National

Minister defends dismissing electoral review recommendations

07:21 am on 17 January 2024

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The final report from the Independent Electoral Review is out, and the Government has already dismissed some of its key recommendations.

The report contained more than 140 recommendations with the objective of improving fairness, accountability and effectiveness of New Zealand's electoral system.

But before even taking time to consider the report in detail, Justice Minister, Paul Goldsmith, said proposals to lower the voting age to 16 and allowing all prisoners to vote regardless of sentence length, would not be implemented.

Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver

Still on the table though, is a referendum to increase the Parliamentary term to four years.

Paul Goldsmith spoke to Ben Strang.