of these four, as it requires only one year of residence for permanent residents to be eligible to vote. In contrast, Malawi requires seven years, Uruguay requires five years, and Chile requires five years and a special oath.

New Zealand’s liberal approach to voting rights for non-citizens reflects its history of immigration and its commitment to democratic values. New Zealand has been granting voting rights to non-citizens since 1853, when it allowed British subjects to vote without any residence requirement. Over time, the eligibility criteria have changed to include non-British subjects and to introduce a minimum residence requirement, but the principle of extending voting rights to non-citizens has remained. New Zealand’s electoral laws also recognised the impact of the pandemic on international travel, and temporarily extended the overseas voting eligibility for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents for the 2023 General Election.

Consider this: 14% of American residents were born overseas, and a little over 6% of American residents are non-citizens. The same figures for New Zealand are 28% and 11% respectively. If extending voting rights to non-citizens had a negative impact on the well being of a nation, doesn’t it seem probable that any harm it might cause would have become apparent in this country before now?

New Zealand’s experience with non-citizen voting has been largely positive, as it has contributed to the integration and participation of immigrants in the political community. Non-citizen voters tend to have similar preferences and behaviours as citizen voters, and do not pose a threat to the national identity or interests of New Zealand. Non-citizen voting also enhances the representation and diversity of the electorate, and encourages the responsiveness and accountability of the government to the needs and concerns of all residents. Shouldn’t that be at the heart of good government everywhere?

Benefits of the New Zealand universal no-fault accident compensation scheme

This is a short essay on the benefits of the New Zealand universal no-fault accident compensation scheme created with the assistance of AI. Personally I would like to see the scheme extended to include all matters of health and disability as we currently have a two-tier system: those who suffer loss through illness or disease do not receive the same level of support as those who suffer loss through accident. But that’s another topic for another day.

New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world that has a universal no-fault accident compensation scheme, which covers all personal injuries caused by accidents, regardless of who is at fault. The scheme, which is administered by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), provides various benefits to injured people, such as treatment and rehabilitation costs, income replacement, lump-sum payments, and support for dependants. In exchange, people give up their right to sue for damages, except in rare cases of reckless conduct. The scheme is funded by general taxation and levies on employers, earners, and motorists.

The benefits of the New Zealand universal no-fault accident compensation scheme are manifold. First, it provides timely and adequate compensation to a greater number of injured people than a tort system, which is often costly, lengthy, and uncertain. According to Bismark and Paterson², the ACC system is simple and easy to navigate, with straightforward claims processed in weeks and all decisions made within nine months. The compensation awards are also consistent and fair, as they are based on a fixed schedule that ensures similar injuries receive similar compensation. Moreover, the system is remarkably affordable, as it has low administrative costs and avoids the expenses of litigation and insurance premiums.

Second, the scheme promotes community responsibility and solidarity, as it is based on the principle that everyone contributes to and benefits from a common pool of resources. The scheme reflects the social contract between the state and its citizens, as well as the mutual obligations among citizens. As Duncan¹ argues, the scheme embeds a sense of collective responsibility for preventing and mitigating the impact of injury, as well as a sense of collective entitlement to receive support and care when injured. The scheme also fosters a culture of trust and cooperation, as it reduces the adversarial and blame-oriented nature of a tort system.

Third, the scheme enhances provider accountability and patient safety, as it has mechanisms to address the quality and performance of health services and professionals. The scheme does not absolve providers from their ethical and legal duties, but rather encourages them to report and learn from adverse events, without fear of litigation. The scheme also works in tandem with the Health and Disability Commissioner, who is responsible for promoting patients’ rights, resolving complaints, and initiating disciplinary proceedings in serious cases. Furthermore, the scheme supports research and education on injury prevention and safety improvement, as well as incentives and regulations to reduce the risk and severity of injury.

In conclusion, the New Zealand universal no-fault accident compensation scheme is a unique and innovative system that offers many benefits to injured people, health providers, and society as a whole. The scheme provides comprehensive and fair compensation, fosters community responsibility and solidarity, and enhances provider accountability and patient safety. The scheme is widely accepted and supported by the public, and has been recognised as a model for other countries to emulate.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3 November 2023
(1) No-Fault Compensation in New Zealand: Harmonizing Injury Compensation …. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/journal-article/2006/feb/no-fault-compensation-new-zealand-harmonizing-injury.
(2) New Zealand’s universal no-fault accident compensation scheme …. https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n5314/pdf/ch14.pdf.
(3) Injuries we cover – ACC. https://www.acc.co.nz/im-injured/what-we-cover/injuries-we-cover/.
(4) No-fault, no difference: no-fault compensation for medical injury and …. https://bjgp.org/content/67/654/38.

Thanksgiving

No, it’s not celebrated in Aotearoa, although Black Friday is now firmly on the retailers’ calendar, replacing Boxing day (December 26) as the day with the highest retail turnover. Besides, it celebrates a myth and a whitewashing of America’s colonial past.

