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PoliticsJanuary 16, 2025

The submission surge: How having a say on new laws went from nerdy to normal

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As parliamentary staff start to read through thousands of submissions on the Treaty principles bill, Shanti Mathias explores how submitting became the go-to way to engage with politics – and asks whether it makes a difference. 

While the exact number is currently being confirmed, it seems almost certain that submissions on the Treaty principles bill will total more than 300,000, a new record for levels of public engagement during the select committee process. It’s the latest example of an increasingly popular way for regular people to participate in politics: submitting on bills before they become law. 

“The Foreshore and Seabed Act under the Helen Clark Labour government received over 4,000 written submissions, and that was considered a huge number of submissions at the time,” says Eddie Clark, a senior lecturer in law at Victoria University of Wellington, who specialises in how the public engages with the government. “Yet that’s just 2% of the submissions expected for the Treaty principles bill.” 

What has changed in the two decades since the Foreshore and Seabed Act was passed in 2004? A rise in submissions isn’t simply because legislation has become more controversial. While the Treaty principles bill and the fast track legislation (27,000 submissions) attracted large volumes, other issues with similar degrees of possible political controversy didn’t: the high-profile law that outlawed displaying gang patches in public attracted only 164 submissions, and the Immigration Act amendment to give further oversight over potential mass arrivals of people seeking asylum in New Zealand on a boat received just 322 submissions. 

Nor is the increase in submissions due to leftwing, online groups being mobilised against the National-led government. The current record holder for number of submissions is the ban on conversion therapy, passed by the Labour government in 2022. 

Accessibility is one factor, of course. Almost all submissions are now made online, rather than through the post, and it’s more straightforward to open a new tab and type into a box than it is to write on paper, find an envelope and stamp and locate a post box (especially as New Zealand Post services become less frequent and more expensive.) “A one-paragraph comment saying ‘don’t pass this bill and here’s why’ can take five minutes to submit,” Clark says. “The barriers to engagement are lower.” 

To him, the investment parliament has made in making the digital submission process nearly seamless is a good thing, even if the thousands of Treaty principles bill submissions stretched the IT systems. “Democracy isn’t just what happens at an election – it’s important for people to be civically engaged outside of elections,” Clark says.

Submissions are made to select committees, which are smaller panels of MPs from all parliamentary parties whose makeup reflects the ratio of parties in parliament. After its first reading, a piece of legislation is assigned to a topical select committee (the Treaty principles bill to the Justice Committee, the fast-track bill to the Environment Committee, and so on). The MPs receive feedback from the public and concerned departments, and compose a report of proposed amendments and further information about the issue that is presented to all of parliament before the second reading. The committee doesn’t have the final say – for example, many of the final changes to the fast-track law were added through an amendment paper after the select committee stage, which is also how a controversial prohibition order addition was made to the gang patch law. 

a rookm with wooden panelling, a circular table with office chairs and microphones
Select committee chairs before the MPs come and fill them

Increasingly, submissions play a role in broader politicking, as political parties, NGOs and activist groups try to make their voices heard – which is why these groups will often make up templates for submissions, contacting supporters and encouraging them to follow the templates.

Traditionally, submissions were considered to be a way to inform the select committee considering a bill about aspects of an issue that may not have been thought about, giving the politicians more detail and ideas to contribute to future iterations of the bill when they report back to the rest of parliament. Clark says that submissions have started to resemble a petition, a way for people to express their opinions about an issue, rather than necessarily engage with the actual wording of the proposed law. In 1985, 800,000 people (many of the signatures doubled up or discredited) signed a petition against the Homosexual Law Reform Bill that made gay sex legal; today, that might have taken the form of hundreds of thousands of submissions instead.  

“Parties sometimes treat [submissions] as a really expensive Stuff poll,” Clark says. “It’s not unimportant – it does give you an indication of extremes of public feeling – but there sometimes isn’t a lot of information when many of the submissions are in form templates.” In speeches supporting a bill or opposing it, politicians will often mention submission numbers to back up their position, Clark points out – even if numbers alone aren’t that telling. 

a forest with the beehive sitting in it and a paper plane crashing into the beehive
27,000 people wrote submissions on the fast-track bill (Image: The Spinoff)

Submissions aren’t like votes: not every one is equal, and more submissions against or for a particular bill won’t necessarily make it more likely to pass or fail, especially if the bill is supported by a governing party. Form submissions create volume, but they don’t raise new points, meaning these submissions will be considered together, rather than based on number. “Even if you’ve reworded a form submission a bit, if you’re saying the same thing in the same way as other submissions, it’ll just go into a repeat pile,” Clark says. Individually written, unique submissions, especially those raised by subject matter experts or leaders of relevant organisations, might have more heft. 

