The referendum does seem to have been seriously flawed though; it didn't ask "should we become a republic", but "should we become a republic in this specific wa

The referendum does seem to have been seriously flawed though; it didn't ask "should we become a republic", but "should we become a republic in this specific way" and many that were fine with the republic were not fine with the specific way. The Brexit referendum had the opposite problem; they only asked whether to leave, and not the way in which it should be done (not that they really could have, lacking a specific deal at the time) and now they can't agree on the way. The system here does need some serious reform though (and you might as well bin the Queen while you're at it). The STV approach at electorate level is good, but the electorates then being combined FPTP style to form a government retains most of the downsides of an FPTP system anyway. Safe seats are largely ignored and minor parties have far fewer seats than their support would warrant. NZ's approach (a vote for your electorate MP, and a vote for your preferred party, with the government formed in line with the percentages in the party vote) is more representative and would be a big improvement to the system. NZ's could be improved in a couple of ways though; the vote for the electorate MP is still really FPTP, we should copy the AU STV system for that part. And we retain an unrepresentative 5% minimum for representation at the party vote level*, this should be dropped entirely, or if not then votes should also be transferred from any party falling under that line to preferences above it. Kiwi living in Australia if any of the we/you/here/there is confused :D