Maxim Institute - real issues - No 225 5 October 2006
WHO REPRESENTS WOMEN?
CAMERON'S NO CONSERVATIVE
POLICE NEED COMMUNITIES INVOLVED
IN THE NEWS: FEDERAL SPENDING DATABASE BECOMES LAW IN US MAXIM INSTITUTE CONTRIBUTES TO FAMILY POLICY CONFERENCE IN
CANADA MORE IN THE BANK ACCOUNT
WHO REPRESENTS WOMEN?
Minister of Women's Affairs, Lianne Dalziel, gave a speech at the 110th anniversary of the National Council of Women
(NCW) last week, redolent with praise for special interest groups.
The Minister said that as Minister of Women's Affairs she had three "partner organisations"; the NCW, the Maori Women's
Welfare League, and Pacifica, which gives her access to the "...best possible sources of information available ... from
women themselves". The NCW, she said, is heir to the legacy of the suffragettes who founded it, and who worked hard in
favour of equal rights for women.
Just how many New Zealand women have even heard of the NCW is a mystery. But what is even more mysterious is the
calculus under which the Minister treats it and her "partner organisations" as in some sense representing the voices of
all New Zealand women. The NCW may have been representative of the aspirations of women in 1896, when it was advocating
for women in Parliament, prison reform and old age pensions. But to link the legacy of the suffragettes to tiredly
liberal causes like repealing section 59 of the Crimes Act, government action plans for work-life balance and the Human
Rights Commission's "Give girls a go" campaign not only trivialises and misrepresents that legacy, it marginalises the
voices of women who refuse to toe the feminist line.
New Zealand women are not monolithic; there are a range of responses to the issues the Minister raises, and they are not
all liberal. Kate Sheppard built a coalition of diverse women from the grass-roots up; they were women with real and
common concerns about their place in society. As the Minister admits, the suffragettes valued women's role outside the
home as well as the vocation of motherhood. Kate Sheppard reached out to a wide variety of women, even those who
espoused the "conservatism" which the Minister takes a swipe at in her speech. And Kate Sheppard did not need a
government "Give girls a go" campaign to do it. She opened doors for women by kicking them down, without a government
strategy or an action plan. That is why Kate Sheppard changed the country, and why the NCW, the Minister and her fellow
travelers remain irrelevant to it.
To read the Minister's speech, please visit:
www.beehive.govt.nz
CAMERON'S NO CONSERVATIVE
David Cameron, the leader of the British Conservative Party, honed his skills in political rhetoric at the Party's
annual conference this week. Buried beneath the politicking are some important concepts such as social responsibility
and quality education. But aside from the odd positive innovation, Cameron is increasingly representing a new brand of
conservatism that lacks coherence and is founded upon ad hoc pragmatism.
He chastises his own party for having emphasised issues such as tax cuts, grammar schools and Britain's relationship
with Europe-apparently because these don't top the list of Britons' concerns. But he fails to realise that abandoning
these issues does more than simply shift the policy direction of the Party, it actually takes it far from its
conservative roots. Ultimately, any policy position speaks of an underlying assumption about human nature and the world.
Cameron is moving away from the traditional conservative understanding that government, whilst necessary and useful, is
also something we must treat with a healthy respect, aware of its limitations and dangers. Rather, he faces government
with a determined optimism; it seems no problem is too big for the government to fix. Cameron is happy to use the
government to promote cultural change, incentivising mothers into the work-force and engineering "work-life balance".
His decision to abandon tax cuts is another example. Whether a Party advocates high or low levels of taxation is, to a
large extent, determined by how much they trust the people they govern. Should people be encouraged to spend their money
responsibly, or should the government do that for them? Does recognising someone's dignity involve allowing them, where
possible, to exercise freedom?
We may not agree with the carelessness with which some people spend their money, but ultimately, developing a culture
which encourages citizens to act with conscience is preferable to abdicating that duty to government. If anything, it
reminds us of the need to nurture good character in our citizens.
By answering the big policy and human questions based on pragmatism and popularity rather than a coherent philosophy,
Cameron abandons many of the assumptions upon which a conservative understanding is based. In that sense, Cameronian
conservatism is not conservative at all.
