Make It Consistent
In New Zealand, as in many jurisdictions, the law specifies certain minimum age limits for acts such as getting married (16 years), enlisting in the armed forces (17 years), purchasing alcohol (18 years), entering contracts (18 years) and so on. One particular age limit, that relating to voting (18 years), has recently come under scrutiny as a result of the advocacy efforts of Make It 16, a group campaigning for the extension of the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds in New Zealand. As part of its campaign, Make It 16 commenced litigation, which eventually culminated in the New Zealand Supreme Court declaring in Make It 16 v Attorney-General that the legislated minimum voting age was inconsistent with the right to be free from discrimination, and that the inconsistency had not been justified.
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New Zealand: Rendering Account During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Just over a year since the first outbreak in New Zealand, we cast our eye back and reflect on the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Without question, the response is a study in the wonders of modern government, given the magnitude of the threat, the different dimensions of community wellbeing at stake and different parts of government involved in the response. Public health guidance, clinical health care, economic support and stimulus, social welfare and support, border security and surveillance. The list goes on....
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Bicameralism: an antipodean perspective
As outposts of the British Empire, the various state parliaments of Australia, and New Zealand as a whole, inherited the Westminster system of government with an elected lower house, in which government is formed, and an unelected house of review. In little under two hundred years, these parliaments have undergone a range of reforms, including democratisation of their upper houses. Two jurisdictions, however, took bolder steps: the Australian state of Queensland, and New Zealand, both demolished their upper houses entirely – with mixed results, at best.
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