February 2013 Report 14 2058 EmpowerNZ Drafting a constitution for the 21st century Project 2058: Report 14 February 2013 EmpowerNZ Drafting a constitution for the 21st century This report forms part of Project 2058, the Institute’s flagship project. Report name EmpowerNZ: Drafting a Constitution for the 21st Century Published Copyright © McGuinness Institute Limited, February 2013 ISBN 978-1-972193-04-4 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-972193-05-1 (PDF) This document is available at www.mcguinnessinstitute.org and may be reproduced or cited provided the source is acknowledged. Prepared by The McGuinness Institute, as part of Project 2058 Editors Wendy McGuinness, Rory Sarten and Ella Spittle Contributors Emeritus Professor John Burrows, Louis Chambers, the Hon. Peter Dunne MP, Te Ururoa Flavell MP, Paul Goldsmith MP, Max Harris, Professor Philip Joseph, Dean Knight, Niki Lomax, Gillian McCarthy, the Hon. Jim McLay, Lydia Nobbs, Dame Dr Claudia Orange, Sir Tipene O’Regan, Diane White and the participants of EmpowerNZ: Drafting a Constitution for the 21st Century. About the Institute The McGuinness Institute is an independently funded non-partisan think tank. The main work programme of the Institute is Project 2058. The strategic aim of this project is to promote integrated long-term thinking, leadership and capacity-building so that New Zealand can effectively seek and create opportunities and explore and manage risks over the next 50 years. It is hoped that Project 2058 will help develop dialogue among government ministers, policy analysts and members of the public about alternative strategies for the future of New Zealand. 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To view a copy of this licence visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz Contents Preface ______________________________________________________________________________1 Part 1: Methodology __________________________________________________________________3 Overview ____________________________________________________________________________3 Introduction __________________________________________________________________________4 Workshop Programme ________________________________________________________________ 11 Part 2: Inputs _______________________________________________________________________12 Overview ___________________________________________________________________________ 12 The Hon. Jim McLay: 1984 and All That __________________________________________________ 13 Sir Tipene O’Regan: The Importance of the Review __________________________________________ 25 The Hon. Peter Dunne MP: Lessons from the 2005 Inquiry ____________________________________ 27 Professor Philip Joseph: The Key Elements of a Constitution ___________________________________ 29 Dame Dr Claudia Orange: Why a Constitutional Conversation is Important ______________________ 33 The Working Dinner _________________________________________________________________ 35 Emeritus Professor John Burrows: Building a Constitution for the Future ________________________ 37 Te Ururoa Flavell MP: The Importance of the Cross-Party Reference Group _______________________ 39 Eight Questions for the Facilitators ______________________________________________________ 41 Cross-Party Reference Group Panel _____________________________________________________ 48 Part 3: Process ______________________________________________________________________50 Overview ___________________________________________________________________________ 50 Preparing the Draft Constitution ________________________________________________________ 51 #EmpowerNZ _______________________________________________________________________ 65 A Designer’s Perspective _______________________________________________________________ 67 Illustrating EmpowerNZ ______________________________________________________________ 69 Part 4: Outputs _____________________________________________________________________70 Overview ___________________________________________________________________________ 70 The Draft Constitution _______________________________________________________________ 71 Part 5: Outcomes ____________________________________________________________________74 Overview ___________________________________________________________________________ 74 A Constitutional Expert’s Reflections ____________________________________________________ 75 A Facilitator’s Reflections ______________________________________________________________ 77 A Guest’s Reflections _________________________________________________________________ 78 A Participant’s Reflections _____________________________________________________________ 79 The Way Forward ___________________________________________________________________ 81 Acknowledgements __________________________________________________________________ 89 Preface Dame Dr Claudia Orange The EmpowerNZ event began with a hollow glass But the workshop is not the end of the road. baton which was passed on to the 50 young people These participants are our ambassadors – our assembled at Parliament. With it came a challenge: kaiwhakahaere. Each of them has committed to to fill it with thoughts and ideas for New Zealand’s ten hours of voluntary work. They have taken the constitutional future. Two intense days later, time to become informed about the pathways of those young participants passed that baton on to constitutional change. Now they have a tool kit me, now filled with the Draft Constitution. I took to draw from. They can encourage people to grasp the baton with excitement and a keen awareness the unique opportunity the Constitutional Review of the huge task of helping to contribute to the provides to contribute to a better future for our national conversation at this pivotal time in our national family of New Zealanders. constitutional history. I am pleased that Te Papa is committed to playing Those 50 young leaders, ranging from 16 to 28 its part and is well set up to do so as the national years of age, had mulled over a very broad range marae. It can be neutral ground for these forums of constitutional matters. They were urged to be of national significance and can assist others in ambitious. They became fluent in terms such as mounting discussions. ‘entrenchment’, and ‘supreme law’. They considered the values that should be expressed, the structure As the baton was passed to me during the finale I and the processes, and the changing demographics implored the participants to go from Parliament of our New Zealand. The need for flexibility was and let their voices be heard in the four corners acknowledged but also the need to guard against of our nation! To continue to define and express abuse of power by Parliament. The need to give a vision for our 21st-century New Zealand. Let’s certainty to the Treaty was recognised, and, finally, grasp that dream, build its foundations, take it they reflected on the need to give legitimacy to any where you will, run with it! constitution, and how best to do that. E hoa ma nga rangatahi: The participants rose to the challenge magnificently. The more the talk went on over the two days, the Kia kaha, kia maia, kia Manawa nui higher the level of sophistication. There were dif- ferences of opinion, but no tempers, no angst. They Be strong, be steadfast, go for it! were not daunted by the wealth of writing about the constitution, nor diverted by the words of the experts with them. Instead they have bravely dared to propose new ways for the future. EmpowerNZ was designed to provide a space for putting minds and energies into addressing the constitutional issues signalled by government in the Constitutional Review. What these participants came up with is more than has been asked for in the Constitutional Review – they have pointed the way forward for New Zealand. These young leaders will be among those who en- gage in and lead Constitutional Review discussions. In the next decades, we will be looking to them for leadership to navigate for New Zealand in the 21st century, and indeed towards another new century. Well before then, we will enjoy a New Zealand identity that we celebrate in our cultural diversity, one that is securely