Parliamentary Reform Proposals

The New Zealand parliament could be set for expansion.

A new report suggests an extension of the current three-year term to four years and an increase in the number of MPs representing the regions from 120 to 150.

"The current three-year Parliaments, as well as reinforcing a short-term bias in ministers and MPs, contributes to a substantial turnover rate of MPs," co-author Professor Jonathan Boston from Victoria University of Wellington said in a statement.

New Zealand currently has one of the shortest parliamentary terms in the world - the US has a four-year term, while the UK follows a five-year cycle.

"As it currently stands, a new government can be formed and then it's, in effect, got to spend maybe the first year trying to work out what it's going to do, the second year trying to do it and then the third year preparing for the next election," he told RNZ's Morning Report.

"We have plenty of evidence in New Zealand of governments of all persuasions really struggling to address big issues like climate change or fresh water or housing in very short parliamentary terms."

This isn't the first time expansions have been proposed.

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