There has been a lot of talk in the New Zealand media over the last two weeks about the two new party leaders on the block. Both Hone and Don have been able to get a lot of coverage of their views in the media.

Some political commentators have been taking the opportunity to lay in cheap shots on MMP. This is depsite the fact that both of these “radicals” would be elected under a FPP system. Hone is the MP for Te Tai Tokerau and the Act party are in Parliament through their stronghold in Epsom.

Some have even gone so far as to blame MMP for the by-election that is likely to take place in Te Tai Tokerau. In fact had Hone been a list (MMP) candidate then his resignation would simply have meant the next candidate on the list would have taken his seat as happenen in the case of Darren Hughes. This level of ignorance (or dishonesty) from political commentators is why it is so important that we have an informed debate on MMP.

MMP does exactly what it says on the box, that is it provides proportional representation. By proportional I mean that every New Zealander who votes has the same amount of power as any other voter. This means that it is worth voting even if you live in a so called “safe” electorate.

This leads to a more representative parliament where a wider range of diverse views are heard. It creates in parliament a more robust marketplace of ideas. There are also substantially more Maori, women, young people, Pasifika and Asian members of parliament than before MMP.

This increased diversity has not come at the expense of stability. Over the 15 years since MMP was introduced every parliament has gone full term.

A return to FPP would be disasterous for New Zealand. If the journalists had taken the time to look a little bit further afield last week they would have noted the Canadian elections. Despite the 3 left wing parties together gaining over 53% of the vote they received only 44% of the seats. The conservative party who received less than 40% of the vote have an outright majority and the power to make laws unencumbered for the next 4 years.

MMP provides a level playing field on which the game of politics in New Zealand can be played.It is fundamentally a fair system and one we should take pride in.