What happened to Internet Party NZ?

In short, Suzie Dawson happened to Internet Party New Zealand(IPNZ). Under her ‘leadership’ the Party has been de-registered and gutted of both New Zealand members and executive until at the last AGM it appeared to only consist of 12 New Zealand members and 4 executive

This is both an explanation of the fall of IPNZ and a warning to others that have dealings with Miss Dawson. If it seems that I am unnecessarily harsh in my criticism of her it is because I believe she fully deserves it.

What IPNZ was supposed to do

First let’s start with the objectives of IPNZ as written in its constitution on the 13/05/2014.

The objectives of The Internet Party are:

• To promote and enhance New Zealand’s successful transition into a leader of the digital era; and
• To promote and increase the value of digital commerce; and
• To promote and support a Bill of Digital Rights for all New Zealanders; and
• To benefit New Zealand’s cultural and social development by enhancing New Zealand’s digital connectedness; and
• To ensure that a just, equitable and transparent balance exists between personal online privacy and digital connectedness; and
• To champion the freedom of access, use, and delivery of the internet and digital communications in New Zealand; and
• To promote the New Zealand government adopting digital means of communicating and to advocate for the establishment of open and e-government solutions for all New Zealanders; and
• Increase transparency and accountability within New Zealand’s security and intelligence agencies and organisations; and
• To actively encourage the participation of young people in New Zealand’s democratic process.

It is fairly simple, these are the things the Party hopes to achieve. It is also worth noting that seven out of the nine specifically mention New Zealand. The only two that don’t are,

• To promote and increase the value of digital commerce.
• To ensure that a just, equitable and transparent balance exists between personal online privacy and digital connectedness.

It is also worth noting the ‘and’ at the end of the lines. In my view this makes all objectives equal as you are trying to achieve them all at once, not as a list.

There are also hard coded instructions in the Constitution as to how too support this,

• To support the objectives, the Internet Party will also maintain and promote economic, cultural, social, ethnic, age and gender diversity and equality within the membership, candidacy and organisational structure of the Internet Party.

And how to achieve this,

• To achieve the objectives, the Internet Party will strive to elect competent individuals to the New Zealand Parliament.
• To achieve the objectives, the Internet Party may enter into arrangements, including component party arrangements, with other parties or organisations.

Where the executive have failed

This is where they have failed. Here is a run down of the Executives progress, or lack of, in achieving the aims of Internet Party New Zealand. They have failed because they have not tried to support the objectives and they have not tried to achieve the objectives.

Striving to elect competent individuals to the New Zealand Parliament does not mean losing the Party registration and having under fifty members. It means keeping your membership over five hundred so you can participate in elections as a Party while trying to get competent individuals elected to achieve the objectives.

I am sure the Executive would at this point shout loudly that they are fulfilling part two of the ways to achieve the objectives but that only goes so far as they have only entered into arrangements with foreign parties meaning they could only be fulfilling (and this is generous) roughly sixteen percent of the objectives at the very most as the others pertain specifically to New Zealand.

The above is generous because because the arrangements they have entered into could barely be seen as promoting digital commerce. I suppose I could consider Kim Dotcom’s lightning proposal for block-chain but it isn’t being promoted by the Party so that falls somewhat short.

To say that supporting Julian Assange helps ensure a just, equitable and transparent balance exists between personal online privacy and digital connectedness could in fact be argued but that is only eight percent of the objectives.

There are also other things the Executive are responsible for such as,

• Administration of the political affairs of the Internet Party.
• Selection of the Party List.
• Selection of Electorate candidates.
• Approving the content of the manifesto of the party prior to each general election.
• Appointment of a Party Secretary.
• The management of Internet Party Assets Incorporated.

But in the end,

• The Executive Committee is bound to act in accordance with the objectives of the Internet Party and these rules.

And they haven’t and that is why the Party has failed and is failing so miserably. Because it does not matter if they have one hundred thousand members overseas, the Party is Internet Party New Zealand. And it does not matter if they have one hundred thousand members in New Zealand if they don’t follow the Constitution of the Party. That is what makes it a Party.

Suzie Dawson and Kim Dotcom go on incessantly about breaches of the rule of law and human rights and yet in the political party they belong too, and in one case probably helped write the rules for, they refuse to obey them. Even to the point of changing them. Because there are ways to change the rules in the Party but the executive have never had enough support to do so. So they twist them, break them and ignore them.

A good example of this is Suzie Dawson, the Party President is ineligible to vote in New Zealand. This means she cannot be a full member. It also means she can’t be on the Executive. How she is on the Executive is the result of a lot of making things up to achieve a result.

The Party Secretary said that as she was a full member when brought onto the executive in his eyes she continued to be which is like a taxi driver saying that as he had a licence before it expired so he should still be able to work as a driver. In other words, bullshit.

The truth of the matter is that Suzie Dawson shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the Executive of the Party, especially after the debacle of the last few years.