Whaitiri Meka: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 3) — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWhaitiri Meka: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 3) — Third Reading[Sitting date: 04 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10798. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker tēnā tātou katoa. I am pleased to take a call on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 3) and commend the National list member Alfred Ngaro for his inspiring informative on-point third reading speech. I say to the member that he has really done his bill justice in expressing why we should be supporting this bill in the House tonight.The bill will amend the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 to prevent candidates serving on multiple local boards. The bill provides that candidates standing for multiple local boards must provide a written notice to the Chief Electoral Officer specifying the local boards they are seeking election to and the ranking in order of priority that would apply if the candidate were elected to more than one local board. Candidates must also identify this priority in rankings in their candidate profile statement. The bill further provides that if a candidate is elected to multiple local boards he or she becomes a member of the local board that is ranked as a higher priority in his or her candidate profile statements and positions on local boards ranked lower in the candidate profile statement become vacant.Like the previous speaker Scott Simpson said the issue was actually brought to the attention of the House by one of the hardest-working members in this House the member for Te Atatū Phil Twyford who mentioned way back in 2011 that we cannot have people serving on multiple boards. So I do want to acknowledge—Carmel Sepuloni: And it is his birthday.MEKA WHAITIRI: And it is his birthday absolutely—the young 45-year-old Mr Phil Twyford.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Oh he looks older than that.MEKA WHAITIRI: Very very young—very young. So we say happy birthday to you Phil. It did then lead me into thinking of the opportunity that passing this bill in the House is in terms of allowing new leadership succession and diversity to come through in local government and obviously stopping monopolisation of individuals holding more than one position.Later this year we have the local body elections coming up and it is well-known that we have very poor voter turnout. So it was with dismay that I heard this Government reneged on a promise of introducing online voting trials. That to me goes to the heart of what would have given effect to this bill around allowing not only new leadership but succession and like I mentioned diversity. It was with disappointment that for the reasons the Minister has outlined around security—but that is why it is called a trial. It is why this Government stood up in this House in 2013 and talked about its commitment to bring online voting to New Zealand in this year’s election. So it is disheartening that it is not happening because it would actually have given life to this particular bill not only in terms of ensuring that you get to choose which community board or which local government you want to stand on but also in terms of allowing the opportunities for other individuals—and so it is a lost opportunity. It is something that in terms of the general election coming up next year—particularly in low voter turnout—would have given us some very good information around how we engage with voters.It is with pleasure that I support this bill and I also want to acknowledge those who are putting up their hand too to stand in the local government elections. I want to particularly mention Dina Awarau a community person from Pōmare who has put her hand up to say in the Hutt Valley northern ward—a person who works with communities in Pōmare as a health and community advocate very grassroots and I wish her all the best. I commend this bill to the House.