The terms of reference of the government’s electoral law review have been announced.

The terms of reference explicitly excluded looking at alternatives to the MMP voting system, whether to retain or ditch Māori electorate seats, whether New Zealand should re-establish an Upper House, and the role of the Head of State.

This is a strange thing to put into an out of scope clause for the terms of reference, when it very clearly is out of scope. The number of MPs, Māori electorates or reestablishing the upper house are both clearly to do with the structure and election of parliament, so it’s no surprise that they were specifically excluded. Why then mention the head of state?

It appears to our campaign that the government simply wants to ensure that the issue is not discussed at all, despite what opinion polling says. This is disappointing, although could it point to another vehicle being established to look at the issue? After all, Australia had its Republic Advisory Committee in the 1990s, that specifically looked at the issues.