Exploring New Zealanders’ understanding of, and engagement with, Parliament and the democratic process Final research report Organisation: Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and the Office of the Clerk Attention: Suzanne Morton (RNZ); Rafael Gonzalez-Montero (Office of the Clerk) Date: 5 October 2017 Prepared by Colmar Brunton | Table of Contents Background and research method .................................................................................................................................... 3 The research method ................................................................................................................................................... 5 The main themes: Executive summary ............................................................................................................................ 7 The current state of engagement: There is a real detachment from Parliament and the democratic process ........... 7 Factors working against engagement with Parliament and the democratic process ...................................................8 Building engagement .................................................................................................................................................. 11 Understanding the range of attitudes and behaviours .................................................................................................... 13 The current landscape of keeping informed .............................................................................................................. 13 The drivers of engagement with the democratic and parliamentary process .................................................................. 15 Segmenting the needs around informing and engaging with democracy .................................................................. 16 Democracy: The current state ........................................................................................................................................ 19 Parliament: The current level of engagement and knowledge ........................................................................................ 21 The official channels of engaging with Parliament .......................................................................................................... 23 Voting ......................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Approaching an MP .................................................................................................................................................... 24 Petitions ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Understanding of the petition process is low ............................................................................................................ 28 Making a submission .................................................................................................................................................. 29 The current barriers to engaging with Parliament ........................................................................................................... 31 The process is too complicated, disempowers, or sets people up for failure ............................................................ 31 The focus is on personalities, not the issues .............................................................................................................. 31 The language is intimidating ...................................................................................................................................... 32 The level of information and the issues can be overwhelming .................................................................................. 32 People just don’t see the need to engage .................................................................................................................. 33 How can we make it easier for people to inform themselves and engage? ..................................................................... 34 Raise awareness gradually, don’t overwhelm ............................................................................................................ 34 Make information and the process accessible ........................................................................................................... 34 Humanise the people involved ................................................................................................................................... 35 Take it to people where they gather .......................................................................................................................... 35 Keep it constantly fresh ............................................................................................................................................. 36 Provide varied modes of communication .................................................................................................................. 36 Give confidence that your opinion will not be ridiculed ............................................................................................ 37 Use trusted and unbiased presenters ........................................................................................................................ 37 Prepared by Colmar Brunton | Page | 1 Exploring New Zealanders’ understanding of, and engagement with, Parliament and the democratic process The channels for informing and engaging ....................................................................................................................... 38 Engaging now is on an as-needed basis ..................................................................................................................... 38 Channels for engaging with the issues and process of Parliament............................................................................. 38 Parliament TV ............................................................................................................................................................ 40 The paradox of social media ...................................................................................................................................... 41 Social media is the platform for hearing about the issues, not necessarily engaging ................................................ 41 Conversation is the most accessible form of informing yourself ............................................................................... 41 Learning about Parliament in school .......................................................................................................................... 41 Reliance on media may hinder deeper engagement ................................................................................................. 42 Perceptions of Radio New Zealand ................................................................................................................................. 43 A general sense of confusion about what RNZ is ....................................................................................................... 43 RNZ is often “stumbled on” rather than actively sought out .................................................................................... 44 The young person’s perspective ................................................................................................................................ 45 RNZ is not ‘for me’ .................................................................................................................................................... 46 There is a core group of loyal RNZ followers ............................................................................................................. 46 RNZ presents well researched, interesting topics ...................................................................................................... 47 The RNZ website ........................................................................................................................................................ 47 The role of RNZ helping people engage with Parliament more ................................................................................. 48 Parliamentary coverage on RNZ ................................................................................................................................ 48 The RNZ charter .............................................................................................................................................................. 50 It’s more than I thought… .......................................................................................................................................... 50 Representing the Māori voice .................................................................................................................................... 51 There are questions over some charter points .......................................................................................................... 51 The charter is great in theory, but how is it executed? .............................................................................................. 52 Pushing RNZ further.......................................................................................................................................................