Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
MP Seeks To Make Her Compatriots Redundant
MP Seeks To Make Her Compatriots
Redundant
Scoop Audio: This week Barbara Stewart's Electoral (Reduction in Number of Members of Parliament) Amendment Bill will go before the House for its first reading. The Bill would reduce the number of MPs to 100 at the next election by amending s191 of the Electoral Act 1993.
Scoop caught up with Ms Stewart today for a short natter about why she wants to potentially guillotine some of her parliamentary chums. Over the course of the conversation it was discovered that Ms Stewart was getting some good feedback from talkback callers regarding her Bill.
However, when Scoop sought to get down to the nuts and bolts of how Ms Stewart's Bill would work, and whether or not it had the potential to greatly advantage parties whose MPs are predominantly electorate MPs, things became somewhat murkier.
According to Ms Stewart's Bill the number of electorate and Maori seats would remain the same whilst list MPs would shrink dramatically. In this situation a party - for example the Maori Party - that received a small amount of the party vote and a large amount of electorate seats would end up in a stronger position than they currently hold.
Barbara Stewart explains how making 20 MPs redundant is going to assist NZ democracy:
Scoop Streaming Audio: Ms Stewart Explains The
Electoral Amendment BillENDS
Ramzy Baroud: Israel To Annex The West Bank – Why Now? And What Are The Likely Scenarios?
Binoy Kampmark: The Strawman Of Antisemitism - Banning Protests Against Israel Down Under
Gordon Campbell: On The Coalition’s Empty Gestures, And Abortion Refusal As The New Slavery
Keith Rankin: Judaism, Antisemitism, And Israel
Ian Powell: Haka, Hikoi And The Empowerment Of The Kohanga Generation
Binoy Kampmark: Feeding Chaos - Israel Cripples Syria’s Defence