Socred urges greater use of referenda

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 3

Socred urges greater use of referenda

PA Wellington Referenda should be used more frequently to restore to the people a degree of power that had been “increasingly whittled away over the years,” said the Social Credit Leader, Mr Beetham, last evening. “We believe that the most important decisions of government, which can radically affect the lives of all citizens, should be at least ratified by those citizens to give those decisions maximum legitimacy,” he said. Referenda have been used in New Zealand to decide issues of liquor licensing, betting regulations, conscription, and whether Parliament’s term should be extended to four years. But Mr Beetham said in an address to a party function in Whangarei that the time had come for the “mood or feeling in the country” to be tested more often and on a regular basis so that shifts in position could be gauged and an accurate degree of support and the opposition to any or several measures or initiatives could be taken. “Referenda are an illustration of direct democracy,” Mr Beetham said. The people have the power to demonstrate their support or opposition direct, without the intermediary of a political party. “Their decision making is of the people, by the people, and it is arrived at in a very public way.”