Deborah Coddington: People power rides the talkback radio waves

Politicians can be very snobby about talkback radio. They clamour to be on State radio's Morning Report so they can tell listeners what they think. Instead, they should be tuned into talkback, listening to what the voters think.

I've just done a week of talk radio, 8.30am to noon, in Wellington on NewstalkZB, filling in for long-time host Justin du Fresne, and it's a tough job. A more intense four hours would be difficult to endure. But it's also an ear-opener.

It is, as John Banks once called it, "the People's Parliament". Callers don't hold back with their opinions, be that opposition to underfloor heating for jailed criminals, free cellphones for low income teenagers to get them to quit smoking, or the behaviour of politicians in the debating chamber.

Sadly, MPs' pathetically juvenile antics at question time in the House are universally loathed.

As the week progressed, it became increasingly difficult to excuse or defend the behaviour of my former colleagues in Parliament. While I could point out that not all MPs are idiots, suspicion runs deep that those MPs the public doesn't hear about are just sitting on their bottoms, keeping the green leather warm and collecting their generous salaries.

Resentment runs deep out in talkback land, and with justification. Why do the politicians only come and talk to us at election time? They want to know.

While that's not strictly true - many MPs are run ragged going from speech to speech, venue to venue, Rotary club to club - in politics the perception is often more important than the reality.

People want consultation and to have their say more than once every three years.

But judging by the attitude of the Wellington City Council this week, consultation can mean as little as posting something on a website. A bunch of do-gooders and peaceniks - including Wellington's MP Marian Hobbs - decided it would be a good idea for Absolutely Positively Wellington to also be known as Peace Wellington. Following a similar move by Waitakere City (why are we not surprised), The People's Republic of Christchurch, and Hutt City, Wellington's Mayor Kerry Prendergast, herself a member of the international Mayors for Peace, agreed.

This could foster toleration, peaceful dispute resolution, safety and multi-culturalism, among a host of other noble objectives. Really? It wasn't very peaceful, then, that two who opposed the idea were personally abused on anonymous posters displayed around the city. Not a good start to a be-nice-to-everyone campaign.

But more than the actual Peace moniker, what got up the noses of Wellingtonians was that this plan was slipped into a council meeting before most people had even heard of it, including the Chamber of Commerce, tourism and business groups. But because it had been on the council website, the consultation box could be ticked.

NewstalkZB listeners weren't having a bar of that. Spurred on by Councillor John Morrison's labelling the idea "dripping wet", they told the Mayor and Council they did not want to live in Peace City, thank you very much. So instead of Wednesday night's meeting voting to pass the resolution, as had been expected, it has been "deferred" for further "consultation".

More power to the people of talkback radio.

Thus Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey deserves a tick for his suggestion this week that more local bodies adopt the concept of "direct democracy". A referendum, he argues, which asks the entire electorate to accept or reject a particular proposal, is worth serious consideration. But unlike central government, these referenda would be binding.

Michael Laws promised to do this in Wanganui when he became mayor, and he's kept his word with referenda deciding a number of issues. He puts out plenty of information, makes sure the voters see all sides of the argument, then takes a poll.

Naturally, mayors and councillors all over the country will proclaim the people too stupid to decide on grave issues. But they are seriously out of touch and behaving like bureaucrats. The we-know-best attitude pervades government departments like a virus - Corrections know best when it comes to building prisons, the Education Ministry knows best when it comes to which schools children should attend, the Health Ministry knows best when it comes to deciding who runs Plunketline, they all know best when it comes to keeping paedophiles' names secret when they're released into the community.

And Members of Parliament are no better. Most of them are seriously out of touch with those who pay their wages. I should know, after all, I was one of them. I saw in my own caucus the triumph when MPs were invited on to Morning Report to debate with Sean Plunket or Geoff Robinson. That's easy.

If they really want a challenge, they should go behind the microphone at any one of the commercial talk radios, where hosts are not too proud to talk to real people. Fat chance. Most MPs - big and brave when it comes to bullying tactics in the House - would need to take several changes of underwear into a talkback radio studio.