Conference

We the People(s):
Engagement and Participation
in Government

Thursday 11 & Friday 12 February 2010
Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament Buildings
Wellington, New Zealand

This international conference to be held in New Zealand’s capital will explore the public’s
engagement and participation in government.

It will analyse:

• theories on the people’s/s’ participation in governance and their practical implementation;
• non-state actor participation in international law-making;
• the engagement of non-dominant groups in New Zealand governance; and
• participation in Parliamentary and administrative processes.

The conference will be of interest to people from both inside and outside the legal community,
not least from those institutions devoted to expressing the voice of the people, as well as legal
practitioners, judges, law academics and students.

Programme

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Welcome and Mihi

• Hon Simon Power, Minister of Justice
• Professor ATH (Tony) Smith, Victoria University of Wellington

Opening Address

• Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, Governor-General of New Zealand

Applied Legal Theory on Governance

• Professor Karen Knop, University of Toronto, "The Informal State in International Law: The United States, Gender and Unilateralism"
• Dr Matthew Palmer, Crown Law Office, "Open the Doors and Where are the People?"
• Richard Ekins, University of Auckland, "The Value of Representative Democracy"

Non-State Actor Participation in International Law

• Professor Harold H Koh, Yale University/US State Department (via video link)

• Amokura Kawharu, University of Auckland, "Addressing a Legitimacy Deficit? The Role of Non-Party Participation in Investment Arbitration"

• Claire Charters, Victoria University of Wellington, "A Self-Deermination Approach to Justifying Indigenous Peoples' Participation in International Law and Policy Making"

Applied Legal Theory on Governance (cont)

• Hon Professor Margaret Wilson, Waikato University, "The Disconcerting Reality of Constitutional Theory Informed by Practice"
  
  
• Commentator: Professor Jonathan Boston, Victoria University of Wellington

We the People(s)

• Professor Jeremy Waldron, New York University, "People Participating as Peoples: Interests, Ideas and identity"

Conference Rapporteur

• Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Law Commission

Conference Dinner

• Icon, Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand

Friday, 12 February 2010

The Engagement of Non-Dominant Groups in New Zealand and International Governance

• Hon Pita Sharples, "Māori Participation in New Zealand Governance"
• Professor Marcia Rioux, York University, Toronto, "Precarious Participation: Legitimizing Limitations on Public Engagement in Governance"
• Elisabeth McDonald, Victoria University of Wellington, "Provoking Law Reform: The Role of Feminists and the Queer Community in the Repeal of Section 169"

Non-Dominant Groups’ Participation: Panel Discussion

• Professor Jane Kelsey, University of Auckland
• Edwina Hughes, Peace Movement Aotearoa
• Robyn Hunt, Human Rights Commission

Participation in Government and Administration

• Professor Peter Cane, Australian National University, "Participation and Constitutionalism"
• Commentator: Andrew Geddis, University of Otago
  

Participation in Parliamentary and Administrative Processes

• Hilary Pearse, Victoria University of Wellington, "The Price of Public Participation"
• Hon David Caygill, Electricity Commission, "The Culture of Democracy"
• Commentators: Charles Chauvel, Member of Parliament and Kevin Hackwell, Forest and Bird

Public Engagement in Local Democracy

• Dean Knight, Victoria University of Wellington, "Local Authority Decision-Making and the Consideration of Community Views: Obligation and Observance"
• Commentators: Conor English, Federated Farmers and Sacha McMeeking, Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu

Conference Rapporteur

• John Roughan, New Zealand Herald