Before ill health forced me into early retirement 15 years before I anticipated, I worked for the New Zealand subsidiary of a multinational information technology company. The managing director of the NZ subsidiary was typically (but not always) a foreign national – often American. In the early years of the 1990s an American was appointed to the role of managing director, and in his wisdom, he decided that as the parent company headquarters were located in the US, the NZ subsidiary should follow the American tradition of Thanksgiving. Staff located in Auckland where the NZ head office was located were “treated” to a luncheon with turkey and speeches that were mostly meaningless to the attendees. Staff in the fifteen or so branches scattered across the country were “less fortunate”, as all we were “treated” to was turkey sandwiches that had been couriered to each staff member in every branch.

I hate to think what it cost the company, as turkey was almost unknown here at the time. I presume it was imported specially for the occasion. The six staff members in the branch I was based at took one bite of a sandwich, and instantly tossed all their sandwiches into the rubbish. None of us had tasted turkey before, and not one of us liked the taste one tiny bit. The same occurred in every branch, and apparently most of the turkey served in Auckland had a similar fate. It’s not something the Kiwi palate could easily accommodate.

No one had the courage to inform the managing director what they thought of the whole Thanksgiving fiasco, so he decided to celebrate Thanksgiving the following year. While many Auckland staff found excuses not to attend the luncheon, the branches hatched up a plan of their own. Every sandwich package delivered to the branches was carefully repackaged, addressed to the Managing director and sent by overnight courier back to Auckland. There were about 80 staff members across all the branches, so when he arrived at his office the following morning, the managing director found 80 packages of stale turkey sandwiches waiting for him.

We never heard mention of Thanksgiving again.

Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022: My time under the monarchy — Nik Dirga

The Queen is dead, long live the King.

Like Nik I’m ambivalent about the monarchy. Well actually it’s the hereditary nature of the role rather than the institution of the monarchy itself. Certainly separating the head of state from the head of government, outside of politics draws me to prefer the continuation of an institution that functions in a similar way rather than a presidential form of government. So until a better way of transferring the institution of the monarchy (or an equivalent) from one person to another is devised, I’m prepared to live with with the hereditary model.

For those who do not understand how the monarchy works, the monarchy of Aotearoa New Zealand is not the same as the monarchy of the United Kingdom. They are separate institutions regulated by different laws.

Unlike Nik, I’ve been a subject of a monarch for all my life, and all but three of them under Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ. One of my earliest recollections is standing on a raised lawn in the city of Whanganui waving to the new Queen as her cavalcade passed by. That was in January of 1954 on her NZ tour.

Queen Elizabeth II poses for a portrait at home in Buckingham Palace in December 1958. For almost 16 years now, I’ve been a subject of the Queen.  It’s kind of weird whenever I think about it — that a kid who was born in Alaska, grew up in the hills of California and went to […]

Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022: My time under the monarchy — Nik Dirga

What’s in a name?

Sometimes political “correctness” gets totally out of hand. Consider New Zealand Football mulling over whether they should change the nickname of the New Zealand soccer team, because some people might consider it racist. For those who aren’t aware, the nickname is All Whites. It has nothing to do with race or skin colour. It refers to the colour of their attire, which as the name suggests is indeed all white, in contrast the the national rugby union team who wear an all black uniform and unsurprisingly are known as the All Blacks.

Should the politically correct persuade New Zealand Football to change the team name, who will be next their next target? Many NZ national teams include a colour in their team names. Here’s a few:

• All Blacks (men’s rugby union)
• All Whites (men’s soccer)
• Black Caps (men’s cricket)
• Black Ferns (women’s Rugby Union)
• Black Fins (mixed gender life saving, men’s underwater hockey)
• Black Jacks (men’s and women’s lawn bowls)
• Black Socks (men’s softball)
• Black Sticks (men’s and women’s field hockey)
• Diamondblacks (men’s baseball)
• Futsal Whites (futsal)
• Ice Blacks (men’s ice hockey)
• Mat Blacks (men’s indoor bowls)
• Silver Ferns (netball)
• Silver Fins (women’s underwater hockey)
• Steel Blacks (men’s American football)
• Tall Blacks (men’s basketball)
• Wheel Blacks (men’s wheelchair rugby)
• White Ferns (women’s cricket)

Admittedly I’m not aware of silver being attributed to any racial or ethnic group, but hey, it’s a colour so get rid of that just in case. In fact there’s not too many NZ teams that don’t include a colour in their names:

• Football Ferns (women’s soccer)
• Ice Ferns (women’s ice hockey)
• Inline Ferns (women’s inline hockey)
• Kiwis (men’s rugby league)
• Kiwi Ferns (women’s rugby league)
• Tall Ferns (women’s basketball)

There has been only NZ one team name that in my view has had a somewhat inappropriate name and that was the New Zealand Badminton team. For a short while they officially adopted the name Black Cocks. However the International Badminton Federation was not amused. We don’t have smutty minds, and the name is still used as an unofficial name for the team.

