Anne Salmond: Democracy at Risk — The RSB and the Fight for Our Future

🎧 Coherent podcast with Melanie Nelson

In this powerful and far-reaching conversation, Dame Anne Salmond joins Melanie to confront the deeper ideological project behind the Regulatory Standards Bill. With clarity, compassion and a lifetime of scholarly insight, Anne warns that the Bill isn’t just about regulation — it’s a blueprint for hollowing out democracy, elevating corporate interests, and tying government into a narrow ideological approach.

Together, they explore:

• How the RSB advances a global libertarian agenda hostile to public good

• The Bill’s undermining of collective rights, te Tiriti, and environmental protections

• The risks of concentrating oversight power in a single Minister’s hands

• Why the ‘double speak’ of “freedom and democracy” masks a corporate agenda

• The erosion of due process, evidence-based policymaking, and civil political discourse

Anne also issues a clear warning about the danger of small parties imposing fringe philosophies through opaque coalition deals. And she closes with a hopeful call to return to our shared values — grounded in whakapapa, manaakitanga, community, and a fair go — to imagine a democracy worth defending.

Watch the video podcast above. Or listen to the audio here on Substack, or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms (once uploaded).

Resources:

Sector Specific RSB Tool: https://tinyurl.com/RSBTool

Linktree with a wide range of historic and contemporary information on the RSB, including submission guides and builders.