POLICE NEED COMMUNITIES INVOLVED
The release of New Zealand's crime statistics put the police squarely in the public gaze this week. With the level of
resolved crime remaining constant from the year before, there is an urgent need to find ways of assisting the police.
The release of the latest discussion document for the Police Act Review highlights the importance of community in doing
just that. It examines the relationship of the police and the community and asks several questions about how the police
should consult with the community and local leaders and the role of volunteers in the police force. The discussion
document rightly puts a high premium on the relationship between the police and the public. It quotes Sir Robert Peel's
famous maxim, "The police are the people, and the people are the police". This is key to a right understanding of the
role of the police in our common life.
As Sir Robert Peel points out, law and order are the responsibility of the whole community, of which the police are an
integral and valued part. Policemen are not in this sense a special species, but are organically involved in, and a
product of, their communities. They are citizens and members of a wider whole, and it is the responsibility of that
wider whole to help them when they need it; whether that is by joining the local neighbourhood watch, reporting the
crime in our street, or watching out for the thin blue line. When police and their communities are close and cohesive,
liberty and order lie down together in peace. When police and communities are distant, the fracture damages the whole of
society.
For this reason, structures and initiatives which encourage understanding and engagement between police and their
communities are themselves to be encouraged. The discussion document is welcome because it takes the issue seriously and
recognises exactly why it is so important.
To read the discussion document, please visit:
www.policeact.govt.nz
IN THE NEWS
FEDERAL SPENDING DATABASE BECOMES LAW IN US
Last week President Bush signed a new Bill into law which will create a federal spending database enabling citizens to
"google their tax dollars". The new website will publish a searchable database of approximately US$2.5 trillion worth of
government grants, spending and contracts, bringing greater transparency to government. The bipartisan Bill was notable
for the key role that webloggers played in its passage, mobilising enough public support to break through delaying
tactics and see it become law.
To read about the law creating the new database, please visit:
thomas.loc.gov
MAXIM INSTITUTE CONTRIBUTES TO FAMILY POLICY CONFERENCE IN CANADA
Maxim Institute Research and Programme Director, Paul Henderson, recently addressed the first annual Family Policy
Conference hosted by the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada. The title of Paul's address was "Family in the 21st
Century: What's love got to do with it?" Maxim Institute is delighted to have been invited to contribute to this
significant event.
MORE IN THE BANK ACCOUNT
On Thursday, Statistics New Zealand released the New Zealand Income Survey for the June 2006 quarter, which found that
New Zealanders' average weekly incomes from all sources has risen to $610, up 4 percent in the last year.
To read more about the Survey, please visit:
www.stats.govt.nz
TALKING POINT
"Genuine politics -- even politics worthy of the name -- the only politics I am willing to devote myself to -- is simply
a matter of serving those around us: serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots
are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole." Vaclav Havel
SUBSCRIBE TO REAL ISSUES
Send us a blank email at realissues@maxim.org.nz
Help support Maxim: We currently need visionary people to partner with us as monthly donors. Will you consider becoming
a Maxim Partner? Please call us: 09 627 3261, or email us: maxim@maxim.org.nz and we will send you an AP form. Thank you
in anticipation of your valuable support.
Do you know someone who you think would enjoy reading Real issues? All they need to do is send a blank email to
realissues@maxim.org.nz.
To unsubscribe from this email newsletter send a blank email to: unsubscribe@maxim.org.nz using the same email account
that receives the newsletters. If you have any problems with unsubscribing or wish to update your contact details,
please contact us directly at mail@maxim.org.nz.
Real Issues is a weekly email newsletter from Maxim Institute. The focus is current New Zealand events with an attempt
to provide insight into critical issues beyond what is usually presented in the media. This service is provided free of
charge, although a donation to Maxim is appreciated. Items may be used for other purposes, such as teaching, research or
civic action.
If items are published elsewhere, Maxim should be acknowledged.
Maxim Institute, 49 Cape Horn Road, Hillsborough, Auckland, New Zealand.
ENDS