I’m definitely in favour of ditching the 5% threshold, and i’d also be happy reducing the ratio of electorate:list MPs too (probably by increasing the size of the house).
I would also prefer all political party funding to be provided solely by the state and to ban private money from political parties entirely.
That I don’t know, though my perspective is that’s up to them to work out and as Pākehā i’ll have to learn how to negotiate that relationship if/when it ever happens.
That’s not a position i’ve always held, but over the years as i’ve read books like ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’ and other stories about the dispossession of indigenous people i’ve come to a much more complicated understanding of the price that was paid for the privilege I enjoy. It’s uncomfortable, but that’s a minor inconvenience compared to the cost others paid.
It would just be a different representative body negotiating the relationship with the pakeha crown I guess. Its entirely their choice as to whether they want to represent as individual iwi or as a whole in that relationship.
I think about it like it seems pretty normal that at an official level the NZ Government talks to the Australian Federal Government, not to the Melbourne mayor :)
I just think that if enough people vote for some party that it would (absent a threshold) amount to 1 MPs worth of votes, that those people deserve representation even if its a conspiracy theorist nutter. But i’m open to ranked choice or other similar systems that are better at ensuring everybody has at least some say in who’s represented in parliament.
Agree re the dark money in the TU, NZ Initiative etc. But even if we found an effective way to nullify that the same interests still own most of the media and would spread their messaging and campaigns through influence on those outlets instead.