Almost every day it’s like “idiot government does idiot thing”, but this really takes the cake. The proposal for a four year term in New Zealand is a retrograde step that is not healthy for our democracy.
I was against this when Labour floated it and I’m against it now that National is advancing legislation for a referendum.
Efficiency shouldn’t be the primary motivator. After all, the most efficient government would be a dictatorship.
I don’t want my opportunities for democratic participation to be reduced. This proposal would do that. It is at its core anti-democratic.
We don’t have a system of checks and balances in place in New Zealand. There is no veto option for a head of state, there is no upper chamber, there is no supreme law the courts can apply to strike down unjust laws.
Parliament’s rule is absolute and it can already bypass normal processes under urgency to enact its programmes.
Elections every three years serve as a good safeguard against complacency and bad law in an otherwise fairly lax constitutional environment.
If there were other safeguards in place, I’d reconsider. But given how powerful Parliament is in New Zealand’s system I am strongly against this measure.
I totally agree.