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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Another referendum needed

We need a referenda on the Waitangi Tribunal. It would require three hundred thousand signatures to enact one. If that was offered to the country it would probably be filled by lunchtime in any given day.

One can only hope it comes to pass.

4 comments:

Adolf Fiinkensein said...

The only thing worse than 'some referendums' is 'a referenda.'

If you're going to fuck up the English language,please be consistent.

The Gantt Guy said...

Ignoring Mr Pedant, I would say I whole-heartedly agree on the suggestion for a referendum on the Waitangi Tribunal. sadly, the Marine & Coastal Area Act referendum proposal failed to gather the required number of signatures, for the sole reason so many people didn't want to bother signing up for a referendum the government would simply ignore.

It's time for (a) a completely colour-blind nation, and (b) binding referenda (or, for Adolf's pleasure, referendums).

PM of NZ said...

Agree on both GG. Adolf, maybe 'referendii' for the plural?

PM of NZ said...

After checking Adolf, both referendum and referenda appear correct.

The legislative Act in NZ is the 'Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993' and the Elections NZ site uses both forms of the word.

An associated Act is the 'Referenda (Postal Voting) Act 2000' which defines further:

referendum means a government initiated referendum or a citizens initiated referendum