Destiny Church leader and contentious religious figurehead Brian Tamaki is aiming to get a referendum to cull the size of Parliament as part of this year’s elections.

A citizen-initiated referendum needs to have signatures from at least 10% of enrolled voters - approximately 400,000 New Zealanders.

A petition is being launched for the ballot to include the question: “Should the House of Representatives be reformed by reducing the number of Members of Parliament from 120 to 65?”

That specific wording was approved by Clerk of the House Dr David Wilson on April 16.

Four Government agencies gave feedback on the wording of the indicative referendum.

Statistics New Zealand Chief Executive Colin Lynch wrote to Dr David Wilson in late March, suggesting the wording has the potential “to introduce bias”.

Lynch said the term “reform” in the indicative referendum may lead people to vote a certain way.

He said it may “suggest improvement or imply the change from the status quo is desirable. This could influence respondents toward answering “yes”, as agreement may be perceived as supporting a positive action."

Stats NZ called for the wording to be altered to “Should the House of Representatives reduce the number of Members of Parliament from 120 to 65?”

The Clerk formally invited Stats NZ to provide comment on the wording of the proposed referendum. The agency itself said it provided technical advice and it does not take a position on the subject matter of citizen-initiated referenda.

Ministry of Māori Development Te Puni Kōkiri said its response was limited to how the proposed wording aligned with the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act - and “its potential impact on Māori as citizens.”

The agency said it had no further comment on the proposal.

Electoral Commission Chief Executive Karl Le Quesne said the commission did not have any comment on the wording of the question.

The Ministry of Justice’s general manager of civil and constitutional policy, Kathy Brightwell, told the Clerk “The Ministry appreciates the opportunity to submit on this question, however we have no comment to make at this time.”
In a statement, Tamaki said the country was paying politicians to do too little.

“Parliament is oversized and underperforming. It’s bloated, it’s inefficient, and Kiwis know it. This referendum is about cutting it down to size,” he said.

Tamaki further stated he would “mobilise the troops” to attempt top gather signatures at a public stand on ANZAC Day in Auckland’s Queen Street.

Tamaki ran for Parliament in the 2023 general election as the leader of the Freedoms NZ umbrella party, which brought together Vision, New Nation, and the Outdoors and Freedom party.

That bid was unsuccessful.

Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.