Oct 8, 2025 · 43 min · 18 segments
New Zealand’s MMP voting system promised fairness and diversity — but has it delivered? In this episode of Context, Guyon Espiner and Corin Dann look back at how MMP came to be, from a slip-up by…
Guyon EspinerHost
Corin DannHostIt is in fact the very first time in New Zealand's MMP history that we have had a three-party coalition government.
Well, that is not the government's position.
The government's position is articulated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
That's the agreed situation.
And for the second time, someone is talking out of his field.
It is fair to say that of the three partners in the coalition, there were some who started with divergent views.
All three political parties have their coalition agreements met.
We just have one serious little, tiny little bit where we have disagreed.
I know he's the Prime Minister.
I
made him the Prime Minister.
You know, our coalition is very robust.
We work together on a whole lot of issues.
This is one where there's some disagreement.
Well, I've set it up as a coalition government and you hear my language is always about a coalition government.
Yes, well, three parties and three little letters with a huge impact on our daily politics and our daily lives.
All right, so that's a sense of some of the difficulty, right, Corin, with trying to wrangle a three-headed coalition.
Yeah, and we're supposedly in the easy bit, right? When you think this is the middle of the term, you imagine where these parties, and we've seen this in the past, they suddenly get towards an election and they're like, how do we differentiate ourselves? It's been an extraordinary term, I think, in terms of MMP, the three parties and the two minor parties having so much influence, having so much, I guess...
And it's not only an issue on the right where the government is trying to manage this, but of course it's also an issue for the left with the three parties trying to maintain what an alternative government might look like.
I've said that Takuta Ferris' comments last week are totally unacceptable.
If they reflect the views of the Māori Party, that would make it very, very difficult for Labour to work with the Māori Party.
It is in fact the very first time in New Zealand's MMP history that we have had a three-party coalition government.
Well, that is not the government's position.
The government's position is articulated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
That's the agreed situation.
And for the second time, someone is talking out of his field.
It is fair to say that of the three partners in the coalition, there were some who started with divergent views.
All three political parties have their coalition agreements met.
We just have one serious little, tiny little bit where we have disagreed.
I know he's the Prime Minister.
I
made him the Prime Minister.
You know, our coalition is very robust.
We work together on a whole lot of issues.
This is one where there's some disagreement.
Well, I've set it up as a coalition government and you hear my language is always about a coalition government.
Yes, well, three parties and three little letters with a huge impact on our daily politics and our daily lives.
All right, so that's a sense of some of the difficulty, right, Corin, with trying to wrangle a three-headed coalition.
Yeah, and we're supposedly in the easy bit, right? When you think this is the middle of the term, you imagine where these parties, and we've seen this in the past, they suddenly get towards an election and they're like, how do we differentiate ourselves? It's been an extraordinary term, I think, in terms of MMP, the three parties and the two minor parties having so much influence, having so much, I guess...
And it's not only an issue on the right where the government is trying to manage this, but of course it's also an issue for the left with the three parties trying to maintain what an alternative government might look like.
I've said that Takuta Ferris' comments last week are totally unacceptable.
If they reflect the views of the Māori Party, that would make it very, very difficult for Labour to work with the Māori Party.
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