The Vanuatu government has announced a new attempt to change its parliamentary system to stop MPs crossing the floor and to clarify the affiliations of independents.
A period of public consultation for a referendum to be put to the people at the 2016 election has been announced, asking for ideas to stop the rampant ‘grasshopping’ that has paralysed successive governments.
In other news, 17 people have been committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court over the witchcraft double murders by hanging in November, with travelling missionaries alleged to be the source of the initial unrest.
But first, the editor of the Vanuatu Independent, Tony Wilson, tells Adam Connors the referendum details are yet to be finalised, and its unclear how parliamentary changes could be enforced after similar moves have failed elsewhere in the Pacific.
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