Hawkins George: Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Hawkins George: Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Volume:669;Page:15703] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I first of all want to thank Simon Power for the work that he has done on the Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2). He has listened to other people and that is when Parliament is at its best—when the Government listens to this Opposition. It has been a tough week for the National Government. It was going to win Mana but it came second and it is very happy about that—a close second. But at the TAB when one puts one’s money on for a win one gets something back only if the horse wins. National’s horse came nowhere. 
I listened to the member for Hunua. It is great to see the member for Hunua actually standing up to say something in Parliament. But out in Hunua people are dissatisfied and National is dissatisfied with the member for Hunua. People are now plotting and scheming and looking for who can replace the person who replaced Bill Birch and of course he came second and will come second. 
This bill is really important. When we have electoral reform it is very easy for people to look after their own interests. It is not often that we get the two major parties agreeing and I think that is good. Some of the smaller parties will not be happy with all of this and they really need to voice their concerns a lot stronger than they have. But we as an Opposition believe that voting has to be made even simpler. In my electorate many people shift around. It is a very transient area. It does not matter where they come from they come into Manurewa and they love George. Of course Cam Calder will tell members that. But a lot of these people do not get themselves on the electoral roll and they miss out on voting. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Is Cam on the Manurewa roll? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: No Cam is not on the Manurewa roll; he is on the North Shore roll. He has to come across the bridge each day but he knows where a good place is. But those people who do not get themselves on the roll do not get to vote. That is really very sad. Some of them turn up on election day and want to vote. They want to vote for me and I support them but they cannot. They get a special vote and when they get a special vote it usually ends up in the bin. It goes into the bin. These people have problems because of the transient nature of their lifestyle when they run away from one landlord to another landlord. That is the style of life that people face in tough times and this Government forgets that. It thinks that people should pay 2.5 cents more in the dollar for everything they buy. For every dollar that they spend another 2.5 cents goes to the Government. These people want to be able to get out probably in July next year when the general election will take place and they want to have something to say. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: This is Botany. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: They will in Botany. They will get up and there will be voting going on there. Botany is interesting. It is a seat where there is a lot of interest and people are all of a sudden becoming very interested in Botany. They are National members all looking for somewhere to go. I say to Cam Calder that Botany is a good seat. In fact it is probably closer to Devonport than Manurewa. Perhaps he should go there. 
I want to finish off by saying to Simon Power that it is good that he has brought this bill here and that he has listened and cooperated in a very genuine way. That is something that is all too rare here. 
Bill read a first time.  
Bill referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee.