Dyson RuthHon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills): I want to warmly congratulate Dr Megan Woods on first of all instigating this bill recognising that in New Zealand we value democracy. It is quite a fundamental part of our culture. We should not have a democratic right taken away from us without good reason.Jacqui Dean: Oh let's talk about the Electoral Finance Act then.Hon RUTH DYSON: Jacqui Dean I thought as an elected constituency member you would understand the value of democracy but clearly not. So I want to congratulate Dr Woods first of all on thinking of this recognising the gap in our democratic process and then on the sheer good luck of having the bill drawn. Not very many members get to have bills drawn. For some it is better that they do not have them drawn because the content of them is exposed but in this case this is a very good bill.I remember when we first had the taking away of democracy legislation introduced by Dr Nick Smith on totally false premises. Anyone who has read the Creech report would understand that the two reasons Nick Smith gave for taking away our democratic right to vote were lies a misrepresentation of the Creech report. Frankly when you have had somebody like the Rt Hon Wyatt Creech as a Deputy Prime Minister in the National Government you would think he would earn more respect from his colleagues but they just dismissed his report and then made up a whole lot of stuff.I want to get back to those fundamental points before. I want to congratulate the elected Environment Canterbury (ECan) councillors who for the first time in 6 years were elected in the last local body elections. The member who has just resumed his seat Nuk Korako said that Ngāi Tahu are unable to have a strong relationship with a democratically elected organisation and I think that is cobblers. I think that Ngāi Tahu can do pretty well anything because they are incredibly competent and incredibly passionate about their mandate of representation. They are able to have a strong relationship with a democratically elected organisation and Dr Woods gave a very clear commitment to working with other members in this House to ensure that we did have tangata whenua representation on a democratically elected board. This is a total win-win that we could get out of this situation and that is certainly where my vote is going.At the heart of this bill is the restoration of democracy. How could anyone in a New Zealand Parliament vote against the restoration of democracy? How is that possible? No answer as usual from the National Government members—no answer. I know they are distracted this week I know there is a lot of self-promotion and number-counting going on but I think it is a pretty fundamental question for a member of Parliament to be answering. What is good about voting against the restoration of democracy?Ian McKelvie: I'll tell you shortly.Hon RUTH DYSON: I doubt it—I doubt it. That member is not up to it.There were two lies as I mentioned earlier about the removal of our democratic right. The first one—the first lie—was that ECan was dysfunctional. I have read the Creech report and any implications of a dysfunctional regional council were totally dismissed by Wyatt Creech in that report—totally dismissed. The second was that ECan failed to prepare a water plan. The 2004 draft water plan is the water plan that is now operational that is now in effect. Both of those reasons" that Nick Smith as the Minister responsible for taking away our right to vote gave—neither of them were correct. Neither of them were true. I challenge any member of the National Government to read the Creech report and show one single sentence that backs up the flawed arguments that Nick Smith put in place.In 2010 Nick Smith said: "This is going to be a short-term measure. We'll just get ECan back on track and then you can have your votes back." He put in another "transition to democracy" plan and said it was another short-term measure and then he put another short-term measure in place. When he was challenged he said that a return to full democracy in Canterbury was too risky. He has relied on gerrymandered boundaries and he has relied on people he has appointed who are accountable to him and not to the citizens of Canterbury. It is time for a genuine and immediate transition back to democracy in our region."