On Thursday we were entertained, and to some extent educated, by a debate on the topic "That New Zealand's parliamentary term should be increased to 4 years".
Steve Hydes spoke to the affirmative, telling us that a 4-year term would give a government more time to get things done, as well as giving Christopher Luxon more time to learn Te Reo (at the tax-payers  expense!). He told us that generally a new government spends its first year blaming the previous government, its second year doing something, and its third year electioneering. A 4-year term would give them two years to achieve policy output. It would also allow MP's like Alamein Kopu more time to do their knitting!
He also told us that only 13 countries in the world have a 3-year term, and that all the major events in the world (Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Rugby World Cup) occur every 4 years, so a 4-year term, if started in the right year, would avoid a clash. More importantly to an accountant (ie Steve), it would save a considerable amount of money if elections were held less frequently.
Ron Mackintosh spoke to the negative - he admitted that even though he had been in toastmasters for 30 years, he had never done a debate before! He reminded us that the last time there was a referendum on the subject (1967), there was an overwhelming vote in favour of retaining a 3-year term. He also pointed out (being a Scotsman.....) that holding a referendum costs a huge amount of money - the John Key flag referendum cost the country $26m!
He suggested that if we had a "bad" leader (Donald Trumps name have been mentioned several times) then with a 4-year term we would have to endure a "shambles" for longer. He also suggested that perhaps Christopher Luxon could learn Maori from the Hurricanes Women's Rugby team!
A show of hands showed that Steve Hydes had the stronger argument, but a round of applause showed that everyone enjoyed the debate!