Parata Hekia: Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Parata Hekia: Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10732] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 Tena koe e Te Mana Whakawa huri noa i to tatou Whare i tenei po tena koutou katoa. I am very pleased to stand and take a short call in the first reading of the Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Bill. As many speakers before me have said this evening this bill is part of a process of ensuring integrity and durability in a very important part of our constitutional infrastructure in New Zealand. Together with the Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill which we are also in the process of debating it establishes the credibility and certainty of the institutions and processes that together instil confidence in New Zealanders in the constitution of our country. The process that has been followed to get us to this point was led by our very able Minister of Justice and it has been an inclusive one. 
It is important that electoral law reform enjoys the support confidence and understanding of the many and different participants in the process. Up to this point we have ensured that parliamentary parties as well as the public have felt fully engaged or that they have had the opportunity to engage in this process so that we have arrived at a bill that reflects a broad consensus. All of us in this House no matter which part of the political spectrum we are from are committed to ensuring that we have and can secure enduring law reform. 
This bill has six main provisions on which many speakers before me have commented. They are about identifying exactly who the players in this process are likely to be and the regulations that they need to abide by. Therefore the provisions cover the promoters of election advertisements the electoral advertising itself the regulation of the campaign period the campaign expenditure limits donations and of course the opportunity to provide and amend regulations in respect of advance voting. I am—and other members have indicated that they are too—really pleased that we are getting clarity on a range of these issues. Having participated at the 2008 election I found that much of my time was spent in trying to establish clarity and certainty about what I and my campaign team were allowed to do and not allowed to do. As my colleague Amy Adams has indicated often the answers were not very clear at all and we were left in a kind of limbo which made us susceptible to doing the wrong thing even while trying very mightily to do the right thing. The provisions in this bill will give us all greater certainty not only for those of us who will be very active participants in the process but also for the most important players in this process: the voters of New Zealand. 
This bill marks an important step in New Zealand’s constitutional evolution. The necessity for such an evolution to occur can be seen not only here in New Zealand but also in the United Kingdom where elections are currently taking place. Those of us who have had the opportunity to look at the analysis of how the voting trends would go under the current first-past-the-post system that Britain continues to use can see that it is really important for voters to understand the system that they are engaged in what their votes will mean and whom they will get as MPs after election day. The evolution of our constitutional framework here in New Zealand is highlighted by comparing where we are in New Zealand with what is happening in the UK from which we have inherited all of our Westminster system of parliamentary governance. New Zealand has adopted changes to that system as we have seen the necessity of becoming more attuned with what is required within the polity of New Zealand and this bill will continue to contribute to that constitutional evolution. 
I look forward to participating as a member in the Electoral Legislation Committee under the able chairpersonship of Amy Adams and to hearing submissions on the bill from as wide a variety of people as possible. It is important that New Zealanders take the opportunity that the select committee process offers them to make submissions because what we end up with will be a reflection of all their contributions and of our select committee’s consideration of them. I very much look forward to hearing those submissions and debating the provisions of this bill in the select committee and I thank the House for the opportunity to speak on this bill at this time. Kia ora.