Peter retired from Cullen Law and as a Rotarian has established the Democracy Project which was the topic of his talk. Peter talked about the recent election results and how things like AI and social media has changed the world for the better and the worse on the latter he outlined that in the past some opinions were previously ignored but now these comments are competing with Politicians via social media. Peter decided to do something to try and strengthen democracy in NZ with the help of Donna Dentice and Ian McKinnon they are providing Workshops for secondary school students with the aim to improve young peoples understanding of civil service and democracy.
This year they have five workshops with 28 colleges from across the greater Wellington region and as far as away as Palmerston North participating. Approximately 80 to 100 students will attend at the Loafs and Fishes venue on the grounds of the Anglican Cathedral of Wellington on Molesworth Street. The programme started with Chris Hopkins last year and the speaker schedule for 2024 was provided to the club. Peter highlighted that Jacqui Caine will be presenting on 8th April and she will talk about the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi to NZ democracy.
While disinformation continues to grow it is important to keep democracy alive and we need youth to be involved. The programme asks the students to come up with ideas to strengthen democracy and the students have opprotunties to meet influcencial people in NZ such as the Chief Justice, the Poneke Speaker, plus experience a tour of parliament. At the end of the programme students are asked to address four questions and some of the answers are encouraging for our future. Peter would like to see the programme taken up by other Rotary regions - all the best with getting this programme throughout NZ.