Ghahraman GolrizGOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. I want to begin by congratulating the new Minister of Justice the Hon Kiri Allan. Hon Willie Jackson: She's going great guns—going great guns. GOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN: Sorry I'm being heckled already! This is a historic day. It's a historic day because Māori are being given a right that they should always have had. They are being afforded a right that's been repeatedly recommended by the Electoral Commission that's been campaigned for by various groups and that has been consulted upon—despite what we've heard from the Opposition—including by expert bodies our leading expert body on electoral reform. The change despite having been recommended in those processes repeatedly has been ignored and buried by successive Governments.So if we're going to look at where it came from in terms of an independent recommendation we could look at the Electoral Commission's 2009 or 2012 recommendation—well there were two but let's look at the last one—on strengthening MMP. The last speaker talked a lot about our mixed-member Parliament and one vote per person and the National Party's commitment to upholding independent electoral reform that was recommended in terms of upholding our system. Well that's where this came from. It came from the Electoral Commission's recommendations. They were thorough. They followed two rounds of consultations in which in one round just over 2000 people submitted and in another round almost 3000 people submitted. The recommendations including this change were then buried by the then Minister of Justice the Hon Judith Collins and we didn't see them again.So I want to congratulate this Minister and I want to congratulate all the voters that this change will impact. We know that Māori are a group that is less engaged with our democracy less likely to be enrolled to vote and less likely to vote even when enrolled so it is important that we do everything we can to uphold the rights of Māori voters and to engage that community. It's odd to say that this isn't a material change when one is speaking from the perspective of a community that's not impacted by this limitation—this arbitrary limitation—that was always baseless.Since numbers are being quoted in terms of once 25 years ago and another in the last round when the option to change opened I note that in the last round I think the number was quoted as being 1200 people. So 1200 people's rights were breached that time. But let's look at how many Māori attempt to change rolls in the years when they're not able to. Well in 2020 24000 Māori voters attempted to change rolls and they weren't able to. That's not quite right; that is a material issue actually. So this is a good day. It is a day that that increases inclusivity and equality in our system but the bill doesn't quite go far enough. A Green Party change would lift the limitation on by-elections in terms of when Māori can change rolls. We don't see why that should be. We note that when the Electoral Commission recommended this change they recommended ways that this could be done to prevent the fear of gerrymandering from being real. They are the Electoral Commission they had heard the submissions they had heard from experts and they themselves are experts. So to say that they are wrong is disingenuous from the Opposition but also to attempt to address an issue outside of the parameters of what the Electoral Commission has set out as being the necessary safeguards I think goes too far in terms of what the Government has proposed. We do look forward to engaging with that and why that limitation was adopted by the Government and why it's being seen as being necessary in this bill and hopefully we'll come to a place where the change is made that Māori are able to elect a roll based on their preference at any time.I do want to talk about democracy. My bill was put into the ballot in 2018 so we've been campaigning on this change and other changes that would engage Māori voters and that would uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi but also would actually strengthen our democracy in lots of ways. The Minister pointed to the other electoral reform around donations that was announced this past week which is also historic and which is also opposed by the Opposition and that is to bring more transparency to our donation systems. We know that like this change in the bill which is around equality and our democracy getting big money—especially when it's donated in secret—out of our democracy will go a long way to ensure that one vote per person democracy that we want and that inclusivity and that equality that we want in our system.Of course there is a pot-pourri of changes in my bill and there have been other aspects of it that have been adopted since 2018 to today which I do want to congratulate the last Government and this Government on. But the idea is that behind every aspect of the changes proposed we go back to our independent bodies: the Electoral Commission the Justice Committee the Supreme Court the Court of Appeal. All of those changes come from independent expert bodies and it's about taking party politics out of electoral reform and looking at what is best and healthiest for our democracy as a House of Representatives.So it is a good day to see the Government finally pick this up. It's also disappointing to see the Opposition play party politics with it rather than look at the facts and the evidence. But it's a good day for voters so I do commend the bill to the House.