Mike's Minute: The trouble with revisiting MMP
Is Luxon's MMP vote a stroke of genius to avoid an otherwise problematic week?
His apology for Rotorua was a cluster, the Māorification issues that haven't been resolved despite all the talk, the Corrections massages, MBIE, Treasury love-ins, the Justice Department cock-up on the Harrison bloke, and the unemployment rate to the upside – it's all looked like very bad news.
But then out of nowhere, "let's have a look at the entire way we elect Governments".
It makes sense to the extent we are going to vote on four-year terms anyway.
But here is your trouble with revisiting MMP; it's been too long between drinks.
There is an entire generation of voters, and I include my kids, who have never known anything else.
Constitutional change needs to be debated when an obvious issue has arisen i.e. Governments keep falling over and we lack stability, or we have recently had the debate and the ideas are still fresh in our minds.
Neither scenario is in play here.
Making it also problematic for the first-past-the-posters is Labour 2020-2023. They were an FPP Government and an example of why you would not in a million years let a single party near anything.
Good parties take you good places. Ardern and Hipkins blew the place up. Is that a result of FPP or a singular example of incompetence? And do you want to run that risk?
Obviously the counter is, on balance, our small players have not proved to be wonderful representatives of the broad idea that MMP brings wider representation. The representation they have brought is more calamity and chaos, than insight and brain power.
The Māori Party have imploded, again, the Greens are insane and quite possibly dangerous, and not really "green", and New Zealand First are racists and stirrers.
Having said that, if we insist on MMP overall, this current Government is the first full example of the art i.e. three parties in a full arrangement. It's been executed pretty well so Luxon comes off a strange run-up, given he's conducted it professionally and successfully.
If you want to run a book it was 58% for MMP last time. I reckon it would be even more this time.
And that’s from a person who, push comes to shove, would probably vote FPP.
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