It’s too soon for another MMP referendum

The Herald reports:

Christopher Luxon says he supports having another referendum on the MMP voting system if he’s re-elected as he encourages greater support for National so the party can avoid working with “some yahoo and numpty” in Cabinet. 

Act leader David Seymour says he’s not opposed to another referendum but suggests Luxon “may not have thought through what he’s saying” regarding ministers from other parties, noting the number of National ministers who had been dismissed this term. 

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the referendum proposal is “inexplicable” and a “power grab” as he claims Labour and National are “losing their grip on power”.

The Herald understands Luxon’s announcement came as a surprise to National MPs. The Herald has approached the National Party for comment.

It is unclear if this is merely a desire by the Prime Minister, or official National Party policy. Either way, I think it is premature.

We voted in 1993 to adopt MMP by 54% to 46%. In 2011, 18 years later, there was another referendum where NZers voted 58% to 42% to keep MMP. It was right to have a second referendum to confirm if NZers were happy with how MMP had worked out.

We should not however be voting every 15 years on what electoral system, we have. There is no hard and fast rule, but I would suggest you would only have such a referendum every 30 years or so. This is why I also oppose a second Scottish independence 12 years after the last one.