How to save democracy - A speech by Sir Geoffrey Palmer
How to Save Democracy: A Call to Action for Future Generations
Speech by Sir Geoffrey Palmer KC
to WEAll Aotearoa event at Parliament
September 17, 2025
Kia ora koutou.
Thank you for inviting me to speak today. Your campaign Tomorrow Together represents something essential that has been missing from our democratic discourse for too long – the voices of those who will inherit the consequences of the decisions we make today.
The Crisis We Face
Not long ago, democracy seemed inevitable – the natural endpoint of political evolution. Francis Fukuyama declared in 1989 that we had reached "the universalisation of Western democracy as the final form of human government." We now know that view was profoundly wrong.
Democracy is not inevitable. It is fragile, and it is failing.
In fact, it seems democracy is in crisis. The Centre for the Future of Democracy at Cambridge University found that dissatisfaction with democracy has risen sharply since 2005, reaching an all-time global high. The Anglo-Saxon democracies, including our traditional models in the United States and United Kingdom, have been particularly affected.
Here in Aotearoa, we have so far avoided the trajectory of soaring public discontent that has engulfed other democracies. But we must not be complacent. The dangerous trends that have emerged elsewhere could arrive here, enabled by social media, polarisation, and short-term political thinking.
The Long-Term Challenge
Our democratic systems are trapped in cycles of short-term thinking. Politicians operate on three-year electoral cycles, media coverage focuses on daily controversies, and policy debates are dominated by immediate pressures rather than long-term consequences.
This is precisely the wrong approach for the challenges we face.
Climate change, environmental degradation, technological disruption, demographic shifts, and rising inequality all require sustained, long-term responses that extend far beyond any single electoral term.
The greatest policy problems of our time – and I think particularly of climate change here – cannot be solved with quick fixes or political expedients. They require the kind of sustained commitment and forward-thinking approach that our current democratic structures struggle to provide.
Learning from Wales: The Future Generations Act
Wales has shown us a different way forward. Their Well-being of Future Generations Act, passed in 2015, established something revolutionary: a legal requirement for public bodies to think about the long-term impact of their decisions on future generations.
The Welsh model created a Future Generations Commissioner with real powers to hold government accountable for short-term thinking. It established seven well-being goals developed through extensive public engagement. Most importantly, it changed the culture of decision-making to ask not just "what works now?" but "what are the consequences for our children and grandchildren?"
Australia has introduced similar legislation into their Parliament. The question for us is: why are we not leading this charge, or at least joining it? New Zealand has often been a pioneer in democratic innovation – we gave women the vote first, we developed proportional representation, we created an anti-nuclear policy that demonstrated small nations can chart independent courses.
The Parliamentary Problem
One of the fundamental problems undermining long-term thinking is the relentless pressure our MPs face. They are trapped in a cycle of crisis management, media scrums, and short-term political battles that leave little time for the kind of deep, reflective thinking that complex policy challenges require.
Our parliamentarians need what I call "democratic breathing space" – time and institutional support to lift their heads above the daily fray and engage seriously with long-term challenges. This means restructuring parliamentary schedules, creating protected time for policy development, and establishing mechanisms that reward long-term thinking rather than short-term political point-scoring.
We cannot expect MPs to think generationally if we structure their working lives around immediate political pressures and three-year electoral cycles.
Why Constitutional Reform Matters
This brings me to the central argument of my new book, "How to Save Democracy." Our current constitutional arrangements are not fit for purpose. They were designed for a different era and cannot adequately address the challenges of the 21st century.
New Zealand's constitution remains what I call a "ramshackle set of arrangements" – a hodge-podge of old English statutes, New Zealand laws, constitutional conventions, and court decisions scattered across multiple documents. Most New Zealanders cannot tell you how their government actually works because the rules are not set out clearly in any single place.
This matters for future generations because unclear constitutional arrangements make it easier for short-term political interests to override long-term thinking. Without clear rules about how power should be exercised, we default to whoever shouts loudest or has the most immediate political pressure.
A written constitution could enshrine the principle of intergenerational equity – the idea that current generations have obligations to future ones. It could establish institutions specifically designed to protect long-term interests against short-term political pressures.
