Guide to local government

Our form of government is representative democracy. We elect people to represent us in both Parliament and the council chamber, as well as on a number of other local governance bodies such as district health boards and school boards of trustees. There are many opportunities for us to express our opinions about the activities of those who make decisions on our behalf - but to take advantage of those opportunities we need to understand how government works at both levels: Parliament and the council chamber.

For those of you interested in knowing more about how our government works there is a wonderful online resource available. This site has a wealth of information in an easy to follow format. I have spent some time this morning checking it out and recommend that anyone wanting to understand, or involve themselves in, government in New Zealand visits. The link I am giving here will take you to the 2004 Guide to Local Government. You can navigate from there to the other government guides and excellent Directory for Citizenship Education. Click here to visit the DecisionMaker site.