Watts Simon; Dean JacquiSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I wish to also acknowledge the Hon Kieran McAnulty the Associate Minister of Local Government and recognise his new role and thank him for introducing this bill. We're talking about the Local Electoral (Advertising) Amendment Bill. This is a bill that National is supporting and as the Minister has articulated this is a bill that is addressing a number of aspects in regards to the process or some of the barriers that candidates potentially face when they are seeking election at local government level.I also want to acknowledge the wide range of individuals across our country across the 67 or so district councils and regional council entities and in local government more broadly for their contributions to local government across this country. They do a very important role in terms of supporting their local communities and dealing with a number of aspects that are very much local. As we've seen over the past couple of months in particular the local community responses to natural disasters and other aspects like that reinforces I think the important role that our local government entities play in terms of supporting our communities. I was fortunate actually to be in Hokitika—Maureen Pugh: You were fortunate. SIMON WATTS: Maureen Pugh is just reminding me how fortunate I was. Once again I was fortunate. I spent some time there on Sunday. It's not a short trip from Auckland but we got down there and met with a number of that community in the local government community and it reinforced to me the important role particularly in rural and provincial New Zealand that local government plays in terms of supporting those communities. These individuals are individuals that carry multiple roles within their communities and in the case that I had I met with a number of the individuals that were business owners were members of the volunteer fire brigade; they were coaches and parent help at the local school one chap involved in driving the bus or acting as the part-time security guard at the local RSA and all of that type of aspect that's so critically important and is the fabric I think of New Zealand rural and provincial communities.Our members of local government are very much at the heart of that and in instances such as flooding or the impact of other aspects and that occurs more regularly those elements or those individuals within local government really step up. The reality is that on top of dealing with the impacts of COVID and workforce crises and shortages—particularly amplified in our smaller communities—their ability and their efforts in regards to keeping our communities safe cannot be understated. This bill obviously is going to provide some optionality in terms of the disclosure requirements in regards to authorisation statements. For many they may not think that this is necessarily significant—or those here within this House—in that when we campaign as central government as members of Parliament we obviously have the ability to use disclaimers and addresses that aren't necessarily our own home or personal addresses. I think many members in this House and me included would have already in our short amount of time been open to some of the issues around where we live and aspects around that and security considerations. So I understand and National understands the importance and the barrier particularly as has been raised to me by a number of constituents that are thinking about local government who have concerns about sharing their residential home address—and rightly so. This bill will allow them a mechanism to still put their hand up to participate in local government democracy which is so critically important for this country but to do it in a way in which their privacy is protected and I think that is something that is really important and again is supported by National.In regards to the time line for this bill obviously it will come into force pretty much once we've pushed this through. I think the reality of the shortened select committee process—there were a few elements in terms of submissions there. I think we have highlighted the fact that actually this isn't a new issue. It's not something that's just come up in the last month or so and we've gone Oh crikey maybe we should do something about that." I think the reality is that this is an issue that has been around for a long time. Obviously this Government has been in Government for five years and the reality—Maureen Pugh: And it feels like it.SIMON WATTS: —Maureen Pugh is just reminding me of the five long years—is that they should have had the proactive planning to be able to say "Look we've got local government elections coming up." because funnily enough they do occur reasonably regularly in terms of the time lines surprisingly and so it is no surprise that they are in October of this year. So maybe we should have done this a little bit earlier and allowed good due democracy in terms of a full select committee process which hasn't been the case in this instance. But I think in the main while there were a few submissions there was some opportunity and I just wanted to at least acknowledge that element of the process. I think it is also important to note that the Justice Committee which reviewed this—and I do want to acknowledge the chair of the Justice Committee here watching in regards to that and I had a very short and brief appearance at that committee when this went through. It went through unanimously and it was passed without amendment and that recognised the process that this went through.I think that's pretty much all that I want to cover. I do want to lastly just encourage members of the public who believe that they have the capability competence experience or life experience and background to be able to contribute at a local government level or in their local communities. We absolutely need as a country as many people participating in our local government democracy. It is an essential part of the way in which our local communities operate and the reality is that we don't live nationally; we live locally. We all live as part of our community and having individuals that we are able to democratically elect and represent our views is very important in terms of ensuring clear accountability in terms of delivery of important aspects within our local communities. That of course includes aspects from our roading networks which are essential—again more essential and often overlooked I think in rural and provincial New Zealand in terms of the role they play in terms of supporting our regional economies.The other aspect is in regards to the civil defence role that local government plays and I've talked about the importance of that role and the reality of what they are asked to do and have been asked to do over the last year in particular. The other aspect is in regards to the significant reform that's currently under way within the local government sector and obviously one aspect of that that I have a pretty good overview and understanding of is in regards to the three waters reform process that this Government is currently ramming through the House and one in which as I've said I think in some part absolutely rips the heart out of local government in terms of the impact on our smaller communities. I think that's why you're seeing such significant opposition across the country particularly from local government in regards to these reforms that simply will not deliver the outcomes that have been spoken about.But that's one element. You've also got the Resource Management Act composition or implications that are going to be impacting on local government and the future of local government as well which is a reform process that's currently under way. The members on the other side are getting excited so I'll give them an opportunity to have a little bit of a chat but we will be supporting this bill. Thank you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to."