Pushing for Political Reform

The way Teina Mackenzie sees it, she has two choices: keep pushing for political reform or start saving up to move her family to another country.
Mackenzie, the leader of Mou Piri and a mother of six, is one of the leading proponents for a referendum to be part of the November 17 election process. There are six questions – presented in a yes/no format – on the referendum, all designed to gauge the public’s opinion on making what Mou Piri considers to be crucial changes to the Cook Islands’ political landscape.
“So many people are interested in reform and yet the people who have the will and the ability to make the change won’t actually do it,” said Mackenzie.
She noted the fact that current Members of Parliament have sat on their hands while all those around them applaud the need for change is one reason for the groundswell of support for the raft of independent candidates who have put up their hands for election.
“In the past, it’s always been a two-party race and now we’re seeing something emerge that’s quite different,” said Mackenzie of the rise of the independents. “It’s a direct result of the inability of governments of the recent past to make the changes that the people wanted.”
Mackenzie insists the majority of Cook Islanders want political reform and it may just take an independent MP to lead that change.
“You have to take a leap of faith that these people will carry it through, but you can look at the track record of a person and see that, yes, we believe that this person, based on their background, is going to actually listen to us and make the changes that the majority are requesting,” she said.
While one of the questions on the referendum relates to cutting the number of MPs – thereby reducing the volume of snouts shoved into the public trough – Mackenzie doesn’t understand the opposition to the other aspects of reform that do not impact employment.
“That’s where MPs really need to get over a stumbling block on the term ‘political reform’,” she said. “It’s to benefit them as well. That’s why I really thought this was going to be a simple process at the beginning because it made sense and it wasn’t a challenge to individual MPs losing their jobs.”
Mackenzie doesn’t understand why the public needs to be even asked about establishing an electoral commission to, in the words of the referendum, “ensure representation in parliament is democratic, fair and cost effective”.
Having such a body in place, Mackenzie says, is a no-brainer.
“An electoral commission is an absolute must,” she said. “It’s absolutely necessary for this country. That doesn’t require a two-thirds majority to change the Constitution. That can be implemented at this stage.
“You put it through Cabinet, it gets a stamp, it goes ahead. You have a permanent electoral commission. It benefits all of us, including MPs. I don’t really know what holds it up.”
Mackenzie said one of the problems with the current crop of MPs is that it is an old-boys’ club which has no desire to have fresh-faced rookies join the fraternity.
“If you walk down Parliament and you look at all the photos from years past . . . it’s their younger faces in those frames,” she said. “It’s kind of rich for them to say the younger people shouldn’t be coming in here, that they’re inexperienced, and yet that’s how they started. And they’re still there.”
While she waits for Cabinet to approve the referendum’s very existence, all Mackenzie can do is advise voters to elect candidates who are actively promoting political reform.
“It’s all been about educating the public about what it means to have political reform and what solutions have been out there and what we can easily do,” she said “It has been nutted out. I didn’t invent this stuff, I just support it.”
Mackenzie said it’s vital for the future of this country and its citizens that political reform be instituted sooner rather than later.
“The country’s not thriving and it will only deteriorate further,” she said. “I see that as a mother of six children. That’s the whole reason I started this. At this point, do I start saving as hard as I can to leave with all my family? I always say, if we can do better, why wouldn’t we. If it’s a simple and meaningful way, why wouldn’t we?
“I don’t want to be saving and leaving – this is a beautiful place. But the future has to change. It can’t stay the way it is.”

By John Ireland

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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