Ghahraman resigns as an MP while a report on our electoral system favours making it harder to abolish Māori electorates
The media are bound to be abuzz with news that emerged not from the Beehive, but from the Green Party.
One press release was headed Statement from Golriz Ghahraman, in which she mentions her mental health problems, then declares:
“The best thing for my mental health is to resign as a Member of Parliament and to focus on my recovery and to find other ways to work for positive change in the world.
“I will therefore be resigning from Parliament immediately.”
The second was headed Statement from the Co-leaders of the Green Party on the resignation of Golriz Ghahraman.
Green Party Co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw say they support the decision Ghahraman has made to resign and wish her all the best for the future.
Neither statement mentions the allegations of shoplifting which have fuelled several days of media reportage, but the statement from the co-leaders somewhat more vaguely says:
“We cannot comment on the details of allegations while Police investigations are ongoing.”
The statement from Ghahraman does hint she might have been in a shop:
“I also want to especially thank Scotties Boutique for the kindness and empathy they have shown me.”
But while the political hacks are chewing on those bones, here’s hoping they pay ample attention to the one statement on the government’s official website today.
“I will therefore be resigning from Parliament immediately.”
The second was headed Statement from the Co-leaders of the Green Party on the resignation of Golriz Ghahraman.
Green Party Co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw say they support the decision Ghahraman has made to resign and wish her all the best for the future.
Neither statement mentions the allegations of shoplifting which have fuelled several days of media reportage, but the statement from the co-leaders somewhat more vaguely says:
“We cannot comment on the details of allegations while Police investigations are ongoing.”
The statement from Ghahraman does hint she might have been in a shop:
“I also want to especially thank Scotties Boutique for the kindness and empathy they have shown me.”
But while the political hacks are chewing on those bones, here’s hoping they pay ample attention to the one statement on the government’s official website today.
Latest from the Beehive
16 JANUARY 2024
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has today released the final report of the Independent Electoral Review.
This report will bring no comfort to the significant numbers of New Zealanders who agree with Don Brash that it’s time to scrap the Maori electorates.
Goldsmith did say the final report has over 140 recommendations that cover many aspects of parliamentary electoral laws and the Government will make a formal response to the review “in due course.”
He further said several recommendations can be ruled out immediately, such as:
- Lowering the voting age to 16;
- Allowing all prisoners to vote and stand for Parliament;
- Freezing the ratio of electorate to list seats, which would lead to extra MPs as the population increases; and
- Repealing the offence of ‘treating’ voters with refreshments and entertainment.
Commenting on the role of entrenched provisions in the country’s electoral law, the report notes that these can only be changed by a majority vote in a public referendum or by a 75 per cent vote in parliament.
This high bar for amendment is based on the idea that changes to core aspects of electoral law should have broad public and political support.
But the panel found inconsistencies and gaps across the provisions that are currently entrenched – and:
We recommend additional provisions should be entrenched, including the party-vote threshold, the Māori electorates, the right to vote and to stand as a candidate, and the independence of the Electoral Commission.
Goldsmith said the final report of the Independent Electoral Review followed an interim report released in June 2023, and two rounds of public engagement that together attracted more than 7,500 submissions.”
He noted that the report recommended holding a referendum on the term of Parliament.
The Government has already committed as part of the National-ACT coalition agreement to introducing the Constitution (Enabling a 4-Year Term) Amendment Bill, which if passed would be subject to a binding referendum.
The Government will now consider the other recommendations.
The Independent Electoral Review was established in May 2022 by then Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi.
The final report, an executive summary, and further information about the review can be found on the Independent Electoral Review website and the Ministry of Justice website.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
2 comments:
Race based electorates? Apartheid in motion.
This report is worthless. It is by the so-called Independent Electoral Review commissioned by the corrupt last Labour government, whose Minister appointed the unnamed Panel. Now how can that be independent. And how peculiar that the Panel recommended lowering the voting age to 16 while kids of that age were staging the ram-raid period of our history throughout the country. The report is a complete waste of resources: time and money. Keep the voting age at 18, and to hell with the corrupted judiciary.
Abolish Maori electorates as Maori are over-represented in Parliament anyway. When they were first established there were few former nationalities who called NZ home, and Maori were most likely the second largest, if not the largest, single population in the country. Now we have about 160 former nationalities who are now New Zealanders. So why should Maori have individual electorates ? Why not the Scots, Indians, Filipinos etc ?
No, it is long past time that the Maori Electorates were abolished as was recommended if MMP was to be adopted. But then of course we had Bolger and then Key and they let the nonsense continue unabated. After all, it is not as though Maori are indigenous, and nor were they the first to settle in New Zealand.
We do really need Luxon to stand and deliver on this once and for all. And if need be, he should be dragged (screaming and kicking, no doubt) by Peters and Seymour, to have this made law by Parliament.
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