Dyson RuthHon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): It's an absolute delight to participate in this debate. Can I begin by acknowledging my friend and former colleague Mojo Mathers. I'm delighted that she is here for the reading of this bill. Mojo had a huge impact on our Parliament—continues to do so—and drove many of the changes that have made our Parliament a better place for all New Zealanders. I want to acknowledge Chlöe Swarbrick as well. The luck of newbies in getting members' bills drawn is frustrating for those of us who haven't had enough drawn. But it's a fabulous bill for the member to champion. She has seen the support that this Parliament has put behind it and we don't often get that—particularly with members' bills—so that's a fantastic contribution.I want to acknowledge the other speakers. Mark Mitchell Mojo and I were on a select committee together which did things that maybe had been a little outside the mandate of the committee but it was the Government Administration Committee and because we covered internal affairs we felt that we had a mandate to do pretty well anything. During the term before last we had an inquiry into the accessibility of Parliament. We discovered even though we sort of knew it at the beginning of the inquiry—and by the end of the inquiry we were absolutely convinced—that our Parliament wasn't accessible our democracy wasn't accessible and there were a lot of things that needed to be changed so that we could say we actually are a House of Representatives.There was a long list of actions from that inquiry. As a result we see and celebrate the fact that we have New Zealand Sign Language interpretation now as of yesterday every question time in Parliament. That's another step forward. We're not there yet by any means but I was so pleased to be part of making those recommendations to Parliament having them accepted and continuing the progress that we need to make to as I say truly be able to call ourselves a House of Representatives.This bill the Election Access Fund Bill is another very significant step in that process. We know for any person that standing for a position whether it's a community board or a council or a mayor or a member of Parliament it costs money. But if you have money that shouldn't make you the best candidate. We should have a level playing field as much as possible so that anybody any New Zealander can stand for an elected position. This bill will remove one of the barriers one of the disabilities that people have that we can remove so there's no barrier. I think it's a great step forward. Finance is not the only thing but once the first step is taken once we have—as the Hon Tracey Martin pointed out New Zealand First some years ago had our first blind candidate. I have to say I've never voted New Zealand First.Darroch Ball: Ha ha!Hon RUTH DYSON: I know; I know it will come as a shock to you. But he was an outstanding candidate and would have made a fine contribution in our Parliament had he been elected here. I hope that this bill enables more people like him and like Mojo and like the thousands of other New Zealanders who would enrich the thinking and experience of our Parliament and make our decisions better.Since MMP was introduced in 1996 we have seen a huge expansion in the representation in our Parliament. If you look at the photos in our corridors you can see how poor the representation was despite all those fine Pākehā men—I'm sure they all were. But you can see as the photos progress how much broader our representation has been. But we are still lacking in having people with lived experience of disability as members of Parliament.It's just such a delight to see this. I'm going to sub on to the select committee I'm sure because I will enjoy the submissions so much. I want many submissions to this bill so that people can feel the empowerment that it will offer and so that members of Parliament will understand that we will be a better place as a result of having the better representation that this bill will enable. So thank you Chlöe Swarbrick; fantastic work. I look forward to the progress of the bill.