Ngaro Alfred: Electoral Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Electoral Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 17 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13430. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National): I rise to take a short call on the Electoral Amendment Bill. I suppose it is appropriate that we are celebrating 120 years of women’s suffrage and in particular Kate Sheppard who led the campaign for the opportunity for women to vote. This was world leading and it is a great opportunity because out of that came the principles to be accessible to give eligibility and to allow women to vote and the important aspect of this bill actually wants to take on those key principles.I was part of the Justice and Electoral Committee and I want to acknowledge all of the members in particular Charles Chauvel who was here at that time and also the Hon Lianne Dalziel. We had a very good working relationship on this bill. There were a couple of contentious issues that we debated. In particular I just want to point out the issue with regard to rosettes. There has been a lot of sort of hilarity about this—that we are anti-rosettes. Actually it is not about the rosettes and the ribbons. In actual fact—members may not be aware of this but I know that Mr Goff knows this—there is an exemption to the prohibition of electioneering on election day. The amendment in clause 35 of this bill means that the exemption is very narrow now; it is just about rosettes. It is a very narrow part of that clause—the exemption is just about wearing rosettes. There was common agreement from colleagues who were there.Look it was not a biggie. Let us just make sure that we cover that. As for the making of the rosettes the reality is that as a select committee we really did not have an issue with that so it was passed. It was agreed on and that was part of the report so we will go to the select committee with that as well. That was the issue about the rosettes OK?I was one of a number of MPs who went around the country and I suppose what was of particular concern to us in this review process was the low voter turnout especially for our young people. One thing we talked about was how we could improve access around this. I think that one of the main provisions around improving efficiency by allowing greater use of technology is absolutely important but I do take on Mr Goff’s point that there is another generation out there that still wants that manual process. They want to get up they want to do their civic duty they want to come down on a Saturday morning they want to go into a polling booth and they want to register. They actually want to physically do that. So as a select committee we took this on board. We know that it is not an either/or situation; it is a combination of the two. So the online registration is a part of that. There was also talk about the opportunity to pilot some of that and I know that Holly Walker was very much keen for us to do that and we are looking into that. That is an important part as well.Another provision of the bill is around improving services to voters and candidates. For example it will allow for greater use of theEasyVote card to simplify and improve the accuracy of issuing and recording votes. Although MrPeden talked about the fact that we can uphold the system as having some integrity there was some evidence albeit anecdotal to show that there are times when people have tried to rort the system. There were conversations for instance about the issue that happened in the Waitakere electorate and we know there was evidence there that goes to prove that the system is not perfect. It is a great system—however we do need to be vigilant. The amendments that we have made are to ensure that there is some vigilance around the integrity of the system.Lastly I just want to point out the other main provision and that is around improving the integrity of elections through simplifying and clarifying the law. We look forward to this bill going to the Justice and Electoral Committee. It will clarify that the High Court can direct the Electoral Commission to recalculate and to amend the allocation of list seats if there is a successful election petition as well. There are three good provisions and I look forward to a continuing discussion in the Justice and Electoral Committee. I think the provisions we have made are important they are correct and we have a unanimous consensus around this. I commend this first reading of the bill to the House. Thank you.