longweekend58 wrote on Sep 26
th, 2013 at 9:24am:
Peter Freedman wrote on Sep 26
th, 2013 at 7:42am:
Is Australia going to emerge from the Dark Ages and embrace some form of proportional representation?
This November represents the 20th anniversary of the introduction of MMP into New Zealand. The sky hasn't fallen in and coalition governments have proved remarkably stable.
What HAS happened is that smaller parties have had a fair go and a much wider range of people have made it into Parliament.
You need to look at just one incidence to see how unfair the current Australian system is.
The Greens won 8% of the vote for just one seat. This represents less than 1% of the number of MPs. These figures just don't stack up, do they?
We don't like the Special Olympics form of PR. MMP simply gives a medal to those not deserving one. The greens scored a PATHETIC 8% of the vote. Why should they be given representation for such a pitiful effort? And after the last minority govt I don't think anyone would be looking for a repeat of that experience. AS one of the most stable democracies in the world, changing the system now would be rather silly. "If it aint broke, don't fix it."
So 8% of the voters don't matter?
The last minority government made decisions you didn't like. Tough.
If it had been a Liberal minority government you would have loved it, because you inhabit a black and white world. Libs good, Labs bad, that is the extent of your "thinking".
The key point is that a minority government was stable and saw out its term. It worked.
The current system IS broken. It favours the two main parties at the expense of all the others.
Kiwis understood that and changed it. When will Australians do the same?
I am amazed the Greens aren't running with this particular ball. That's what happened over the ditch.
The late Rod Donald led the charge and won despite the opposition of the two main parties and wealthy business interests. NZ has much to thank him for.