The 2017 election campaign’s policy debate hit an all time low. The campaign was marred by a lack of media analysis of policy, an overwhelming focus on personality and the deliberate use of slanted facts and spin. The continual drip-feed of policy means we are never able to marshal all the policies in one place for a real comparison. This makes rational choice for voters increasingly difficult. The Outdoors Party wants the people of our nation to have more power in politics so will push for the following changes.
1) Only donations to political parties from those who can vote in New Zealand – in other words, no donations from overseas interests or corporations.
2) No roadside electoral campaign advertising – this just demonstrates who has the most funding and creates enormous amount of waste without adding knowledge or awareness of policy or what the person stands for.
3) Parties submit all policy to the electoral commission well before the
election
4) The Electoral Commission supplies a spreadsheet to the public and media with each party’s policies and the mechanisms by which they will be
implement, costed independently and presented in a standard format,
along with current practise in the same spreadsheet so that each voter
can see what changes are proposed. The standard format would allow
real comparisons of policies.
(5) The current system of allocated broadcasting time to each party
would continue, now to be used to explain and debate policy
spreadsheets. The spreadsheets would focus debate on policy
After a complete electoral term, we will be able to compare the current
practises with the original policies, providing an invaluable ‘score card’
for the incumbent government and allowing voters to see just what has
and hasn’t been achieved.
(6) The Electoral Commission would be charged with making the policy
comparison template in order to present policy in the most meaningful
way to voters. Immediately following each election, the commission
would take public submissions on the structure of the policy template.
These changes to our system would lead to increased public debate and
engagement with politics and better informed voting.