Mahuta Nanaia: Local Electoral Amendment Bill (No 2) — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMahuta Nanaia: Local Electoral Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee[Sitting date: 11 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11027. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato):I am pleased to be able to support the Labour people who spoke before me who have said that we are supporting this bill the Local Electoral Amendment Bill (No 2) because participatory democracy benefits a lot when there are ongoing improvements to the transparency andaccountability of legislation affecting candidates who seek office at local body elections.I also want to carry on from the point that Phil Twyford made with regard to his proposed Supplementary Order Paper 252 because if we want to continue down the road of participatory democracy then campaign spending limits actually have a great bearing on that. If people cannot afford to seek office or if the ways in which their campaigns are funded are not fully transparent that will have a bearing I think on the quality of the candidates who will put themselves forward in local body elections. So for that reason I think the Supplementary Order Paper is a sensible suggestion. It is a suggestion that ensures that the process of candidates putting themselves forward to seek office is achievable and transparent and does not discriminate against anybody.I listened carefully to the debate and read the Justice and Electoral Committee’s report. I do want to highlight things that have not already been mentioned and they are some of the issues that have been identified as outstanding matters to be considered that could not be changed for this particular bill in time for the 2013 local body elections—in particular the efficiency gains to the unpublished roll.I think there is some merit in continuing to consider having the opportunity of processing for ease of voting those who find themselves on the unpublished roll but who could place an ordinary vote at a local body election. It makes sense. It will save money. It can be better streamlined to ensure that on the day people are not kind of left thinking: “Can I or can’t I?”.There is also the residency disclosure which is a great amendment there because when people know that their local candidates are living in or out of an electorate it will undoubtedly have a bearing on how they cast their vote. For some people it does not matter but in New Zealand we are a small enough country that in our communities we take a lot of pride in knowing our local councillor our local board member—knowing who they are tapping them on the shoulder being able to rock up and express a view. It is of some concern that in larger cities the people who seek office do not reside in the ward for which they are standing so I think the residency disclosure will be informative to the discerning voter and that can be only a good thing.I think all the issues around anonymous donations and greater clarity in that area for all the reasons that Grant Robertson raised and many more are the types of improvements that will ensure again that if we want a participatory democracy where candidates can be assured that there is no kind of secret bankrolling of interests in local body elections it will only be improved by this type of provision.We are heading into the local body election phase so it is really important that the amendments are practical that they are going to achieve what they set out to do and that they are going to be able to ensure that people can get on with voting. But I want to make this general statement: it concerns me that there has been an ongoing decline in participation in local body elections over a period of time now. No one person is to blame but it is certainly a worry when we can see in both the general elections and the local body elections the declining rates of participation. It is nothing to be proud of. So the more we can do to ensure that civics education instils in our children and our young people the necessity to cast their vote have a say in what is happening in their local community and be assured that there are some robust and transparent processes that assure every citizen that their rights and interests in participating in the voting process are clear then I think we will see some confidence being reflected back by more people participating.