About the project
The concept of rules as code underpinning the know your legal entitlements project immediately captured my interest as a final-year Law student. The project has us developing an application that will present the eligibility and calculation rules in the Social Security Act as an intuitive web program. Through this project, Gov Zero Aotearoa aims to increase clarity within the social service system of Aotearoa. Thus, the tool will allow the citizens to understand their legal entitlements better and enforce their rights through legislative means. In this way, the know your legal entitlements project will contribute to upholding the government’s obligation of shared governance by making it easier for people to understand and utilise civil rules.
Why am I involved with the project?
In 2016, I left high school midway through year 13 to attend a student exchange in Brazil. I had many wonderful experiences during my year-long journey. I lived in Copacabana, a mere fifteen-minute walk from the beautiful beaches and attended a thriving public school. However, 2016 was a politically difficult time for Brazil. The government was using the Olympics as a distraction from Brazilian daily life issues. The tumultuous political climate coloured my exchange in many ways, especially in my school environment.
About six months into my exchange, the government proposed to cut funding from public hospitals and schools. As my school was a public school, this naturally upset many students and teachers who would lose access to subjects and jobs. In response, my school community organised an occupation of the school. We took the keys from our teachers and locked ourselves inside in protest. Schools like mine did this throughout the country. As a result, the senior students could not sit their final year exams, which put a strain on the universities. We stayed there for almost two months. The occupation could only continue if we had over 50 students, so the government would cut our electricity and water supply to drive us out. Furthermore, local opportunists would use the opportunity to attack the school. Thankfully, our school security team remained working unpaid throughout the protest for our safety.
In the end, the government relented due to the pressure, and our school returned to normal. We had succeeded, but the victory was not without sacrifice. My friends had lost out on scholarship opportunities, been arrested, and suffered physically and mentally from experience. The ordeal left me wondering: “How can we prevent these issues from happening in Aotearoa?” That single question led me to enrol in Law upon returning to Aotearoa. It has also possessed me with a drive to uphold the Rule of Law in whatever project I join.
During my second year at university, I decided to teach myself python using various books I found on Kindle. I took great joy in learning how machines process information and how we can use API to locally run programs developed by the greatest minds of the tech community. But I also wondered how we could use tech tools and methodologies to uphold the Rule of Law. So, I began independently researching how groups had attempted to combine Law and tech. At that time, I stumbled upon the concept of Rules as Code. Specifically, the “2019 Rules as Code show and tell” YouTube videos. The idea we could take written legislation and turn it into machine-readable rules excited me as I believed it could help bring much-needed clarity, consistency, and unity to government systems.
I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the people from the 2019 Rules as Code Show and Tell on this know your legal entitlements project. While I only have some rudimentary python skills from my independent learning, I have been helping on both the front and back end of the tool. My experience helping lawyers at local free legal help services has given me insight into clients’ needs, which has aided the front-end team. And I helped break down the Social Security Act 2019, which the back-end team is using to create the tool (though I hope to one day help with the programming!).
What outcomes am I hoping to achieve?
The most significant outcome would be that this tool helps unifiy the legislation as written with the policy to ensure kiwi receive their full entitlements. If the tool is successful, it will put the onus back onto the legislative to craft laws that capture their intent. As a result, we are less likely to see laws that reflect an ideal only for policy to drastically limit the implementation and defeat the spirit of the legislation. This way, the tool will play a role in upholding the core pillars of parliamentary sovereignty and democracy.
I hope people will use this tool to navigate the social security system. Understanding what rules affect a person’s eligibility can be confusing following the act alone. Although under the Rule of Law, citizens should have open access to the laws that govern them, part of this obligation is to make the laws accessible. The know your legal entitlements tool will help give people the knowledge necessary to make smart decisions to ensure they get all the support the state wishes them to have.