If we had a codified constitution, everyone would know what the rules were. I have advocated this for decades. However, I’m afraid in today’s environment that a written constitution looks unlikely to happen. Instead I suggest we focus our efforts on repairing our democracy so it is not so vulnerable to authoritarian takeover.
The Digital Threat
The digital revolution has created new threats to democratic deliberation that particularly affect young people. Social media platforms have become, in Jill Lepore's words, "breeding grounds for fanaticism, authoritarianism, and nihilism."
The algorithms that shape what we see online are designed to capture attention, not to promote thoughtful consideration of complex issues. They reward extreme positions, encourage polarisation, and make it harder to build the kind of sustained consensus needed for long-term policy-making.
For a generation that has grown up with digital media, this poses particular challenges. How do we create space for the kind of careful, nuanced thinking that democracy requires when the information environment actively works against it?
What Tomorrow Together Represents
This is why movements like Tomorrow Together are so important. You represent something that our current political system struggles to provide: a voice for the future in present-day decision-making.
Your focus on ensuring that future generations are adequately considered in decisions made today goes to the heart of what democratic reform must achieve. Democracy should not just be about the immediate preferences of current voters. It must also consider the interests of those who cannot yet vote but will live with the consequences of our choices.
The Welsh model shows this is not just idealistic thinking – it can be translated into practical institutional change. A Future Generations Act for Aotearoa could establish similar requirements for our government agencies and local councils to consider long-term impacts in their decision-making.
Practical Steps Forward
What would this look like in practice? My new book How to Save Democracy suggests several concrete reforms, including making the case for:
more MPs in Parliament and more considered law-making, with less urgency
a four-year Parliamentary term, with the necessary checks and balances
reform of the select committee system
compulsory voting
voting for citizens 16 years and older
more civics education so that all New Zealanders – particularly young people – understand how our democracy works and how they can participate effectively in it.
The Role of Civil Society
Government alone cannot solve these problems. Civil society organisations like yours play a crucial role in creating the democratic culture we need. You provide spaces for deliberation, you give voice to perspectives that might otherwise be ignored, and you hold government accountable for its long-term responsibilities.
The Irish experience with citizens' assemblies shows how civil society can lead democratic innovation. When the Irish government was paralysed by divisive issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, citizens' assemblies provided a way forward through careful deliberation and respectful dialogue.
We need similar innovations in Aotearoa – structured processes that bring together diverse groups of citizens to work through complex long-term challenges in ways that our current political system cannot manage.
A Call to Action
Democracy is indeed a fragile flower, as I have often said. It needs to be carefully nurtured, watered, and weeded if it is to thrive. But democracy is also adaptive – it can evolve to meet new challenges if we have the wisdom and courage to reform it.
The young people in this room will live with the consequences of climate change, technological disruption, and demographic change long after my generation has gone. You have both the right and the responsibility to demand that today's decisions take your future seriously.
This is not just about policy reform – it is about the fundamental question of what democracy means. Does it mean the tyranny of the immediate? Or can it become a system that balances present needs with future responsibilities?
Your campaign for adequate consideration of future generations in today's decisions is really a campaign to save democracy itself. By insisting that democratic decision-making must extend beyond the immediate electoral cycle, you are demanding that democracy live up to its highest ideals.
Conclusion
The choices we make in the next few years will determine whether democracy can adapt to the challenges of the 21st century or whether it will continue its current trajectory toward irrelevance and decline.
We cannot solve climate change, address inequality, or build a sustainable society with institutions designed for a simpler era. We need democratic institutions that can think generationally, act decisively on long-term challenges, and maintain public trust in an age of digital disruption.
This is the central message of "How to Save Democracy": reform is not optional, it is essential. And movements like Tomorrow Together are not just advocacy groups – you are democracy's immune system, fighting off the infections of short-termism and narrow self-interest that threaten democratic health.
The future is not predetermined. Democracy's survival depends on our willingness to evolve and adapt. With clear thinking, institutional innovation, and sustained citizen engagement, we can build democratic institutions worthy of the challenges ahead.
Your voices matter. Your future matters. And democracy's future depends on ensuring those voices are heard not just in election years, but in every decision that shapes the world you will inherit.
Thank you very much.
