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Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has ruled out several recommendations from the Independent Electoral Review set up by the previous government.
The minister has released the final report of the review today, which makes more than 117 recommendations, after it was delivered to him at the end of November 2023.
Goldsmith ruled out action on some recommendations, including:
A further recommendation for a referendum on the term of Parliament was a matter already being looked at by the new Government, with agreement to introduce legislation for a four-year term subject to a binding referendum.
The report said elections were inherently political and the reviewers sought to perform the task “independently and with open minds”.
Objectives included: Improving fairness, accountability, clarity, representativeness, and effectiveness in the electoral system and how it can uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi.
They received more than 7500 written submissions, carried out research, examined previous reports, case studies and experiences - and had made several changes since the interim report.
Other recommendations included a full redrafting of the Electoral Act to modernise the language and structure, making things like Māori seats and the party vote threshold harder to repeal by entrenching them, lowering that threshold to 3.5 per cent instead of 5 per cent, and permanently extending the length of time New Zealand citizens can still vote without returning to six years (or eight in the case of a four-year term).
The review was set up by former justice minister Kris Faafoi in May 2022. The reviewers released their initial findings in an interim report in June last year.
