Our customers: New Zealand central government

When the Ministry of Justice undertook a review of New Zealand's family violence laws, they wanted to hear views from members of the public. They opened up an online consultation using Citizen Space to make it as easy as possible for people to participate.

Over the course of the consultation period, the Ministry of Justice received nearly 500 public submissions. These ultimately helped inform a series of changes to the law, resulting from the review.

"We’ve consulted closely with the family violence sector to ensure our processes are clear, and victim safety is at the centre of our decision-making."

Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice (Domestic and Sexual Violence Issues)

The Minister of Education wanted to hear from a wide range of New Zealanders about the future of the education system – for early learning, schooling and tertiary, and lifelong learning. So the New Zealand Ministry of Education used Citizen Space to run a national 'Education Conversation' online.

Huge numbers of people took the opportunity to get involved and have their say – including more than 16,000 people engaging directly in the NCEA Review (with more than a quarter of responses coming from young people). Following the consultation, the Ministry of Education have declared their intention to 'work with our Ministerial and Professional Advisory Groups to bring together what we’ve heard, to further test ideas for change, and to look at what a high-performing assessment system should look like in a New Zealand context.'

"Now is the chance for all New Zealanders to have their say on building a schooling system that meets the needs of all students, educators and parents, and that is fit for purpose for the 21st century. The Taskforce will lead the consultation, and report on the results. The Government will make decisions on implementing the review."

Education Minister, New Zealand Government

The New Zealand Ministry of Health wanted to make a change to their entire process for creating, publishing, managing and reporting on consultations online. They had been using an uncoordinated, ad hoc system, with dozens of user accounts across various digital tools.

The Ministry of Health made the switch to Citizen Space, bringing all their consultation activity into one place. This immediately made it more efficient for the Ministry to audit and report on their own activity – and, crucially, made it easier for the public to find opportunities to have their say.

"We’ve made it easy to have your voice heard…Everyone’s invited. It’s important feedback comes from the widest cross-section of society as possible…so please make your views known"

Associate Health Minister, New Zealand Government