'Walking Away From Westminster?' A New Zealand perspective
Dr Chris Eichbaum presented a New Zealand perspective on governance at the recent 'Walking Away From Westminster?' conference held at University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government.
New Zealand’s governance system was once described as being 'more Westminster than Westminster'.
Things have changed a lot since then, but to what extent? What's driving the change, and where are the changes taking us?
These are some of the questions raised at the recent 'Walking Away From Westminster?' conference held at University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government, which was attended by Victoria Business School associate professor Chris Eichbaum.
The conference brought together world-leading academics from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom to examine the changing nature of traditional Westminster governance systems.
Dr Eichbaum presented the New Zealand situation to his international peers.
"There's a great deal of interest about what's going on in New Zealand, especially as we were once an exemplar of the Westminster system."
He says despite marked shifts away from the Westminster model – such as adopting the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system, and the more visible role of public servants – New Zealand still had significant "strains" of the traditional Westminster system, which in his estimation was not a bad thing.
"I think the Westminster system is evolving and it continues to evolve. In no one country is the system totally broken.
"One of the important conclusions to come out of the discussions was that the Westminster values remain relevant and essential to good government and governance."
Dr Eichbaum says the conference not only had significant practical application in the short term, but also projected the future shape of governance across Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, which the conference attendees described as a new "post-Westminster governance" system.