Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Tēnā koutou katoa. It's my absolute pleasure to speak on the second reading of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill (No 2). The bill is actually really clear. What it enables is prisoners who are sentenced to less than three years to be supported to (a) enrol and (b) vote. And if you are sentenced for more than three years you are supported to enrol on release. It seems that there is public support for this bill. There was a Colmar Brunton poll in October 2019 that had 53 percent support for prisoners voting versus 44 percent against.The interesting thing—and I just want to delve a little bit on prisoners voting in New Zealand because the reality of this issue is it goes back to 1852 in the New Zealand Constitution Act where in fact if you were sentenced for—and I quote—any treason felony or infamous offence" you weren't allowed to vote. It was called the civil death and it goes back to ancient Greece and Rome. And the infamy of that time was: have you attempted to kill the king have you deserted the army or have you murdered a relative. So you lost your right of citizenship. That's the reality of this bill. Voting is a citizenship right. If you go on the website—the Government website—voting is a privilege but it's a right of citizenship and a responsibility we all have is to ensure that we're enrolled. For me this goes back to the 1986 royal commission on electoral reform—obviously led by the Law Commission. There was a report produced called Towards a Better Democracy. That produced the Electoral Act 1993 and within that context prisoners who were serving a life sentence preventative detention or were sentenced to three years or longer were actually excluded from voting. That was changed in 2010. I won't delve into the history but obviously the National Party the National Government supported that. That led in 2013 to five prisoners going to the High Court and in fact the decision of the High Court which faced appeal in the Court of Appeal and also the Supreme Court. Justice Heath and I quote said the most fundamental aspect of a democracy is "the right of all citizens to elect those who will govern on their behalf." And therein lies the principle behind this. Is it justified that some prisoners should vote? The courts have said yes. Is it therefore justified that some prisoners shouldn't? The courts have said yes if you serve more than three years.I do want to acknowledge Golriz Ghahraman and the Greens because in fact her amendment and their amendment was addressing the Waitangi Tribunal court decision. The issue about prisoners voting rights is incredibly relevant to Māori. That's why the Waitangi Tribunal took a position that all prisoners should have the right to vote.Now the reality is we don't strip away citizenship rights from anybody. In fact if you look at what we're currently doing we're allowing all citizens to come home. Fundamentally from our perspective we believe that prisoners have the right to reintegrate into society and that's why every three years—and if you're sentenced to three years—it's all linked into an electoral cycle. So as a citizen of this country you have a right to vote for who will govern you. Kia ora."