Ghahraman GolrizGOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN (Green): Thank you Madam Chair. I relish the opportunity to enter this conversation at this point I think given that two members who have spoken previously have referenced my Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 518 to amend this bill further to extend the right to vote to all prisoners. The reason for that is that New Zealand is a proud nation that upholds and protects basic human rights even when the absolute worst has happened. I think the criminal justice system is the absolute testing point of our willingness to adhere to basic human rights and in particular as lawmakers to uphold those rights without prejudice.We've been told—and other members have referenced this—by all the courts of the land right up to the Supreme Court of New Zealand and the Waitangi Tribunal that the ban on people in prisons from voting is a breach of those fundamental rights. That's really important to notice because human rights are universal. That is the core and essence of our basic rights. We don't have human rights because we're good but because we are human. It's important to notice that because it's a slippery slope. If we are to take away human rights based on arbitrary moral judgments what's next? Do we take away the right to healthcare from our prisons? Do we take away the right to be free from torture? And on that in terms of balancing people's human rights as against the restrictions that we can put upon them in a lawful society I do a little bit have to disagree with the Minister respectfully because I don't think it is a live debate in terms of the right to vote not in any legal sense. We heard from the Human Rights Commission in select committee where they outlined it really clearly. We can take away people's rights in the criminal justice system where there is a valid criminal justice purpose. So in the Sentencing Act for example the purpose of sentencing someone to prison comes back to things like keeping the community safe rehabilitation successful reintegration back into the community and none of those things are impacted by taking away that one vote that the prisoner has. The community is not kept more safe; victims are not restored. In fact everybody noted—who had the expertise or experience to note—that the purposes of rehabilitation and successful reintegration back to the community are actually damaged by disconnecting prisoners from that community.Now to come back to who we're actually talking about in terms of those impacted by this ban by this breach of fundamental rights we are a Government who has looked at the research and we acknowledge that our criminal justice system is racist. It disproportionately targets Māori other communities of colour and lower socio-economic communities. So who are we taking away from our democracy? Who are we banning? Who are we disenfranchising further and further when we ban prisoners from the vote? Because we already know that Māori for committing the same act are far far more likely to be convicted and sentenced to imprisonment than anybody else. The Waitangi Tribunal told us that that's not OK.Coming back to victims and the rights of victims—how are they impacted? Well I fear that in this Chamber we often talk in terms of being tough on crime with rhetoric that does nothing for victims. Instead we could support victims and uphold fundamental human rights in our justice system. We could provide for mental healthcare. We can provide for a better healthcare system for housing for things that actually keep our communities connected and secure. While that side of the Chamber speaks about the rights and wellbeing of victims victims of violent crime who went to hospital for the last nine years were lying in hospitals where the walls were rotting. That's not what we are about. Let's actually take care of victims and let's uphold the integrity of our justice system by upholding fundamental rights. New Zealand should be a place where proudly universal suffrage happened. It should be a place where arbitrary moral lines aren't drawn by a Government to disenfranchise communities—in particular not Māori and our most vulnerable communities. So please vote for my SOP.