CANBERRA, July 21 (Xinhua) -- An Australian MP has on Thursday urged his government to hold a referendum in 2019 so that parliament can adopt fixed, four-year Parliamentary terms, as the current rolling "three-year" term is considered to be too short.
With three-year terms, Australia has one of the shortest parliamentary terms in the western world, while governments sometimes call elections even earlier in an attempt to secure re-election.
Liberal MP David Coleman believes adopting a fixed four-year term - similar to that in the United States - would result in greater parliamentary stability, economic certainty and increased voter confidence in the governance system.
In an article written for Fairfax Media on Thursday, Coleman said the government should call a referendum for 2019 so that Australians can vote for a set date, four-year system.
"If we were to devise a system today from scratch, we would not say: 'let's have an election roughly every two-and-a-half years, at an unknown date, to be determined at the sole discretion of the Prime Minister of the day'," Coleman wrote on Thursday.
"That's how our system currently works. We should change it."
He said shifting to longer fixed term would bring "substantial benefits to the nation".
"A longer term would mean more capacity to implement policy - particularly complex reforms," Coleman said.
"Uncertainty around election times reduces business investment and consumer confidence...leading to needless uncertainty in the community.
"It would (also) be fair and transparent. A known election date means that any participant in the election - or anyone whose activities are affected by the election - would know where they stand years in advance."
"A fixed four-year term would make our system stronger, bringing obvious benefits to the nation," Coleman said.
