Stan Lusby
Independent Advocate for Consensus Democracy
DUNEDIN NORTH ELECTORATE September 2017
Democracy = People Strength
Consensus = Majority Consent that leads to an Action.
“Informed Choice and Consent”
Maxim first used by Silvia Cartwright of Dunedin.
(Otago Girls High, Otago University,)
Former Governor General of New Zealand
Dame Silvia reformed the ethics of the New Zealand Medical Profession following the Cervical Cancer Case with this maxim. We can do the same for our New Zealand politicians.
Since 1984 when use of the new information flow technology became available, NZ Parties have refused to use it to inform MPs of the electorate opinion on issues before the House of Representatives.
More recently we can observe that British MPs were blind to the Brexit/Remain conundrum that has resulted from their referendum. American Congress and Senate representatives failed to foresee the current Presidential debacle. Must we in New Zealand continue with their arrogant, ignorant (from the verb to ignore), attitudes?
Since 1440 AD, (500 years before I was born) the invention of the printing press led to one or two people sending information out to thousands and, more recently, millions of people. To be fair to representatives it was only in the last thirty three years that is has become possible for an electorate the size of Dunedin North (50,000 people) to reverse the flow from the many to just one or two and this technology will vastly enhance the principle of democracy in the 21st Century. Given your desire to do so!?!
Reader’s Research
Google … www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36616028
EU Referendum: “The Result in Maps and Charts”
Flick through and see modern demographic presentation at its best.
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PROPOSAL 1 Establish a Demographics Department within Hansard.
We can use our mobile phones to register our opinion “for” or “against” a government (or private member’s) bill. The incoming advice is received within Hansard and processed.
Hansard then presents the demographic to the electorate MP just before he or she will be voting in the House of Representatives. They then make the country wide demographic available to all the representatives.
The vote within the House of Representatives takes place with representatives acting as free equals having, amongst all their other research, received the advice of their electorate. (No Party Whip interference at this stage). Final result released to the nation.
Advantages
Representatives bond closer to the people who elect them.
We can all see in general terms what has happened and so we become more aware of what is required to protect our democracy and our family life the next time a bill comes up for consent.
Government is in reality only an extension of our family life in which decisions are made as far as possible from a consensus of family members. For too long governments have regarded families as inferior units but families are not a subset of government. They are the very heart and soul and reason for good government.
If the Bill that has just been voted on received a majority consent (consensus) from our representatives it goes to the Governor General for the assent and becomes an Act that we must all act upon under law. We must have the right to advise those we elect before this happens.
PROPOSAL 2 Level The Tax Playing Field
“Government should get its income by transaction tax.” (Bob Jones 1984)
This proposal is aimed at correcting some serious anomalies in the unfair taxation process that has arisen due to the way that the party division favours different groups within our nation.
If we tax the flow of money as it exits all bank accounts at just one agreed fixed rate then the acquisition of money for government to run those services that we all require for common and social equity as well as for personal and nationwide security becomes fair and just.
Estimates range between 3.5% and 5% of the flow as it exits, private, personal, corporate and government accounts. This is sufficient to provide for the services currently operating. There will be no need for Income Tax or Goods and Service Tax (GST).
This very low rate contrasts widely with GST currently at 15%. As a super annuitant I receive my pension every fortnight. Thank you all for that. However, for those of us who pay all our bills, rates etc. on the following day I find that, together with petrol tax etc. my return to Central, Regional and District government is close to 50%. The highest percentage return of any group.
YET party politicians say that we cannot afford superannuation in the future and do not mention the immediate claw back of that 50%.
You can see that the playing field does need levelling and most of our poverty for low income earners, beneficiaries and students disappears under my system of Transaction Tax. Wealthy people and corporates will always spend more than the poor but their tax rate will be exactly the same as the little old lady down the street.
If we vary the single rate of tax, by consent, to fix emergencies, (earthquakes, and homelessness etc.) we can overcome the current process of working out of budgets for unknown and unexpected circumstances. (Budgets never did fix unknowns).
If government this evening appeals to us to increase the flat tax rate by 0.5% (half a cent for every dollar we spend) and target the emergency caused by today’s tsunami that has flooded Auckland, the appeal would almost certainly receive an immediate advisory consent from the citizens of our fair country. As a targeted account it would only last until the repairs have been successfully carried out in the spirit of government ensuring that our people are again warm and fed (immediate) until private insurance becomes available.
In short:-
- Don’t tax people, their property or their wealth. Such systems cause enmity. Tax the flow.
Please note that Consensus Democracy will reduce the current, almost feudal, power of party whips. The current system of listing representatives is reminiscent of aristocracy not democracy and it is a punitive system. Any party representative who crosses the house to vote with a majority of his or her electorate can be down listed and out of a job. (Anticipate and observe the fate of List MP Richard Prosser who was recently down listed by his party prior to the upcoming election).
Change can only come about by electing independent candidates dedicated to democracy.
This web information is authorised by Stanley Richard Lusby of 50 Haven Street, Moeraki RD2, Palmerston 9482. Otago.
Telephone 03 439 4106
Mobile 0276125607
Email stan.lusby@gmail.com
There were more independent candidates in 2017 than ever before yet not one of us made it into Parliament as your representative.
To stand independent of partisan control should be seen as an honourable commitment to the democratic institution we know as Parliament. Parliament stands superior to government and Hansard is a parliamentary unit that has been with us (as of 2017) for 150 years. It is the only unit dedicated solely to providing information of in-parliament happenings. Hansard was a publisher in the mid Eighteen Hundreds who sent a team and editor into the public gallery to record what MPs said because the British public were unhappy with the level of information they received from the newspapers (media). This service was seen as an essential unit of democracy and eventually incorporated as a Parliamentary service.
The reliability of Hansard over this long period of history has seen radio and television coverage added to the service it provides to the electorate. Hansard is, therefore, ideal for receiving the advisory “for” or “against” input from electors, processing it into a readily understandable demographic and presenting it to representatives before they vote on behalf of their (up to 50,000) voters in their electorate.
Think seriously about this logical advancement to our democratic process and the need to counter the propaganda that comes from the massive media radiation outward from our current party system. It has a minute percentage of party members when compared to the total number of New Zealand voters. This leaves our current system, known as Representative Democracy, sadly failing in terms of a truly democratic re-presentation. This, together with the punitive “down listing” process that political parties have started to use, is sufficient reason to reach out and support Independent candidates proposing to change the “consent” structure of decision making within our New Zealand Parliament ………. to include all of us.
Regards …… Stan. 8th of May 2018.