This is edition 2025/219 of the Ten@10 newsletter.
Hi all,
This is the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.
Enjoy!
1. Is Democracy Becoming a “Nice to Have”?
Chris Trotter
- 🗳️ Questioning Democracy’s Health: The author doubts whether major political parties — National, Labour, and the Greens — truly believe in democracy, noting that they avoid media scrutiny of their internal workings.
- 🪶 Te Pāti Māori’s Stance: Te Pāti Māori is described as rejecting Western-style democracy as a colonial construct, creating uncertainty about its leadership model.
- 🪓 National’s “Chainsaw” Move: National ministers Simon Watts and Chris Bishop are accused of dismantling New Zealand’s regional government system, contradicting the party’s 2023 promise to promote “localism.”
- 🌾 Rural Bias Exposed: National’s version of “local” is argued to mean “rural,” reflecting a long-standing tension between environmental protection and farming interests.
- 🚜 E-Can Precedent: In 2010, the Key government dissolved Environment Canterbury after urban voters opposed dairy expansion, installing unelected commissioners to fast-track irrigation projects — a move seen as anti-democratic.
- ⚖️ Weakening Environmental Protections: The Coalition’s reforms of the Resource Management Act are said to tip the balance toward economic growth and away from environmental safeguards.
- 🏗️ Ministerial “Fast-Track” Power: Cabinet ministers will now have final authority to approve development projects, sidelining local input, scientific evidence, and Treaty obligations.
- 👑 Unequal Representation Risk: New regional boards made up of mayors could give equal voting power to leaders of vastly different-sized populations — echoing the old “Country Quota” that overvalued rural votes.
- 🏙️ Super-City Ambitions: The government’s long-term plan may create Auckland-style “super-cities,” which the author warns could foster bureaucratic centralisation over true democracy.
- 😶🌫️ Public Apathy: The lack of protest after E-Can’s dissolution in 2010 suggests public complacency toward the erosion of democratic institutions.
- ⚰️ A Warning to Remember: The author urges New Zealanders to remember that democracy was won through sacrifice — and must not be traded away for administrative “efficiency.”
