Many learners moved to Aotearoa New Zealand from countries where voting did not occur, was corrupt or just downright dangerous.
The visits include teaching how to enrol, who can enrol, checking enrolment in the post and then completing enrolments for those who are not enrolled. This has been followed up by a discussion around referendums and what they are, and the two topics of the upcoming referendums. To give some hands-on experience, mock voting and a mock referendum were carried out.
The English Language Partners Porirua election and referendum results have seen team English Language Partners Porirua now being governed by the Banana party. It was a pretty close call between Bananas who have a focus on education and Kiwifruit who a focusing on the environment, with Bananas having a bit of a landslide on one of the voting days. It turns out that Oranges who are focussed on the economy are just not a priority so they don’t have the support needed to enter parliament.
In complete contrast, the local candidate of the Oliver Ong of the Orange party, who is focussing on higher wages, won the vote for the local candidate. The Banana party candidate, Bindi Button, was focused on better schools, while Kevin Kahu was all for cleaner rivers.
As far as our referendum on ‘eating pizza with a knife and fork “goes…well, the votes went in favour of using a knife and fork to eat your pizza, but there was a disclaimer with that…stating that this could only be done ‘if you wanted to’.
A huge shout out to Erin, Raewyn, Charlie, Jess, Andrew, Praksit, and Juliette from the Electoral Commission for their ongoing mahi with us in helping our new Kiwi communities to participate in such an important aspect of our society. Our learners certainly got some great insight and had some great discussion.
We are proud to be working alongside the Electoral Commission to help inform English learners about the electoral process here in New Zealand.
Below are a few links to some resources that may be helpful. Many resources are also available in different languages.
https://elections.nz/your-community/educating-adults-and-communities/
https://elections.nz/elections-in-nz/what-happens-in-a-general-election/
https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/what-is-mmp/
https://elections.nz/elections-in-nz/what-is-a-referendum/
https://elections.nz/your-community/2020-general-election-resources/
https://vote.nz/enrolling/enrolment-in-your-language/enrolment-information-in-multiple-languages/
https://vote.nz/voting/get-ready-to-vote/about-the-referendums/?ref=vote-cta-2
