Friday, February 13, 2009



NZ progressive bills project

A couple of years ago, I ran a progressive bills thinktank, trying to get ideas for member's bills to pitch at MPs. It was a fun discussion, and hopefully got some people thinking, but I've been wanting for a while to make it into a permanent institution. And now that Labour is in opposition (and potentially needing some bills to throw in the ballot), I think its a perfect opportunity. So, I've set it up as a wiki: The NZ Progressive Bills Project.

Currently its a bit rough, but the idea is simple: suggest an idea (ideally a small one) where policy can be advanced by a member's bill. Hash it out until its clear what you want, then draft a bill to implement it (this is easier than it sounds; you can do a lot by cribbing from existing legislation). The hard bit will be finding MPs to put the bills in the ballot - but there's a lot of new Labour and Green MPs looking for things to do, so if we choose our issues carefully, we might get that far.

To avoid the site being polluted by spammers, trolls and libertarians, it can only be edited by members. This means you will need to create a wikidot account then apply for membership. But anyone can read it, so feel free to have a poke round.