About Plain English Power

We're are New Zealanders lobbying for plain English in official documents and web sites. We consist of a small committee of volunteers and a growing number of supporters.

We believe plain language in government documents is a democratic right

When ordinary people understand official information, they gain:

We support all moves towards plain language in government

We want a culture change to plain language as the standard for all government communications in New Zealand. Obvious targets include information related to:

Join us by just stating your agreement

We need the support of organisations that represent New Zealand residents affected by unclear information. That includes patients, beneficiaries, older people, builders, manufacturers and business people.

We want full commitment from all political parties. Our movement has no affiliation to any political party, and all the main parties have MPs who believe in our cause.

We welcome support from the many editors, trainers, academics and public servants in New Zealand who strive to write clearly and train others to do so. We respect the serious efforts made by many government agencies to communicate clearly. We would just like that to become the norm.

Our history in 150 words or fewer

The plain English network initiative was first conceived by Lynda Harris of the Write Group in 2005. In 2008 a small committee met to discuss strategy, and later launched Plain English Power.

Plain English Power has no commercial interests and is set up solely to promote plain English in New Zealand. Everything we do, we do for free.

We are very grateful to Dr Annetta Cheek, a heroine of the plain language movement in the US. She has generously shared her experience and expertise with us. Dr Cheek is Chair of the Center for Plain Language (Washington DC, USA). For many years she has worked to promote clarity in government communications.

Meet the Plain English Power people
Join Plain English Power—we need you!

Looking for help in your drive to write clearly?

You'll find a few tips, and links to plain language guidelines, examples and trainers on this web site. We need to focus our energy on our main business: lobbying on your behalf.