Jim Bennett

Those MMP “mostly meaningless promises” which David Hick highlighted in his letter last week (Beacon, September 16), illustrate perfectly the reason for my concern about the quality of our democracy.

Yes, in many ways the electoral system MMP has failed to develop as many of us who campaigned for it 30 years ago had hoped.

The problem is that the parliamentarians elected in 1996 set the pattern of continuing a block of MPs to form a majority.

Most of them had been elected to Parliament first under the old FPP system and were dubious about MMP. Having a majority to control the Parliament was how they had operated and they weren’t about to change.

What we all wanted from electoral reform was firstly an end to the broken promises of the 1980s and early 1990s.

We looked for greater diversity of people as MPs, for gender balance, for fairer ethnic representation, but especially for genuine debate about proposed legislation.

Some of these things we have gained, but in this last term with the current Coalition of ACT, National and NZ First, we have witnessed many things which are causing the quality of our democracy to decline. Genuine debate about legislation is not happening. Public concerns are being ignored.

Hick’s complaint, that most of the promises now being tossed around will disappear through coalition-forming negotiations, is exactly the reason we must all demand an end to this denigration of our democracy.

No more decision-making power assigned to ministers as facilitated by the Fast Track Act. No more legislation being altered by supplementary order papers after bills have passed through select committee hearings. No more rushed, poorly written legislation pushed through under “urgency”. No more suppression of the right to vote by closing off enrolment two weeks before election day.

We, the people, have a right to be heard, and not have our voices suppressed by the influence of corporate lobbyists who have previously made large donations to political party coffers.

Yes, there are some interesting ideas being tossed in the air by several parties as they seek to capture our support, but unless we have good democratic procedures, we will not get the policy outcomes the country needs.

Rebuilding the quality of our democracy is the most important “basic that needs fixing”.