Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Madam Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. Last election 19000 people took time out of their busy lives family work sports life to take the time to go down to their local polling booth to exercise their democratic right. And you know what happened? They were turned away at the ballot booth because they hadn't enrolled.I think that's a tragedy. In a democracy in a country where a million people didn't vote at the last election some members want to make it even harder for those people that do want to exercise their democratic right to have a say on their society the way their country is run and this party is actually happy for them not to have their say not to exercise their democratic right.For me it demonstrates the fallacy of their thinking. Now there are countless reasons why people can't enrol. People have busy lives. They've got families. They could be caring for a sick family member. They could be trying to navigate the bureaucracy and the complex information. Perhaps they're one of the hundreds of thousands of New Zealand households that still don't have internet access in this country. Perhaps English is a second language and they had difficulties navigating it. There could be countless reasons.Now the fallacy of their thinking is that that party over there thinks that all those barriers shouldn't count for anything and that actually what's more important is that the administration and the bureaucracy—which that party seems to be prioritising above all else—somehow is more paramount than their God-given democratic right to be able to cast a vote and have a say in their country. I think it's a fallacy. I think it's wrong. I think it's actually deeply distasteful and deeply damaging for democracy because once upon a time in this country if you didn't earn enough you couldn't have your say and you couldn't vote. Once upon a time in this country if you were the wrong sex you couldn't have your say and you couldn't vote.People put up all sorts of barriers to stop some people being able to vote. That's exactly what we're debating today—whether it's more important to be able to have your say and to vote on election day or whether you should have navigated all those hurdles and barriers to be able to enrol. Now I urge people to enrol. It makes the system more efficient and easier but I do not think that that should be a barrier to be able to exercise your vote. It's deeply distasteful. Overseas people talk about voter suppression—all the barriers that are put in place to stop people being able to exercise their rights. I urge members to look at what's happening right now in the US South that has happened for countless decades to stop some types of people being able to vote. It's called voter suppression. It's deeply egregious and I don't want to see it happening in New Zealand.Now what we've seen is National bending over backwards to come up with intellectual excuses mental gymnastics to try and articulate why they're voting against it. I think it's a sad day that they're putting so-called process problems above the fundamentals and the principles which is this House should be trying to enfranchise more people. This House should be making it easier for people to vote. In a country with such a democratic deficit we should be making it easier for people to have their democratic say.Now I think it's deeply hypocritical because it was the National Party and their members that actually stopped allowing prisoners to vote. Now again another example of putting up further barriers to stop people being able to vote. I'm proud to be supporting this legislation which is making it easier for people to vote.I want the next time that people take time out of their day out of their busy lives and they go down to the polling booth maybe for the first time in their lives they're nervous they're worried what's going to happen. They're worried what's going to happen with their data if they put their name down on paper—all sorts of very legitimate fears and concerns which don't just happen in the intellectual fantasy world of the members across. This is what happens in the real world. I want them when they go into the booth to be treated with a smile to be treated with respect to be given their ability to be able to vote.Now what the National Party has demonstrated is the problems of political point-scoring and political games when it comes to electoral law. What the Green Party wants to do is clean up our electoral law particularly our donations and make sure that we have a robust transparent and fair regime. That's why we've articulated the policy of actually putting it out to the people. I think politicians have demonstrated that we shouldn't be the ones to actually make decisions that affect us. That's why we think we should go out to the citizens through a citizens' assembly—which have happened overseas including in Canada—which have been so successful at finding solutions to intractable problems where you have some players with vested interests. So here is an example of the political game scoring which does put people off politics. But here's a tangible effective solution that the Parliament should adopt.The Green Party is very proud to be supporting this legislation. We want to encourage more people to have their democratic say. It's wonderful that there are other changes such as allowing supermarkets and sports clubs to be able to host polling booths. What we want to see on the next election day no matter who they vote for—and if you vote for National congratulations I celebrate your God-given democratic right to be able to exercise your say—the key thing is that anyone who wants to vote for anyone should be able to and today we're making it easier. Kia ora koutou.