McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I stand on behalf of ACT to speak to the Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Legislation Bill. Before I start I just want to pick up on something that my colleague across the room there—Michael Woodhouse—said when he gave a bit of a history lesson about Māori voting and when they started and it made me reflect. What my reflection was on was how often we come into the House and we hear stories about how hard-done-by Māori are and how we need to give Māori options all the time and we need to lift them up and I think sometimes this is done at the expense of not acknowledging some of the very good achievements that Māori have made—and do—throughout the years that this House has been sitting at least. It made me reflect on the fact that Māori men who were determined to be landowners actually got the vote here in New Zealand before many of the European settlers that came here purely for the fact that they were landowners. So they have been exercising the right to vote for a very long time and in some respects for much longer than some of our European settlers. The ACT Party also opposes this bill but we're not opposing it for opposition's sake. We're opposing it because we have got real concerns about it—concerns that we think actually can be fixed—and it's not about politicking Māoridom at all. It's actually about making sure that we have a fair and just system as we move forward. We agree with the concept and we agree with the reasoning; we just don't agree with the time frames that are being implemented. Māori voters should have the same rights as everyone else when it comes to voting and we across the House can all agree on that. Being locked into two general election cycles is inflexible and it is impractical and we can all agree on that too. The current set-up we have for elections is where you enrol to vote on either the general or the Māori electoral roll. You've got that small four-month period every five to six years within which Māori voters can move between the rolls and there was genuine reason for this. It was to align those electorate boundaries with the information received from the five-yearly census and this is to make sure that each electorate has around the same number of people in it giving equal representation within Parliament. It also allows for the boundary reviews to occur making sure that there are enough electorates for the population.The South Island has 16 electorates the North Island increased from 48 to 49 electorates in 2020 and the Māori electorates number seven. The population quotas for those electorates are 65400 people for the South Island 64900 for the North Island—that's under the general electorates—and 67500 people for the Māori electorates. So where the people are situated will determine how those boundaries are managed and whether electorates will increase or decrease and how many Māori electorates they will have. I'm explaining all of this for the people at home in case they're wondering why this is an issue and why we have opposition to it and what the problem is here. The Government Statistician's report will be used to conduct the boundary review that changes the boundaries for those electorates so that it does align with where the population is and so that was part of their reasoning for having it align with the census. But we all agree as I said that having that window of four months every five to six years so a voter can change which roll they're on is absolutely ridiculous and as I mentioned earlier it is inflexible and it is impractical. To be stuck on a roll when a voter wants to change for two electoral periods in the row just does not make sense.It's easy to agree across this House that we all want more people to participate in both general and local elections. However ACT doesn't agree with having the ability for anyone to be able to swap electoral rolls at any time up to and including the actual polling day. Should the Minister decide to amend the bill to allow a change in roll to occur only at the same time as a general election so that it's every three years then we can support that as it means that everyone eligible to vote in New Zealand has the same options for eligibility and sign-up at the same time. More importantly no one group is singled out as having any advantage over another. It's a recipe for further division within our communities that is not wanted or warranted and this can be alleviated if there is consistency in how everyone here in New Zealand registers their interest to vote. Allow that move once per election cycle with sign-up conducted at the same time for both rolls. We would further suggest that in keeping with section 74 of the current Act a voter's choice of roll should be made at least one month before a polling day. I sit on the Justice Committee and we've heard the frustration of voters who cannot either get on or get off the Māori roll in time for an election and some voters who I have spoken to that are on the Māori roll wanted to get off it to vote in the 2020 general election participating on the general roll but they were unable to do so. I expect that as co-governance issues continue to raise the ire amongst some in our community there will be both Māori wanting to move off and those wanting to move on to the Māori roll.Everyone should be given the opportunity to choose but that opportunity should occur for every voter in New Zealand and at the same time. The Government has already pointed out within their bill that a change in electoral roll should not be able to occur in the lead-up to any by-election and we do agree with that. Changing rolls continuously is not only not fair on those who can't but it potentially gives one person two votes. In a fair and democratic society we want to enable people to be able to vote and have their say but to do so equally. In life when you make decisions you often have to live with the outcome of those. There are many Labour supporters who are apologising to us for their voting decision in 2020 but their choice was made and they are living with that decision and the consequences of it until they get to change it in 2023 and that should be the same for everyone. If the Government could show some consistency here and change their bill to address our concerns then we can change our position and support it at future readings. ACT believes that at each general election a voter should have the ability to choose their roll make their choice with the options available to them and if they want to change again they do so every three years. Democratic consistency here is the key.Every person eligible to vote should have the opportunity to contribute by voting on the roll of their choice and not have to wait five to six years in order to change those rolls. Voters should be able to join a roll that they are comfortable on and that will allow them to vote for the person or the party who will help get their electorate to become a thriving community especially when crime is so rampant across the country—a person and party they can vote for that will help restore our economy so that it's healthy again with our kids not paying decades of debt—and how can they do it without a national debate ensuing over co-governance unfairness and undemocratic processes because really Māori just want to be able to vote. We want to encourage that but it needs to be fair for all. So at this stage of this bill ACT cannot support it.