Posts by Graeme Edgeler
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Legal Beagle: Now it's up to you, in reply to DexterX,
I would hate, in reality, to see the bulk of voters with a social conscience get split between STV & MMP and the social conservative voters who prefer a one party state prevail with FPP.
Can’t happen. There are two questions, the first question is about whether we should keep MMP. The second question is about which of four non-MMP systems you’d want, if we didn’t have MMP.
If you really like MMP, but think STV would be second best, then you can vote to keep MMP in the first question, while also supporting STV in the second question. Your vote for STV will not detract in any way from your vote in favour of MMP in the first question.
Voting in this way would indicate: “I want to keep MMP, but if enough people disagree with me, then I think the next (binding) referendum should be between MMP and my second choice, STV.” If "keep MMP" gets 50%+ on the first question, that should be the end of it, even if STV gets 100% in the second question!
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One mistake.
To be absolutely fair there should have been an option for LESS or NO MAORI seats.I explain somewhere (either the extra info, or the FAQ), that I haven't included an option about getting rid of the Māori seats, or having fewer Māori seats because it's not an option in the referendum.
Five voting systems are on offer in the referendum. One is the one we've got now: mixed member proportional (MMP), with 7 Māori seats (probably 8 next time).
One is supplementary member (SM), this would see at least nine and probably 10 Māori seats.
The others: First past the post (FPP), preferential voting (PV), and single transferable vote (STV), would all see an increase to at least 12 and probably 13 Maori seats.
For this referendum, those are the only options: the same number we have now, or more. This referendum process cannot lead to there being fewer (or no) Māori seats.
The Government has announced a Constitutional Review separate from the referendum process. One of the Review's terms of reference is to consider “Māori representation, including the Māori Electoral Option, Māori electoral participation and Māori seats in Parliament and local government.” Its recommendations will be made after the voting system referendum has been held. You can find information about this review here.
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Legal Beagle: Now it's up to you, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
*None* of the options given in Q2 are proportional
STV is generally considered a proportional voting system.
I'd recommend voting for whichever of the systems in the second question you'd actually be okay with.
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Legal Beagle: Now it's up to you, in reply to Tom Beard,
some of the questions (such as Q7) would have a bearing on any decision between MMP with a threshold and without. Did you consider them as options for this tool?
Yes. I go into that in the FAQ a little, but basically, something like this can only be very broad brush. And not just MMP. If STV is 12 electorates each with 10 MPs, it will have very different results from STV with 40 electorates each with 3 MPs.
If we do get a second referendum in 2014, it will be between two fully-fleshed-out alternatives. I’ll look at what might be helpful closer to the time!
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It finds that three major players – APN, Fairfax and MediaWorks – now own more than 80% of New Zealand media.
And from the paper:
Four companies, all overseas owned, dominate the New Zealand news media.
I'm surprised they've not heard of TVNZ.
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Legal Beagle: Now it's up to you, in reply to Jackie Clark,
I have never been confused about this one,. I have always loved MMP.
You can vote in the second question too! Don't forget your second choice.
If it's diversity you want, probably STV; if it's a dual vote, then SM, but don't take my word for it, take my word for it :-)
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Legal Beagle: Now it's up to you, in reply to Hayden East,
If you end up with FPP does that make you a bad person?
No. FPP is a perfectly defensible system if you take certain starting points of this and this are important and this and that are not.
I'd like to think that people who like FPP would realise that everything they like about FPP is also present in PV, but with the added bonus that the person representing their electorate is supported by a majority, but other than that...
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(although feel free to ask any questions in the comments)
You’d think, having said that, that I’d enable the ability to leave comments.
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They count Rugby as an Olympic sport? I know the US are reigning Olympic champions, but the next Olympic Rugby won't be until Rio, and that will still be 7s.
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Legal Beagle: I heartily endorse this…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
It’s not that I see the site as a bad idea, just the EC’s involvement.
They've been pretty careful:
1. It doesn't say which you should vote for based on your answers.
2. It keeps repeating that there's no perfect system.
3. They had outside experts do most of the analysis.
4. They even had massive debates on how big to make the bar to show that everything was a continuum with no perfect fit.