■ When the prime minister recently suggested a referendum on MMP, politicians from all sides quickly shot him down. Then again, the turkey didn’t vote for Christmas, writes David Hick

New Zealand has held plenty of non-binding referenda.

Some were acted on.

Some were ignored.

So here’s another idea.

Every three years, when we vote for a Government, let’s also take the nation’s pulse.

Six simple questions.

Not a binding referendum.

Just the people’s view.

The questions could change every election.

Such as…

MMP.

Voting age.

Size of Parliament.

Superannuation age.

Republic.

Whatever is exercising the public.

Why not?

The questions wouldn’t belong to any political party.

Parties wouldn’t necessarily have to hang their hats on them.

The voters get to choose.

People’s choice.

Perhaps we could give the results some teeth.

If, say, 60 percent or more support a proposition, the incoming Parliament must consider it.

If it gets, say, 50-59 percent, and the Parliament doesn’t act, it comes back on the next elections questions. We would then see the trend in the pulse.

There is one big advantage.

Cost.

The polling booths are already open.

The voting papers are already printed.

The votes are already counted.

Adding six questions should cost very little.

And unlike an opinion poll, we’re not asking a few hundred people what everyone supposedly thinks.

We’re asking the people who actually turn up to vote.

It won’t represent non-voters.

But it would give us a very large snapshot of the voting public.

This wouldn’t replace citizen-initiated referenda.

They should remain.

But these take time, money and considerable effort.

A Pulse of the Nation Vote could be a simpler, cheaper way of asking:

“What does New Zealand really think?”

And why stop at Parliament.

Local body elections could have a Pulse of the Community.

Local questions.

Local answers.

Good idea?

Maybe it will take a citizen-initiated referendum to get it into play.