OneAction NZ

Democracy Co-operative

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions
    General
    No, not in the traditional sense. OneAction is a democracy co-operative that exists to distribute all its political power back to its members. However, we do intend to register and operate as a political party within the New Zealand political system. See our roadmap for more info
    OneAction is building an online platform to allow kiwis to participate in setting the direction and the outcomes they want to see in Aotearoa New Zealand (“the what” and “the where”). Development of policy ("the how") will be done by experts and community leaders, using the best available evidence. We’re not embarking on a “direct democracy” project where policy decisions are made by non-experts based on their opinions. See digital democracy for more info.
    Building a secure and trustworthy platform for online democratic participation is a huge challenge, and yes security is a big part of that, but it can be done, and emerging technologies such as blockchain which allow for tamper-proof transactions will likely be very useful. but make no mistake, it’s a huge challenge and there’s always some risk involved with innovation. But it also presents an exciting opportunity for researchers and software developers to work on the cutting edge of eParticipation and deliberative democracy. Get in contact!
    Once the TallyUp reaches 25,000 we will open for micro donations from members which will be used to fund OneAction. OneAction is wholly owned and funded by our members. No external influencers. No fat cats! Learn more about funding.
    Social media platforms are private, profit-driven corporations. They have their place, but we’re doing our own thing. OneAction is 100% owned and operated by its community. We see ourselves as adjacent to social media, not contained within it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use social media to tell your friends and whānau about us. OneAction never uses paid advertisement, we believe that our vision is big enough to carry itself by word of mouth
    200,000 people is approximately 7.5% of the total voter turnout in the 2017 general election, so while it’s a big number, it’s still only just enough to get over the 5% margin to win seats in parliament. Unrealistic? Perhaps, it’s certainly a lofty goal, but in our view, a lot of kiwis would like a bit more of a say in the direction of Aotearoa New Zealand. Of course, there will be plenty of people who prefer to stick to the traditional way of doing things, that’s fine, they’re not the ones we’re looking for. Are there 7.5% of us who want to try a new way of doing politics? We firmly believe so
    Because we’re starting from the ground up without big funders. We need to work through several stages to build up the organisation. The purpose of OneAction is to give our members a voice and then turn that voice into policy. Once we have 150,000 members (quorum stage) policy will be built based on input from the membership via the online digital democracy platform. See roadmap for more info
    Yeah it is and that's kinda the idea, email is the most universal and accessible form of internet communication. It’s also cheap to set up and run which is required to start OneAction on a shoestring (i.e. no fat cat donors!)
    While internet access and usage in Aotearoa New Zealand is already very high, this is an issue, but it’s important to remember that the current methods for people to participate and have their voice heard aren’t that great, so OneAction will improve the situation, rather than make it worse. We have three key responses to the digital divide:
    • Our vision is to give anyone with a $50 smart phone a voice in the decisions which shape Aotearoa New Zealand, and we think that’s pretty powerful.
    • We will create a network of volunteer ‘buddies’ to help people who don’t have internet knowledge or access
    • As time passes, OneAction will grow and the digital divide will shrink. We feel that now is the time to embark on this journey, rather than waiting for the perfect conditions