Lyric Waiwiri-Smith, Geoffrey Palmer: ‘Democracy doesn’t get lost in a moment, it gets lost gradually’, The Spinoff, 24 September 2025
Instead of being filled with dread by all the flashing signs pointing to the end of democracy as we know it, Geoffrey Palmer has taken the productive route: penning a new book.
From former prime minister Geoffrey Palmer’s window at the Victoria University law school campus in Wellington’s city centre, you can watch the gradual decline of democracy through the window. Opposite his cupboard-sized office are the Beehive and parliament buildings, where in the last few years alone Palmer’s has witnessed governments change hands, countless marches and a weeks-long protest on the parliamentary lawn, where for a moment in time it seemed democracy had totally engulfed itself in flames.