Engagement with Parliament (NZ0012)

Commitment 1: Engagement with Parliament
Objective:
To improve public understanding of how Parliament works and engage a
greater number of people with its work.
Ambition:
People will be able to access information about how Parliament works more
easily and more people will engage with Parliament and have their say.
Parliament aims to reach a larger and more diverse audience across all
its digital and broadcasting channels – Parliament website, Parliament TV,
Facebook pages, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram - by June 2020. It also aims
to grow engagement, measured by more actions taken across all channels, by
June 2020. Currently (October 2018) Parliament has:
• Facebook: 10,137 followers (NZ Parliament and Select Committee
pages)
• Twitter: 17,174 followers
• LinkedIn: 3,737 followers
• Instagram: 403 followers.
While the audience numbers across channels vary substantially and are still
low for many, the aim is to enhance the use of these (and establish new
channels if required), to lead to increased engagement with Parliament.
Status quo:
A Colmar Brunton report, Exploring New Zealanders’ understanding of, and
engagement with, Parliament and the democratic process, commissioned by
Radio New Zealand and the Office of the Clerk in October 2017 suggested:
• Only a minority of the population inform themselves about the
issues and processes of Parliament, and most are detached from
parliamentary process and only a minority of the population inform
themselves about the issues and outcomes.
• People do not necessarily understand how Parliament or democracy
affects their lives and do not actively seek information on the
parliamentary process and how to engage because it’s not for
‘everyday Kiwis’.
• Parliament is compared to the sun, ‘we know it is there and it is
important but it is too far.’ Lead Agency: Office of the Clerk of the House
Timeline: October 2018 – June 2020
Commitment 1: Engagement with Parliament
OGP Values Transparency, Public
Participation, Technology
and Innovation
Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfil
the commitment
Start date End date
Expand the use of Parliament TV to provide
information about Parliament, in addition to
coverage of the House, to show New Zealanders
that Parliament is relevant to them. Content will
be reviewed annually and viewer numbers will be
monitored quarterly.
Commenced
broadcasts
July 2018
June 2020
Make Parliament more interactive by holding three
public events every year, focused on engaging people
with Parliament, to raise awareness that Parliament
is for everyone. Events to be identified by the Office
of the Clerk in line with the Parliament Engagement
Strategy 2018-2021: https://www.parliament.
nz/en/footer/about-us/office-of-the-clerk/about/
parliament-engagement-strategy-2018-2021/
2018 June 2020
Develop and publish content showing ‘real people’
start petitions and make submissions to select
committees, and make the options for having
your say transparent and easy to understand to
show people how to participate in the democratic
process.
2018 June 2020
Develop and enhance a 360° Virtual Reality Tour
of Parliament to raise children, young people’s and
all New Zealanders’ awareness of what Parliament
does by making it more accessible and interesting to
inspire future voters.
Commenced
August 2018
June 2020

1. Engagement with Parliament [1]

Objective: “To improve public understanding of how Parliament works and engage a greater number of people with its work”.

Milestones:

1. “Expand the use of Parliament TV to provide information about Parliament, in addition to coverage of the House”;
2. “Make Parliament more interactive by holding three public events every year”;
3. “Develop and publish content showing ‘real people’ start petitions and make submissions to select committees and make the options for having your say transparent and easy to understand”;
4. “Develop and enhance a 360 degree Virtual Reality Tour of Parliament”.

Start Date: July 2018

End Date:  June 2020

Context and Objectives

The objective of this commitment is to improve public understanding of how Parliament works and to engage a greater number of people in its work. It is the first time that Parliament has agreed to participate in New Zealand’s OGP work. Research commissioned by the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives in 2018 with 1,200 New Zealanders, revealed that only 21 percent feel a sense of ownership of Parliament and only 16 percent feel connected to Parliament. [2] Many raised this issue during the development of the action plan. [3] Academic research found that trust in MPs and Government Ministers increased from 46 percent in 2016 to 62 percent in 2018, but only 14 percent had “complete trust” or “lots of trust” in Government Ministers and 12 percent in MPs. [4]

Stats NZ’s research found that “if people trust government institutions, they’re more likely to take part in government processes. For example, they’re more likely to vote”. [5] The State Service Commission’s regular research into trust in public services found variations by age and ethnicity: trust based on personal experience of public services was high at 79 percent, except for those aged less than 25 years (71 percent), and trust in the public service brand ranged from a top score of 53 percent for those of Asian ethnicity, to 47 percent for NZ Europeans, to 31 percent for Māori. [6]

This commitment picks up existing work delivering Parliament’s Engagement Strategy 2018-2021. [7] Its ambition is for people to have easier access to information on how Parliament works, engage with Parliament more, and for Parliament to reach a larger and more diverse audience across more digital and broadcasting channels. It meets OGP’s access to information and technology and innovation for openness and accountability values by providing broader access to content, showing people how to participate in Parliament’s business and by using various channels to reach different audiences, including the Parliament website, Parliament TV, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

In response to the above 2018 research result that 26 percent of New Zealanders surveyed viewed or listened to Parliament in the past year, the commitment plans to broadcast Parliament’s business more widely by adding new content about Parliament. This would augment Parliament’s current seven channel options (free-to-air TV, pay TV, live via the Internet, Radio, YouTube, video on demand from website, and the Virtual House app). [8] It also plans to hold three annual public events to raise awareness that Parliament is for everyone; create and publish content about ‘real’ people starting Parliamentary petitions and submitting to Parliamentary Select Committees; and create a 360 degree Virtual Reality Tour for future voters to find out what Parliament does.