For example, as part of the university’s role as a “critic and conscience” of society, Clark submitted on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, suggesting specific wording that included examples of what constituted a conversion practice – language that made it into the final version of the law. “There are some submissions you can make where you can see the throughput, especially if you suggest drafting changes to the language of the bill.” Nearly 70% of the submissions for the conversion therapy ban were templates from activist groups, while 38,900 were written individually. “The unique submissions were all read and analysed, and formed the basis of our consideration of matters in this bill,” the select committee report reads.

On a logistical level, a huge volume of submissions creates extra work for parliamentary staff who support select committees. It’s not possible for every member of the select committee to read all submissions – your words might not end up in front of the eyeballs of a member of parliament, but will be read by someone. This is a huge amount of work, especially because the Office of the Clerk has a fixed amount of funding that is used for reading through exceptionally high volumes of submissions, on top of its normal work. 

There’s every sign that the enthusiasm for participating will continue. Thanks to some social media campaigns, more than 20,000 submissions were lodged during the consultation period for a proposed Regulatory Standards Bill, which hasn’t even been drafted or introduced to parliament yet. “Usually it’s just 20 nerds like me whose job it is to think and write about the law who submit on things like that,” Clark says. The calls to submit emphasised potential harmful impacts of the as-yet-untabled bill. 

While it creates extra work, there is widespread agreement that public engagement in legislation is ultimately a good thing. “Even people who don’t support my bill appear to be supporting the idea of mass participation in what the Treaty means in 2025. I think that is very, very exciting,” David Seymour told Stuff as submissions on his bill closed. Clark agrees. The volume of submissions might not make a direct impact on a bill the governing party has already promised not to support past its second reading, but participating in democracy is a win in itself. “You don’t have to be an expert for your feedback on a bill to be useful,” says Clark. “There are always things officials don’t know, and we’ve made it easier to have a say. That doesn’t mean your perspective will win, but engaging with the substance of lawmaking is incredibly important for a healthy democracy.”

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PoliticsJanuary 16, 2025

Stayin’ alive at the Beehive in 2025: Your handy guide to the year ahead in politics

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A plan about ferries, highly anticipated select committee hearings and a new deputy prime minister are all on the cards for Aotearoa in the 2025 political year. Here’s a rundown of what to expect and when to expect it.

The ‘brace for impact, it’s coming soon’ bits

The political calendar usually kicks off at Rātana Pā near Whanganui with the annual commemoration of the creation of the Rātana church and the birthday of its founder, Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, on January 24. This year, the prime minister is jumping in early with a state of the nation address in Auckland the day prior. Luxon will then head to Rātana, as will MPs from all the parties in parliament except for Act, whose members make a point of not attending the celebrations.

Four days later, on the last Tuesday of January, parliament will resume  for the first of the 82 sitting days of this year. With submissions on the Treaty principles bill (which is at select committee stage) and Regulatory Standards Bill (still a discussion document) having recently closed, you can expect these issues to lead early debates in parliament. Meanwhile, the Justice Committee will begin its weeks-long public hearings of submissions on the Treaty principles bill.

The church at Rātana pā, where the political year usually kicks off (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

Ahead of a prime minister-less Waitangi Day at the Treaty Grounds, the National Iwi Chairs Forum will meet in the far north on February 3 for the first of four annual discussions. The entity, which represents 82 iwi across Aotearoa, usually meets with government officials for this annual hui and the forum already has a clear talking point: its concerns with the Treaty principles bill. It’s unclear who in government will front the hui, as in August last year the Crown (including the prime minister and his ministers) was officially uninvited from future forums.

Luxon still hasn’t confirmed where he’ll be once Waitangi Day swings around on February 6, but Tama Potaka and other ministers will be at the Treaty Grounds to represent the National side. Two to three days of talks between politicians and iwi representatives will preempt the celebrations, and these discussions on the Treaty Grounds are often heated — last year, representatives from the Kiingitanga, the Rātana church and hundreds more attended the early talks, which largely focused on the Treaty principles bill, which was yet to be introduced to parliament.

By the end of February, the Justice Committee will be wrapping up its Treaty principles bill hearings. A report on the bill is due back on May 14, which may recommend changes, after which it will go to a second reading and, as promised by Luxon, will likely be voted down.

