Parties sent home with report cards   17 Sep 2014

MEDIA RELEASE

17 September 2014

Parties sent home with report cards

More than 2000 New Zealanders came together to run a full page ad in the Herald today asking all Parties what they will commit to do to clean up politics. The answers are in, and ActionStation has graded Parties on their responses to those questions and 11 others on inequality and the environment. Not all have fared well.

ActionStation - a member-lead campaigning organisation of over 7,500 people - surveyed their members on election priorities and used AskAway to engage with all political parties on the issues identified.

Parties who responded include National, Labour, Greens, NZ First, Internet Mana, Maori and United Future. ActionStation then developed report cards, using Party’s answers to rate the responses as CAN-do’s, CAN’TS or CAN do better. ActionStation hopes voters will use the report cards to feel more confident and informed when voting this election.

“The results may surprise some people,” says ActionStation National Director Marianne Elliott “we used whatever information was available. So some Parties answers had to be taken at face value, but for others like National and Labour, their track records formed part of our ranking.

“Given that our members were asking for proactive, progressive action on the issues that matter to them, there are some predictable winners and losers, but it’s not always that clear cut and there are progressive policies and ideas across the political spectrum.” says Elliott.

The cards are online [link] as of today, and being shared widely on social media and through the networks of allied organisations on relevant subjects. As well as ActionStation members, NGO’s like Child Poverty Action Group and Generation Zero got involved by asking questions on AskAway.

ENDS

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