| Matt Facts: Matthew dislikes drinking cold drinks from coffee mugs. He also hates plastic forks. | | Did you Know? Toothpicks are overrated. | | Words of Inspiration: "You can tell a lot about a fellow by the way he eats Jelly Beans" – R.Regan | | Did you know? There are no Pez Facts. Pez is, in fact, not factual. | | Matt Facts: Matthew's fortune cookies always predict success. | | Words of Inspiration: When I'm sad I stop being sad and be awesome instead - Barney Stinson | | Did you know? "Buf­falo buf­falo Buf­falo buf­falo buf­falo buf­falo Buf­falo buf­falo” is a gram­mat­i­cally valid sentence. | | Matt Facts: Matthew is best served on the rocks with a slice of lemon. | | Words of Inspiration: "Life is futile." | | Did you Know? Dinosaurs and Dandelions is the name of a popular blog that has been around since the 15 April 2010 | | Matt Facts: Unlike some people, Matthew only celebrates his birthday once a year. | | Words of Inspiration: "I'll be back" - The Terminator. | | Did you Know? The two modern breeds of Cocker Spaniel, American and English, are thought to have been descended from only two dogs? | | Matt Facts: On the second to last full moon of the year, Matthew develops an itch on his right shoulder. | | Words of Inspiration: “You can do it!” - Rob Schneider, in every Adam Sandler movie ever | | Did you know? Lettuce is often eaten raw. | | Words of Inspiration: "Science is always at work and never sleeps – just like Rust" | | Did you Know? When you dream, every­thing you see in that dream, you’ve seen before in real life. | | Matt Facts: Matthew officially endorses the Cadbury's Moro bar as being delicious | | Did You Know? A tadpole is also called a 'pollywog'. | | Matt Facts: Matthew has his own Facebook fan page. Creepy. | | Did You Know? Cats sleep for 70% of their lives. | | Words of Inspiration: "End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it." - Gandalf. | | Did you Know? This is the end. The journey ends here. Then it starts all over again. |

Sunday 10 March 2013

ourconstitution.org.nz

There is some rather important public consultation going on right now that has slipped under the political radar of most people. Well, ok, most people don't have a political radar, but it's not very high profile anyway.

The Constitutional Advisory Panel is currently seeking public submissions on New Zealand's constitution until July 2013. Contrary to popular belief, New Zealand does have a constitution it just isn't contained in any one document. We are one of only three countries in the World to not have a written constitution (along with the UK and Israel).

Anyway, the panel is asking some rather deep and important questions, such as:
  • How do you want our country to be run in the future?
  • Do you think our constitution should be written in a single document?
  • Does the Bill of Rights Act protect your rights enough?
  • What role do you think the Treaty of Waitangi could have in our constitution?
  • How could Māori electoral participation be improved?
  • How many members of Parliament should we have?
  • How long should the term of Parliament be?
  • And plenty of other important, but potentially boring, questions.
Anyway, at some point between now and July you should head on over to ourconstitution.org.nz and share some of your views on these issues. You can either use their easy to use online forms, or attach your pre-prepared word documents, depending on how many views you want to share. Also, we should find some issues we all agree on and send an official Dinosaurs & Dandelions submission. Except it seems like hard work and I'll never get around to it.

But yes, join the "Constitution Conversation" now or forever hold your peace. I know I'll be sharing my 2 cents.