The milestones are specific enough to allow objective verification. Milestone completion can be measured by new content published and increased TV and social media followers, and future annual research commissioned by the Office of the Clerk will also monitor impact. Parliamentary officials have advised they are considering how to measure growth in the numbers presenting petitions and submitting to Select Committees. [9]

If fully implemented as designed, more people of all ages and ethnicities could know about and engage with Parliament and more generally in their communities. The activities are directly based on 2018 research of 1,200 respondents aged over 18 years, including specific feedback from Māori, Pasifika and youth aged between 16 and 18. [10] Key findings were that only 26 percent of all respondents had viewed or listened to Parliamentary broadcasts in the past year, younger New Zealanders were more likely to be uncommitted to participating in Parliament’s democratic processes, 5 percent or fewer of all respondents had visited Parliament on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram in the past year and overall there was low knowledge of how to make a petition or submission to Parliament.

This commitment’s potential impact is minor. The numbers viewing the new content on the ETV subscription channel and Parliament TV channel could increase, but, as identified by the 2018 research, Parliament TV does not affect or impact young people or many New Zealanders. Mainstream media will continue to cover Parliament’s public events, and event attendees are likely to understand Parliament better. Stories about real people of all ages and ethnicities participating in Parliament’s business could have wide impact through social media feeds if received by youth and others not currently engaged. [11] A member of Ara Taiohi, New Zealand’s peak body for youth development, advised the IRM researcher that connecting the Virtual Reality Tour to New Zealand’s National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) assessment credit process could have an impact for youth. [12]

Using structured data formats on Parliament’s website for Hansard, [13] Order Papers, Lists of Members of Parliament, and Select Committee details would allow machine-readable re-use, enable innovation by technical users and new channels to access core Parliamentary information. This long-term open data issue has been raised with the Office of the Clerk and picked up by individuals and at GovHacks [14] with no visible progress to date. [15]

Next steps

If this commitment is carried forward to the next action plan or if there are improvements to the implementation of this commitment, the IRM researcher recommends that:

• this commitment is resourced to allow content creators and developers to target uptake across all media and channels;
• content and channel choice are tested and agreed by a range of age, ethnic, professional and social groups; and
• an activity is added to commence work to release Hansard and other core Parliamentary information in structured formats.

The IRM researcher recommends that consideration of a commitment by the Office of the Clerk, Ara Taiohi, the Office of Ethnic Communities and the Ministries of Māori Development and Pacific Communities to encourage more of New Zealand’s ethnicities to participate more actively in the business of Parliament is fed into the development process for the next action plan.

1. Engagement with Parliament

Substantial:

Aim of the commitment

This commitment, part of Parliament’s Engagement Strategy 2018–2021, aimed to improve public understanding of how Parliament works and to engage more people with its work. ^[1] It sought to expand Parliament TV beyond broadcasting parliamentary proceedings, make Parliament more interactive by holding three public events every year, publish content showing New Zealanders starting petitions and making submissions to parliamentary select committees, and provide a 360° virtual reality tour of Parliament.

Did it open government?

Major

All updated milestones were completed, and the commitment’s digital work is now funded core business. Change in practice as a result of this work has been major. The “Parliament on Demand” site broadcasts proceedings in the House of Parliament and other video content, ^[2] and fourteen select committees are livestreamed via Facebook. The increased public availability and profile seem to be key factors in a significant increase in the number of submissions made to select committees. Before 2018, on average all select committees collectively received 30,000-40,000 submissions per year with variances depending on the bills being considered. The increase to 62,000 in 2018-19 was considered huge at that time. In 2021, following the increased visibility of select committees, there were 106,00 submissions on the Conversion Practices Bill which was twice the usual total for all committees and all bills in a year and nearly three times the previous record, and the Water Services Bill received nearly 1000 submissions. [3] The Parliamentary Engagement team ^[4] regularly engages with youth ^[5] and teachers. ^[6] It is now implementing the new Parliament Engagement Strategy 2021–2024. ^[7]

Under this commitment, civil society stakeholders reported particular improvements to the petition process and access to select committees, noting that while previously, petitions were perceived as ineffective, some select committees have reportedly improved broadcasting and consideration of these petitions. Additionally, opening select committee to public participation through video redressed the logistical and financial accessibility obstacles to attending in-person hearings in Wellington. [8]

Research released in 2021 showed improved public understanding of Parliament compared with 2018. ^[9] More New Zealanders thought that Parliament and democratic processes were accessible (66%, up from 59%) and that they were more connected with Parliament (21%, up from 16%).

Engagement with Parliament during the March 2020 COVID-19 lockdown increased, as expected. Audience research after lockdown revealed that New Zealanders were six times more likely to have watched or listened to select committees after lockdown than before, and an estimated 61,000 indicated they are highly likely to watch in the future. Viewership and listenership via the Parliament livestream on Facebook has also doubled since the 2021 lockdown. ^[10] Parliament’s social media following is strong: Facebook (21,233 followers), Twitter (28.4K), and Instagram (5,622).

Yet, fewer New Zealanders knew they could visit Parliament. Only four in ten reported a very good or good understanding of how Parliament works, and Māori and young New Zealanders were less likely than average to feel this way. One-third of the audience research respondents felt they knew how to engage with Parliament and fewer Māori said they learnt about Parliament at school or later, although more young New Zealanders said that they had. Seventy-eight percent of this representative sample of New Zealanders supported including teaching school children about Parliament and democratic processes in the curriculum. [11]

These early results show major change in improving access to parliamentary information that will ultimately lead to improved understanding of Parliament. The 2021–2024 strategy to “work alongside groups that have been under-represented in engagement with Parliament to reduce barriers for them to connect with Parliament'' is key to achieving even more change in New Zealanders’ understanding of and regular involvement in Parliament.