Civics a tool to help Kiwis re-engage

Civics education has been touted as a tool to help people re-engage with local government.

The idea was brought up at Tasman District Council during a visit from Associate Minister of Local Government Kieran McAnulty, who is touring rural and provincial councils.

On Thursday, he visited the Tasman District Council and then the Nelson City Council to have ‘‘free and frank’’ discussions. During his TDC visit he told councillors that a ‘‘not insignificant’’ portion of society was disengaged.

‘‘Lack of understanding and lack of engagement can lead to some pretty extreme outcomes,’’ McAnulty said. ‘‘I think we’re seeing that in other countries overseas and for a long time New Zealand, I think as a whole, was a little bit smug and thought ‘that will never happen to us’, but it has.

‘‘We now have a – not a huge but not insignificant – portion of our society that are completely disengaged, that don’t trust the media, that don’t trust any form of authority, be that local government, central government or indeed even the Opposition. They just have a total distrust and they’re getting their sources from some concerning areas and we’ve seen that play out in various ways.’’

Civics education was an ‘‘important step’’. McAnulty said he would have liked to have seen civics education in the curriculum when he was at high school.

‘‘That would have been, shivers, 20 years now of students coming through [educated in civics],’’ he said. ‘‘Some people out there don’t understand how MMP works.’’

MMP was an acronym for mixed-member proportional, which was the voting system used in New Zealand for general elections.

McAnulty said not understanding the role of local government was a big driver to not participating.

‘‘It’s also a big driver to . . . some people . . . stirring up the population and then sending them your way . . . about something that isn’t your choice,’’ he told the elected members.

McAnulty’s comments came in response to a question from councillor Christeen Mackenzie after McAnulty told the elected members he was keen to hear about ‘‘any issue whatsoever’’.

Mackenzie said a large proportion of the community was ‘‘completely disengaged from local government, evidenced by the fact that they don’t vote’’.

Other topics raised by elected members included housing, the large amount of central government reform, transport and the future of local government. The Government’s high-profile Three Waters reform programme was also discussed.