By JOHN ARMSTRONG
Fed up with politicians ignoring your wish for a smaller Parliament and another referendum on MMP?
Following this week's refusal by a parliamentary committee to recommend a referendum, the chances of getting one at next year's election may now depend on the efforts of Stuart Marshall, an Auckland economist and Act party member.
His Citizens' Majority Trust has been collecting signatures since March for a petition seeking a referendum on the question, "Should a binding referendum be held to decide the future voting system, based on a Parliament of 99 MPs?"
So far, Mr Marshall has collected about 26,000 signatures. But he needs 260,000.
Under referendum rules he has until March to collect the signatures of 10 per cent of registered voters.
At this stage, his campaign has concentrated on distributing the petition form. "It doesn't take much to get people to sign it."
However, he said, some people still questioned whether there was any point as they felt MPs simply would not listen.
The trust has been set up with MMP opponent Graeme Hunt, editor-at-large of the National Business Review.
Mr Marshall has also sought advice from Margaret Robertson, who forced the referendum on cutting the number of MPs to 99 which received 81.5 per cent backing at the last election, and from Norm Withers, who promoted last election's successful referendum calling for heavier penalties for violent criminals.
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