Reading the ladder, this seems more like step 6 than 5. Maybe more like 5.5; but
The Commissioner gives the policy institutional backbone – ensuring continuity across electoral cycles and demanding Government engages seriously with Citizens’ recommendations.
The key for me here is “across electoral cycles”. The left-right swings are a real problem here in NZ; long term systemic issues are not getting solved effectively.
It is obviously not, citizens forcing the government to do their bidding. But this is a major step in the right direction, if this party gets into power next year and manages to implement this policy.
Sounds like a PAR-lite process that would live in the “tokenism” section of the citizen’s ladder of participation.
Reading the ladder, this seems more like step 6 than 5. Maybe more like 5.5; but
The key for me here is “across electoral cycles”. The left-right swings are a real problem here in NZ; long term systemic issues are not getting solved effectively.
It is obviously not, citizens forcing the government to do their bidding. But this is a major step in the right direction, if this party gets into power next year and manages to implement this policy.