Congratulations to Larry Baldock and Sheryl Savill for collecting enough signatures to trigger a referendum on the anti
smacking Bill. However what people must realise is that we need to force the government to make referendums binding and
we need politicians who are prepared to support the concept that it is the people of New Zealand who must have the final
say.
Binding referendums have been the basis of democracy in Switzerland for over 130 years and it is time we had real
democracy here in New Zealand. All we have at present is one day of democracy, three years of an elected dictatorship
and a claytons referendum every now and then.
There have been any number of contentious and polarizing issues over the last ten years that could have and should have
been decided by the people through a binding referendum.
Better Democracy NZ is not suggesting we run the country by referendum, referendums are simply an adjunct to
representative democracy. It is the people who must have the final say and not just once every three years at a general
election as that is quite often too late.
ENDS
www.betterdemocracy.co.nz