New Zealand First has today announced that we will be campaigning to change the electoral law to ensure that only citizens have the right to vote.
Currently, any permanent resident who has gone through the normal process, after just two years living in New Zealand, can vote.
In addition, anyone who is here on certain visas that have no expiry date, are technically eligible to vote after just one year living in New Zealand.
I have supported and advocated for this change for 20 years or so. I think it is important that people become citizens of a country, not just reside there. Citizenship is important, and NZ provides very little incentive for residents to become citizens.
Around one in five people in NZ are not citizens. That is a very high proportion. I’d like to see it reduce. Not by having fewer immigrants, but by more of them becoming citizens.
In Australia and the UK only around 10% of residents are not citizens.
It is very rare for a country to allow non-citizens to vote. We are one of the few in the world, and our regime has been described as the most liberal in the world.
While I strongly back changing the eligibility from residents to citizens, I don’t like the idea of someone who has been eligible, losing their eligibility through no fault of their own. So I would grandfather in anyone currently on the electoral roll.
It is good to see NZ First promote this change. It should not be controversial.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
14 comments:
No Not grandfathering just make the process slick.
No, David, the law must exclude all non-citizens. Want to vote? Easy, earn it, become a citizen.
Not sure I agree totally David.
I am a "resident" and not a citizen.
I was born in Adelaide in 1946. We moved to NZ in 1950, where I have been residing ever since.
I have been educated here, worked here for 50+ years, paid taxes here and consider myself a true Kiwi !!
I did consider citizenship years ago, but it was a bureaucratic complex process and was not needed. It was also made clear to me that, being born in Aus, I was accepted.
However, I do agree that allowing migrants to vote after 2 years in wrong.
Make it 10 years ?
I was a permanent resident for 48 years having been brought to this country at the age of 2. In that time I consider I contributed more to this country than a lot of citizens and certainly paid a lot more tax. I earned my right to vote. What magical difference does parroting an oath of allegience make, particularly to a person who is not themselves a ciizen and doesn't bother to live here. And, a person to whom I'm already subject anyway by virtue of my British birth. I only converted because a permanent resident remains in New Zealand at the pleasure of the Minister of Immigration and I refuse to be held in thrall to a politician.
You have options, Doug and Jone. Either claim your right to vote by becoming a citizen, or recognise you haven’t earn the right. It’s pretty easy to get a passport for folks who have been here so long. Are you in or out?!
Fair comment, Jones Boy.
You miss the point, Anon 10:05.
Getting citizenship is bureaucratic, and unnecessary for folks like me who are true patriotic Kiwis by virtue of having lived here for the last 75 years
I totally agree that one should be a free, law-abiding "citizen" in order to vote. The "grandfather" clause is entirely appropriate, IMHO.
Bureaucracy is just part and parcel of living in a developed nation. Thousands go through the process every month, even those who find the process difficult and complex. Are you really saying it’s a barrier for you? If it is insurmountable, I suspect you might not be sufficiently qualified to make the right call in the voting booth anyways.
Dear Doug. We do not know the outcome of the election and policy, or the details of the policy.
May I humbly suggest you put your case to NZ First directly for clarity. There will be others in similar positions as yourself and indeed a large number. There may be a simple solution to the problem you appoint. It is not like they don’t do public meetings, a good opportunity to publicly rase it.
Your circumstance does not automatically call into question the validity or worthiness of the policy. Only how those in similar positions that are citizens all but in name re how that should be addressed.
Another question is what does NZ citizenship even mean in this country. Some citizens have more rights and influence than others based on ethnic background and beliefs being forced on other citizens. Citizen rights have been degrading over many years in NZ and democracy itself.
Another thought, not applicable to you, is the numbers of people that used NZ citizenship to then leave for Australia and in so doing abusing the privilege citizenship had bestowed.
The policy may simply end up a band aid while core issues remain unaddressed.
Regards
There is basically no difference in New Zealand law between the rights and responsibilities of a citizen and a permanent resident, other than the uncertainty that arises from the power of the Minister. So thousands are happy to conclude there's no point in getting citizenship because there's nothing special about it. Indeed, for those of us of British ancestry, letting our British passports lapse in favour of getting a NZ one has come back to bite us on the proverbial, with Britain's new entry requirements now boycotting our NZ passports. Yet another reason not to bother with NZ citizenship.
The Jones Boy has let the cat out of the bag . He is not a Kiwi , and never could be as he was not born in NZ.
Your comments always have a different aspect and now I understand why . Born in Blighty.
No, Anon 2:14 - what I was saying was that I was welcomed here in NZ back in 1950, and have always felt welcome and at home as a Kiwi right here in NZ !!
I simply did not need to go through some box ticking process to prove it.
I AM A KIWI !!
>"He is not a Kiwi , and never could be as he was not born in NZ."
Oh...... and what about someone born to NZ parents overseas?
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