Digital enthusiasts pushing for a move to online voting are getting short shrift from ministers. The Electoral Commission had been considering the idea, with a view to implementing some form of online voting for the 2017 election. However it would need a large funding increase and changes to legislation, which are not going to happen. Some observers think a digital option might make it easier for some people to vote; others argue it has made little difference in places where it has been used. Fears of voter identification, fraud and coercion outweigh any benefits in the minds of ministers and, just perhaps, increasing turnout among some demographics is not their top priority.
ALL EYES
With all the debate about espionage, and who spies on whom and why, it seems many have forgotten a certain house in Hill St, opposite Parliament and with a fine view of the Beehive. It was snapped up by the Chinese embassy years ago and immediately sprouted all sorts of aerials, satellite dishes and other apparatus. Obviously nothing going on there, then.
GOING GLOBAL
Ministers are getting closer to signing up to the World Trade Organisation's Global Procurement Agreement, which in theory opens up international government procurement markets estimated to be worth more than US$1.7 trillion a year. New Zealand has been an observer to the GPA since 2008, and in October the WTO Committee on Government Procurement agreed to this country's accession to the agreement. There are doubts about whether other members play by the rules, but then again, any negative impact from New Zealand businesses losing to international competition seems minimal, as we have so few import protections anyway.
