What is a citizens’ assembly and why do we need one?

Wānaka’s southern expansion will be shaped by a citizens’ assembly, a community‑led forum which replaces traditional forms of engagement. Ruairi O’Shea speaks to citizens’ assembly expert Iain Walker and Queenstown‑Lakes District councillor Cody Tucker about how the model works and what it could mean for the town. As Wānaka deals with the challenges of a growing population, Southern Wānaka has been identified by Queenstown Lakes District Council as a space for urban expansion. But with development on this scale likely to be contentious, and a decline in institutional trust making it harder for local governments to make decisions trusted by their communities, Queenstown Lakes District Council is set to implement a citizens’ assembly to guide the development. But what is a citizens’ assembly, and how could it improve the development of Southern Wānaka? For Iain Walker, the executive director of an Australian non-profit, the newDemocracy Foundation and a leading proponent of citizen’s assemblies, the concept is straightforward. [Missing Credit]Iain Walker, the executive director of Australia’s newDemocacy Foundation. Photo: Supplied “Take the most representative group of people we can, give them a chance for an open conversation with any information they want and see what comes out when they’ve had the chance to discuss it,” he said. For Mr Walker, the clearest parallel is a criminal jury, in which relevant parties present information to a group of individuals who are given the time and space to make an informed decision. Mr Walker, who has worked with Queenstown Lakes District Council in an advisory role, t said assemblies were an alternative to traditional forms of community engagement, which had a tendency to attract loud, well-resourced voices. In practice, this meant recruiting a random, representative sample of people — in line with the gender, age, and homeownership profile of an area — and hosting five to eight sessions on a Saturday, all day, every three weeks, Mr Walker said. Crucially, as with a jury, participants are paid for their time. “We’ve done about 35 of these projects and we’ve tested not paying participants versus paying them, and its black and white as to who drops out. “It’s people under 25, people in shift work, people who need childcare and people with disabilities who need specialist transport . . . it’s like flicking a switch.” Ensuring that people were paid and selected at random, was crucial to ensuring that the group represented its communit, he said. “All of a sudden, you start to get people from all walks of life, whereas if you go to a town hall meeting, you’re going to see those with the resources and those with the anger.” A central theme when weighing the merits of citizens’ assemblies was trust, he said. “If you turn on the news and you hear someone’s been convicted of a terrible crime, you probably trust it, because regular people actually invested the time and found common ground. “Then contrast that with how we make decisions in politics.” Mr Walker cited the Edelman Trust Barometer, which showed trust in government declining globally while trust in peers had risen and said the idea was to put greater power in the hands of people communities trust — people like them. “Through lottery recruitment, all we’re really trying to do is capture a sample of ‘people like us’, so that anyone looks up and goes, ‘finally someone with a job like me or a background like me is making a decision’.” Mr Walker firmly believed trust placed in normal people to consider complex information was not be misplaced. “People are absolutely capable of consuming information and thinking critically about it, but we lack the formats by which to listen to people.” “If we create a forum where people can think, they’re absolutely capable of working together. For Queenstown Lakes district councillor Cody Tucker, citizens’ assemblies were well-suited to the challenges Wānaka faced and served as an opportunity ensure the town’s expansion was not developer-led. [Missing Credit]Councillor Cody Tucker says that citizens’ assemblies should empower the community, while correcting the trend of developer-led development. Photo: Supplied “Something that hasn’t been working well is a lot of development has been developer-led, and its come at the cost of holistic planning,” Cr Tucker said. The council had sought to implement structure plans — which looked to consider how an area could be used holistically before a developer came in and created a proposal — and using citizens’ assemblies early in the process to allow the community to guide development, he said. “The community here is so actively involved in local decision-making, and people feel a real sense of ownership this place, and its health and well-being now and in the future . . . a citizens’ assembly takes an actively engaged community and empowers them to be make decisions in a meaningful way.” ruairi.oshea@alliedmedia.co.nz