Curran ClareHon CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): Thank you Mr Speaker. This is an extremely important bill. The Government is moving to close a critical gap which is a threat to our democracy. I want to read to you a definition of foreign interference provided by the NZSIS and the GCSB which defined it as an act by a foreign state or its proxy that is intended to influence disrupt or subvert a New Zealand national interest by covert deceptive or threatening means." This definition recognises the importance of democratically protected rights of political expression or the ability of States or entities to negotiate with each other and accepted norms such as open lobbying or diplomatic activities.The risk of foreign interference in elections is a growing international phenomenon. The Minister of Justice has told us that in his first reading speech today. New Zealand is not immune to that. We've heard credible reports of interference campaigns in the elections of other countries with increasing sophistication. Interference in New Zealand's electoral system is plausible. Considering that moving to deal with this is critical. That's why I say this is an extremely important bill.What is extraordinary is the game-playing disingenuous statements by the Opposition member Nick Smith around how we don't need to do it right now and that we should wait.The Justice Committee which has been referenced several times today in the House started hearing an inquiry into the general election and local government elections in July 2018—nearly 18 months ago—and expanded that out to foreign interference in elections at the end of last year. There has been time to get that right and report that back to the House. That has not happened. The Minister has several times over the last few months signalled very strongly that he wanted to see a report he wanted to take action and what we're seeing today is that he has said that enough's enough and it's time to take action because we cannot wait. We cannot wait for more weeks and more months to go by where there has not been a report-back and Nick Smith needs to take a look in the mirror on that instead of getting up in the House and spouting forward his usual speech about constitutional outrages. This Minister is taking action for New Zealand's precious democracy to ensure that we are acting on foreign donations and I am very proud to be standing here in the House today to support that because it's vital that we've got reform in place before the next election to provide safeguards against the risks of foreign interference. This legislation isn't perfect and it doesn't do the whole job but it's a really important step in that process with reforms to send a clear signal that this is an issue that warrants immediate attention. So changing the law now gives parties it gives candidates and it gives the Electoral Commission enough time and certainty to make the necessary changes in time for the 2020 election and I challenge the Opposition over there to get up and tell this House and the public of New Zealand that we should wait on this. We absolutely should not wait. This bill does three things—well it does more than three things but three main things: it counters the risk of foreign interference through the banning of donations to political parties and candidates above that $50 threshold and that means that small-scale fund-raising activities aren't unduly affected; it introduces a due diligence requirement for party secretaries and candidates to take reasonable steps—and the Minister mentioned proportionality with regard to that—to ensure that a donation isn't from an overseas person or hasn't been made on behalf of an overseas person; and it counters the risk of foreign interference by requiring authorisation statements on all online advertising the same as it is with offline advertising. We will talk about this in the further stages of the bill. This is another really critical stage. It's the first real move that you've seen in the New Zealand Parliament by a Government that's prepared to move against disinformation—really critical—and in the meantime we're progressing legislation to make it easier for New Zealanders to vote at the 2020 election as well as allowing people to enrol to vote on election day. This is closing a gap. It doesn't deal with all of the issues. There are still loopholes. The Minister has signalled that there is further work required. The further work that's required needs to look further at transmission at social media at hacking and further at disinformation. This is a really important step. I commend this bill to the House."