Key ambivalent as anti-MMP campaign kicks off

As a major anti-MMP campaign kicks off, the Prime Minister seems happy to shuffle around the sideline.

John Key said today that he can work with whatever electoral system the public chooses.

The referendum, to be held at the same time as the November election, will ask voters whether they want to change to another electoral system, and to tick a preferred alternative from a list of options, including the old first-past-the-post system.

If a majority want a change, a second referendum will be held alongside the 2014 general election which will run off MMP against the alternative that gets the most ticks.

A campaign launched yesterday against MMP, the Vote for Change Society, has the backing of a number of high-profile supporters, including former Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast, former Waitakere mayor Bob Harvey, and businessman Peter Shirtcliffe, who ran an anti-MMP campaign before its 1996 introduction.

A pro-MMP lobby group, Campaign for MMP, has been active since the Government announced the referendum shortly after the 2008 election.

Recent opinion polls have indicated a majority of voters want to keep MMP.

Mr Key told reporters in India today the National Party would not campaign for or against any one system.

"It's for others to think about that. Our perspective is actually we can work under any system," he said.

"We put the referendum to the people because that was what we campaigned on, people said that they want a chance to kick the tyres.

"This is their opportunity to do that, they should think about the arguments both for and against."

Mr Key said he his personal preference was on balance the supplementary member system, which like MMP is a proportional system.

"But I'm not hostile to MMP, I actually think it works quite well. It's settled down," he said.

Proportional systems allowed parties to bring in greater ethnic diversity and more gender balance.

It was also a chance for people to get into Parliament who might otherwise have been unable to, including the "Tim Grosers (and) Don Brashes of the world".

However, some of the concerns around MMP were worthy of consideration, Mr Key said.

There was some frustration that people could get "swept in" through party lists and the party-hopping rules were "somewhat problematic".

Labour leader Phil Goff yesterday said he didn't agree with the anti-MMP campaigners.

"I agree with the principle that every vote should be of equal value, and that's something MMP achieves," he told reporters.

"That's why personally I will be backing MMP...if a party gets 20 percent of the vote, surely it should get 20 percent of the representation in Parliament."

However, Mr Goff said the decision was for New Zealanders to make, not the politicians.