Not after he apparently announced off the cuff on ZB Mornings with Kerre that he's going to hold an MMP referendum if he wins the election.
Now, where do I start with the problems with him doing this?
The first is that it looks incredibly desperate. No one was asking for a referendum. It's not a topic of discussion.
I mean, sure, we can all see that MMP is giving Chris Luxon heaps of trouble because he can't fire his Foreign Minister for being racist without ending the coalition and forcing a snap election.
But that has not led to a clamour for a return to FPP. In that context, him suddenly announcing that he wants to get rid of MMP, which is basically what he said by calling for a referendum on the thing, looks like he just wants to get rid of the system that's to blame for his party polling around 30 percent and sometimes below 30 percent.
That just looks incredibly desperate.
Now, I'm not saying that he is desperate because I actually think what happened here is that Chris Luxon fell into the trap of doing what Chris Luxon often does: agreeing with the person he's talking to. And because Kerre really liked the idea, all of a sudden he liked the idea and off he went on a tangent.
But for people who didn't hear the whole exchange and just see the headlines, this looks desperate.
The second problem is that this is now dominating what should really be a very good news day for the National Party.
Their star minister, Erica Stanford, has just released the new subjects for students in Years 12 and 13. Chris Bishop has finally revealed the date for Auckland's new train system.
We should be talking about that but instead we're talking about the Prime Minister saying the second weird thing in a week.
For the record, if there were a referendum, and there will not be a referendum, which is why this idea is cooked, it would fail.
Look at how many people vote for parties that are only there because of MMP: the Greens, ACT, New Zealand First and The Opportunity Party, if you believe the polls.
Meanwhile, the two old FPP parties, National and Labour, can't get themselves out of the low 30s.
So it's going to fail and that is the third problem.
A Prime Minister should never, if they can avoid it, back an idea that is destined to fail.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and radio broadcaster who hosts Newstalk ZB's weekday Drive-Time Show – where this article was sourced.
10 comments:
If he combines it with a referendum on maori seats, then bring it on,
Actually, I think a referendum on MMP is a great idea. No one I know likes its it at all.
I like MMP. It keeps people like Luxon in check.
If the PM wants smartie points then put up a referendum on the Maori seats/roll at this coming election.
I was. We made a mistake with MMP and we should fix it.
It is too late to roll the numpty. If Luxon cares about New Zealand, he should resign now, as he will not be PM for long if the coalition manages to win another 3 years.
This is really stupid and desperate from Luxon.
He has just plucked this out of the blue, completely ignoring that he has failed totally to fulfill his stated obligation to remove all the racist Maori/He Puapua material.
No-one wants MMP gone.
I can understand people not liking MMP. However, the issue is that Luxon came up with this idea in response to a text. A PM should not come up with policy without consulting even one National MP.
A desperate, deliberate distraction from the real issues like the Maori seats, Maori demands, and Maori appeasement.
Mr Peters' comment wasn't intentionally racist. It was a reference to the Chinese Communist form of government. Is Heather just another woke commentator, or can she not think for herself?
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