Avalee Donovan (pictured being held up) is a member of the Aqua Ferns New Zealand artistic swimming team heading to Japan next month for the World Aquatics Championships. Pictures supplied
Avalee Donovan (pictured being held up) is a member of the Aqua Ferns New Zealand artistic swimming team heading to Japan next month for the World Aquatics Championships. Pictures supplied
New Zealand’s electoral system has been under review and recommendations we’ve heard before, plus some new ones, are the result of 58 public meetings and an independent panel of legal experts having considered more than 1700 public submissions on almost all aspects of our electoral law.
One headline recommendation, toextend the parliamentary term to four years, has wide support among politicians and polls have shown majority public support. It will surely come before us in a referendum in the not-too-distant future; though not at the general election this year, the Prime Minister has confirmed.
Another is to reduce the voting age to 16, which is supported on the left of politics but not the right. It’s a change that would require a 75 percent super majority vote in Parliament, or a referendum . . . so it would likely be put to a public vote at the same time as a longer term by a future Labour-led Government, but not a National one.
The party vote threshold of 5 percent to enter Parliament is yet again seen as being too high, with 3.5 percent (or about 100,000 votes) seen as a fairer threshold. The review panel wants to hear more public feedback on this (the Electoral Commission recommended lowering the threshold to 4 percent two years ago).
The panel and the commission before it both see the coat-tail rule as unfair and say it should be abolished. This is where winning an electorate seat means the threshold no longer applies, allowing that MP to bring in other MPs based on the party vote.
Political donations are another area seen as needing an overhaul. The review panel wants donations restricted to registered voters and not organisations; a limit on individual donations of $30,000 per party per electoral cycle; and to reduce the amount that can be donated anonymously from $1500 to $500.
Other recommendations are to extend the vote to all prisoners (not just those sentenced to less than a three-year jail term); amend the Electoral Act to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles, establish Māori governance over electoral data collected about Māori, and remove restrictions on when Māori can switch electoral rolls; also rewrite the Electoral Act to make it “modern, comprehensive and accessible”; increase the number of seats in Parliament in line with population growth (to 128-130 by 2044); and allow citizens to spend longer overseas before they lose the right to vote, while permanent residents should be in the country longer before they can vote.
The interim report is open for public consultation until July 17 and a final report will be handed to the newly elected government in November.