Perhaps New Zealand sports teams don’t have very imaginative names – almost every name includes at least one of these words: black, white, sliver, fern – but that very fact makes them distinctly New Zealand. Leave them alone.

The Case for a Non-Commercial Public Broadcaster — Peter Davis NZ

Once again Peter Davis has reflected on a topic that has been on my mind for some time – public broadcasting in the online multimedia age. It’s a topic worthy of discussion particularly in light of the trend towards the polarisation of ideas and beliefs.

The Government recently established a working group to look at the possibility of establishing a new public broadcasting entity. At present Radio New Zealand (RNZ) is almost the only agency that adheres to a public broadcasting mandate largely free of commercial imperatives. Television New Zealand (TVNZ) is in public ownership, but in all but name […]

The Case for a Non-Commercial Public Broadcaster — Peter Davis NZ

Has the Treaty played a role in our Covid success?

Nicholas Agar, Professor of Ethics in the Philosophy programme at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths.

Here’s a question. How should we explain our success against the pandemic? Clearly, there are a few factors. The virus arrived comparatively late, meaning we could learn from other nations’ successes and messes; we had inspirational and scientifically-informed leaders; we are an affluent island-based nation with a comparatively small population.

I offer as a conjecture that our success can be partly traced back to our defining Treaty of Waitangi relationship and the way it brings together two peoples with different ideas about the world and how to inhabit it.

Has the Treaty played a role in our Covid success? – Newsroom

Agar suggests that it is the blend of individualistic ideas of European settlers, mostly British, and the collectivist thinking of the Māori that has been the success story of the pandemic. Unlike the “don’t tread on me!” attitude of many in the West, the authorities in Aotearoa New Zealand have been able to introduce measures that we have, by in large, accepted as necessary under the circumstances.

Elsewhere similar measures have been implemented only where the draconian powers of an authoritarian state exist, such as in China. The means by which the Wuhan authorities suppressed community transmission of the virus would, I believe, have been no more acceptable here than in America. The concept of a “team of 5 million” is, I believe, a direct result of the way our two very different cultures with different world views are merging.

The opinion piece by Nicholas Agar can be found on the Newsroom website: Has the Treaty played a role in our Covid success?

Politics – NZ style

“I hope that people, when they see us together, they realise that what they see about politics on the news isn’t actually the full story,” McAnulty added. “Chris and I are a good example of being on other sides of the House and having differing views, but it doesn’t stop you being people and it doesn’t stop you being mates.”

National’s Chris Bishop calls out Labour’s Kieran McAnulty over ‘big gas guzzler’ amid climate emergency

It’s a girl!

Amid much less fanfare that I thought was likely, our Prime Minister gave birth to a baby daughter yesterday. Rather surprisingly, when Google’s landing page is opened from a New Zealand IP address, a rather small image acknowledges the arrival. This is what you see:

Unless you know what the image really is, you could be forgiven for mistaking it as some stylised question marks. Why Google chose to make the image so small, I don’t know. It’s not like there’s much else on the Web-page. In fact the image consists of a small fish hook cradled between 2 big fish hooks representing two parents and child:

If you know that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s partner, Clarke Gayford, is the host of a popular TV fishing show, then the use of fish hooks starts to mean something. The image is the work of artist Stephen Templer of Wellington who based the design on one Jacinda and Clarke posted to Instagram when they announced they were expecting. As an aside, Clarke will be a stay at home dad and full time carer of the baby when Jacinda returns to work in six weeks time.

Matau (fish hook) is a prominent feature of Māori art alongside the koru (unfurling fern frond) and features in Māori mythology – New Zealand’s North Island was pulled from the depths of the ocean by a fish hook fashioned from the jawbone of Maui’s grandmother.

Hei matau are highly stylised fish hook ornaments, traditionally carved from pounamu or whalebone. Today it’s not unusual to see them made from other materials, but those with the most mana are made in the traditional manner.

Go Helen!

The UN has begun the process of selecting a new Secretary-General. Among the candidates is Helen Clark, a Former Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand. I’m not biased, but of course she’s the best candidate for the post.

During the past week candidates have been given the opportunity to give an “Informal dialogue for the position of the next UN Secretary-General”. By all accounts our Helen gave a good account of herself. If you’d like to watch her presentation I have provided two links below.

Opening remarks only (10 minutes)

Opening remarks and Q&A session (2 hours 15 minutes)

Why did the President General Assembly addressing Helen as Mrs Helen Clark, when, if she’s being addressed formally she prefers Ms Helen Clark? UN Protocol or ignorance?

I’ve been asked before why I show disrespect for some public figures by using their given name only. In case anyone hasn’t seen my explanation, here it is: In typical Kiwi fashion, we refer to public figures we admire or respect by their given name only, and we often address them this way to (depending on the circumstances). Those we dislike are usually given their full name, without title, or if we really dislike them, just their family name.