8/4/2019 Free Votes Can We Trust MPs Morals & Principles 072011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/free-votes-can-we-trust-mps-morals-principles-072011 1/3

8/4/2019 Free Votes Can We Trust MPs Morals & Principles 072011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/free-votes-can-we-trust-mps-morals-principles-072011 2/3

average, 1.1 free votes in parliament each year. Since then, there has been an average of 

2.1 free votes each year. When we look at the figures, 42% of all free votes have been

related to the control and provision of alcohol, and 19% have been held on issues related

to gambling.

Generally speaking, the New Zealand public has accepted the use of free votes in

parliament as a normal part of parliamentary business, especially when free votes are on

moral or ethical issues that are unlikely to be party issues at the core of government. David

Lindsey's 'Conscience Voting' chapter in Raymond Millers book New Zealand Government 

& Politics, raises an important issue when he refers to 'constituents':

Conscience voting can be considered a politically useful mechanism for dealing

with socially contentious issues. The unpredictability of the outcome provides anincentive, if not compulsion, for parliamentarians to consider more carefully their 

own views, those of their constituents and the implications of their vote. (emphasis

added)

What is important here is to consider whether the morals and principles of an MP are more

important than the morals and principles of their constituents. Back in 2004 at an

investment exposition he was attending, I spoke at some length with the then future Prime

Minister John Key, specifically in regard to free votes and direct democracy. His comments

were that free votes put MPs in a difficult position, or as he put it, “between a rock and a

hard place because whatever we do is wrong in some person's eyes”.

So how do politicians make decisions when it comes to free votes? From the politicians I

have personally spoken to, there seem to be many options. Some vote based totally on

their own conscience/morals/principals regardless of what others around them, including

their electorate, want. Some try to gauge the public feeling, while others like Maurice

Williamson, MP for Pakuranga (Auckland) say they actually poll their electorate first. For 

those who do wish to gauge the feeling of their electorate (if they are constituent MPs),

and do not take any scientific poll, it becomes extremely difficult to make a decision

because they may be influenced by a small number of people, not necessarily

representative of the general public.

It could be argued that it would be more democratic if citizens were asked to decide such

conscience issues in a referendum, rather than leaving the decision to individual MPs in a

8/4/2019 Free Votes Can We Trust MPs Morals & Principles 072011

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/free-votes-can-we-trust-mps-morals-principles-072011 3/3

free vote, if parliament is seeking a more consensus-based society. After all, are the

morals and principles of an MP any more valuable or important than those of the public?

This writer does not think so. In fact, given the undesirable record of MPs over a very long

period of time, it could be easily argued that their morals and principles are inferior to

those of the general public and therefore decisions made via free votes in parliamentshould be transferred to voters in a referendum.