Some time in March, our newly minted minister for rail, Winston Peters, is expected to present his alternative plan for the fate of the Interislander ferries to Cabinet before a public announcement is made later. You may remember the ferries taking up a lot of headlines last year – some worked, many didn’t – after finance minister Nicola Willis’s December 2023 cancellation of Labour’s $3bn project to procure two massive rail-enabled ferries. Peters’ plan may include a $900m spend on smaller Interislander ferries which may be rail-enabled.

And then, the main event for the first half of the year: New Zealand gets a new deputy prime minister on May 31. David Seymour will take over the reins from Winston Peters in a historic changing of the guard in parliament, for that coveted seat next to Luxon in the debating chamber.

From left: the current deputy prime minister, the prime minister and the deputy prime minister in waiting.

The ‘we’ll get around to this one later’ bits

In May or June, finance minister Nicola Willis will unveil Budget 2025, which will be informed by goals to build a stronger economy, deliver effective services and “get the government’s books back in order and restore discipline to public spending”, according to the Treasury’s Budget Policy Statement. If this all sounds familiar, it’s because those were the same goals used to create Budget 2024, and it means it’s going to be another very tight budget: most of the government’s slim $2.4bn operating allowance has already been allocated.

Following the announcement of Budget 2025, parliament will have its first scrutiny week of the year from June 16-19, before the second and final scrutiny week from December 1-5. The June dates will see select committees examine spending in the budget, while the latter scrutiny week will be dedicated to reviewing how public entities have spent their money.

On September 4, Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po will celebrate her first koroneihana at Tūrangawaewae Marae. The week-long celebrations will be the first since the death of her father Kiingi Tūheitia, and will see Nga wai hono i te po make her first major speech as Māori queen.

But before then, local government issues will be at the forefront as New Zealand prepares for its local body elections, held every three years. These elections will decide whether the likes of Wayne Brown and Tory Whanau will continue their mayoral runs, and who does and doesn’t make it onto city, district and regional councils, as well as community boards and local boards. Postal voting will open on September 9 and close on October 11.

A street scene at dusk with a lit-up historic building and the text: "Every vote helps shape our future. Make sure you have your say. Next local elections October 2025.
Part of the campaign to increase voter turnout at this year’s local elections (Image: votelocal.co.nz)

At the same time, 42 authorities will be holding a referendum on Māori wards, thanks to a coalition agreement to reinstate a policy scrapped four years ago by Labour that requires citizen-initiated referendums in order to establish Māori wards. Councils that instated Māori wards without a referendum will now ask residents whether they want to retain these wards, designed to ensure Māori are represented in local government. So far, only two councils have voted to abolish planned or existing Māori wards: Kaipara District Council and Upper Hutt City Council.

Some time in October (presumably after the local elections), Luxon will meet with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. This meeting will likely see Luxon aim to progress a free-trade deal with India, the world’s fastest-growing economy. During the election campaign, he promised to secure such a deal during his first term.

The ‘we have to talk about this eventually’ bits

At some point, the government is expected to deliver a new plan for a new Dunedin hospital. After teasing a scaling down of the hospital project in September following a budget blowout, health minister Shane Reti and infrastructure minister Chris Bishop said a decision would be made “in a matter of weeks”. It’s now been a matter of months, and despite the government receiving advice from Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand in December, multiple Official Information Act requests from the Otago Daily Times have been declined or delayed.

After years of being talked about, the Smokefree 2025 version of New Zealand will arrive – or will it? As laid out in the annual New Zealand Health Survey, released in November, smoking and vaping rates in 2024 failed to decrease from the year prior, and RNZ reports 80,000 more people will need to give up the smoke this year to reach the goal of fewer than 5% of New Zealanders smoking by the end of 2025. Expect associate health minister Casey Costello to make some sort of announcement, perhaps informed by independent advice.

a letterbox with a sign saying "they save we pay no cuts to dunedin hospital"
A decision on the new Dunedin hospital was meant to come ‘in a matter of weeks’ last September (Photo: Shanti Mathias)

A few bills are still waiting in the wings for their first reading, including Green MP Kahurangi Carter’s member’s bill Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill, which would allow comedians to use copyrighted material to poke a bit of fun. Other bills are still at select committee stage, like the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which would allow Aotearoa’s news media entities to make commercial agreements with digital platform providers such as Google and Meta, and Act’s Karen Chhour’s Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill, which would establish a declaration for “serious” young offenders and a military-style academy order in the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989.

Currently at its second reading is Chhour’s Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill, which will remove the Treaty of Waitangi obligations of the entity’s chief executive and the wider Oranga Tamariki group. Due for its final reading is NZ First minister Shane Jones’ Crown Minerals Amendment Bill, which seeks to remove the ban on oil and gas exploration in Aotearoa.

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