This week Justice Minister Simon Power outlined how Government will conduct the second electoral reform referendum in nearly two decades. While I was opposed to National holding a referendum, it now seems obvious to me and other MMP supporters that the system has to be given a definite mandate.

Therefore, in 2011 it will be time to give MMP a mandate - once and for all! The result that year should be ideally beyond doubt in that the majority of New Zealander's don't want to go back to the old First Past the Post (FPP) system or any of its surrogates, e.g. preferential voting.

I hope that the Electoral Reform Coalition that successfully campaigned for MMP the last time around resurrects itself and leads the charge again. After all, MMP has given us multiple political benefits including:

• More checks on the power of Cabinet;
• More transparency in terms of the policy making process;
• More players being involved in the policy making and legislative process;
• A more diverse legislature in terms of ethnicity and gender;
• An enhanced select committee system;
• Less radical lurches (particularly to the right) on economic and social policy; and
• A broader representation of parties from across the political spectrum have been able to enter Parliament.

All of these benefits would be lost if MMP were ditched.

There is no doubt in my mind that big business, as represented by the Business Roundtable, wouldn't mind if this happened. After all, it is former Telecom boss Peter Shirtcliffe (from the early 1990's anti-MMP lobby) who spearheaded the lobbying effort that swayed the National Party to adopt this referendum policy at the last election. It wouldn't surprise me (nor anyone else for that matter) if Shirtcliffe was again to lead the anti-MMP campaign in the 2011 referendum campaign with considerable financial support from the Business Roundtable. Shirtcliffe and his other sidekick, former Act MP Owen Jennings, will be at the forefront and perhaps a few new, younger faces might crop up as well.

What is needed from the pro-MMP side is a repeat of the same positive campaigning that trumped the negativism of the anti-MMP 'Campaign for Better Government' lobby in 1993. This should manifest itself in positive advertising and media that highlights the advantages of MMP and as to why voters have benefitted in so many ways. This will be crucial as MMP will this time be the status quo option, not FPP, so campaigners will need to be armed with the facts to defend the system and even suggest practical ways in which it could be improved through e.g. the creation of open party lists and a lowering of the party threshold.

While I have argued on previous blogs on the guide2 website that there is no need for this referendum,  I believe that with the Government having made the decision, MMP supporters have to be pragmatic about it.

That's why I feel that at the 2011 election, New Zealanders will (hopefully) reaffirm their faith in MMP over any other alternative system on offer. It's something that I intend to fight to see happen, both through this blog and in open campaigning.