Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Mr Speaker for the opportunity to take a call on this bill and I just want to refute a couple of the comments the chair of the Justice Committee Meka Whaitiri made. She made out like the Justice Committee was going through a very rigorous process in regards to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill. What she didn't tell the House is that legislation regarding sexual violence and first responders was delayed so that this bill could be rammed through during lockdown. Whilst New Zealanders were being locked down in their homes to fight COVID-19 her committee on the instruction of the Minister was ramming this piece of legislation—Hon Andrew Little: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member who's just resumed his seat has made an assertion that the select committee acted under my instruction. That reflects poorly on me as a member and I invite you to take action accordingly.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Speaking to the point of order the Minister wrote to the committee. In the letter from the Minister in the chair the Hon Andrew Little he urged that we pass the bill quickly. He said in his letter that officials would not be able to provide—Hon Andrew Little: That is just not correct Dr Smith!ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! This is in silence. [Interruption] Order! Have you finished?Hon Dr Nick Smith: The letter from the Minister to the select committee urged that the bill be progressed rapidly. It said two other bills should be slowed down. It also said that the officials would not be able to provide the normal standard of departmental report. I think the easiest way to clarify the point would be for me to seek leave to table the justice Minister's letter.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): My ruling on this—[Interruption] Please. My ruling on this is that this is a new bill. The bill that went to select committee was a different bill. We are now in urgency debating the No. 2 bill.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Point of order—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I'm on my feet. Wait. And we'll go back to Simeon Brown.Hon Dr Nick Smith: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. We've just heard from Meka Whaitiri. During her contribution she made absolutely no reference to the bill that's currently before the House. Her entire speech was about the No. 1 bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): That's not a point of order. Those are debating points.SIMEON BROWN: Thank you Mr Speaker. The select committee had a letter sent to the select committee from the Minister urging them to make changes to their work programme during lockdown. The point here is that during lockdown the Justice Committee was spending its time focused on giving prisoners the right to vote rather than focusing on far more pressing issues that New Zealanders would want them to be focused on and during a time when the Leader of the House had said that all non-COVID business would be set aside. And this comes to the process that we are facing with this bill now. The previous bill was rushed and is bad law and that side voted for the bad law at third reading and now here we are again voting for another bill rushing it through under urgency to try to fix up their mistakes which they supported at the third reading.The history of this legislation has been rushed the history of this legislation has been under urgency the history of this legislation has been to get things through at all costs before the election because they're hungry for a few more votes on election day. The first reading of the previous bill was done under an extended sitting the select committee was rushed through during COVID-19 the second reading was done through extended sitting and the third reading was rushed through with the committee of the whole House during urgency last week. And I want to remind the House what the Supplementary Order Paper did which was passed by the Green Party. It required Corrections to assist all prisoners to enrol to vote if they are sentenced—all prisoners were required to be enrolled to vote or Corrections was required to assist them—whereas the legislation said that only prisoners who had sentences of less than three years were actually required to be enrolled. So essentially the bill which was passed by the Government was an unworkable piece of legislation and they had the opportunity last week when Dr Nick Smith gave them the opportunity to send the bill back to select committee to be able to fix up that mistake and that error.Essentially what that bill did which the New Zealand First Party voted for was it said to the prison managers that all prisoners had to be told that they should enrol to vote—all prisoners. The New Zealand First Party voted for that piece of legislation. The New Zealand First Party voted for a piece of legislation which says that Brenton Tarrant should be enrolled to vote. That is what the New Zealand First Party voted for last week. They're going to get up in the Parliament soon and try and make all sorts of excuses about the process and try and blame it on the National Party but the third reading prior to that piece of legislation going to Royal assent was voted for by Darroch Ball and the New Zealand First Party. And they should hang their heads in shame as they speak on this piece of legislation. I look forward to him taking a call and trying to explain to the very few New Zealand First voters left in New Zealand why he did that.The National Party's position is very clear on this issue: people who commit a crime in New Zealand who commit an offence where they are sentenced to prison lose their right to vote. It's simple. If you do the crime you do the time. And that is the simple principle of the matter. The Green Party have a separate principle. They believe that all prisoners should be able to vote and that's a fair enough principle. But the Government comes at this from a very strange perspective. Well that is something which is completely untenable and it doesn't matter how many times the Minister tries to stand in Parliament and say there's a principle around why prisoners who are serving sentences of less than three years is different from prisoners sentenced to longer than three years there is no principle to the matter. It's just convenience and he's trying to make it more palatable to New Zealand voters rather than to actually be truthful about what he actually wants.Hon Andrew Little: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker There's yet again another reflection on me as a member of this House that what I have said is not truthful and I take offence at that assertion.Tim van de Molen: Speaking to the point of order in terms of the member's aggrieved feelings I would just draw your attention to Speakers' ruling 53/3. It says: The cause for a matter to be withdrawn … is not that one member feels aggrieved". Effectively the member's reaction is basically irrelevant according to that. It's whether the House itself is affronted. And that's not the case. The member here being disappointed—Darroch Ball: It's unparliamentary language.Tim van de Molen: Well that's the reality of it. It's a debating point; not a matter to be withdrawn.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): The member made a statement which I won't repeat but in my opinion is out of order and the member should withdraw and apologise.SIMEON BROWN: I withdraw and apologise Mr Speaker. The Government is feeling very precious about this piece of legislation. And the Minister finds it offensive with what's said but when he calls me "deranged" I also find that offensive for the way the voting was done. He voted for the bill at the third reading last week. I did not. The National Party did not but he did and the New Zealand First Party did. They voted for it at third reading. Knowing that the bill was unworkable they—and the Green Party; they voted for it too. All three governing parties voted for this piece of legislation at third reading. That's what I call deranged—that's what I call deranged—when they vote for a piece of legislation which they know is unworkable and knowing they have to come back to the House to fix it up and use urgency.I was talking about our principle on this side of the House. Our principle is very clear: that those who commit offences in New Zealand those who commit offences in NZ who are sentenced to prison lose their right to vote. They lose their right to stand for Parliament—Darroch Ball: When did you find your principle on that?SIMEON BROWN: And I would like to remind Darroch Ball that he's standing up for people who have committed on average 24 offences to get where they got. That's what he's standing up for.A submission from the Sensible Sentencing Trust where they noted in 2018 2019—he used to be the bastion of the Sensible Sentencing Trust but no longer any more. He's only got 1 percent so far. As noted in my written submission 2018/19 from the Sensible Sentencing Trust there were 1929 serious violent offences sentenced that year to three years or less—for crimes such as manslaughter sexual assault abduction and acts intended to cause injury. That's the type of offenders that the New Zealand First Party is standing up for in Parliament today. This bill as with the previous bill has nothing to do for victims of crime. This bill affords more rights to those who are prisoners who have been convicted of serious criminal offences and does nothing for victims of crime. This bill gives a process for prison managers to assist prisoners to get on to the roll. What about victims who want to have some help so that they can have their name put on the hidden roll so that they don't have to be harassed so that they can have some privacy? Where's the process? And he laughs at me when I talk about harassment. There are people in New Zealand who are afraid for their lives because of what offenders have done to them—the criminal acts that they've done—and he laughs and says "Oh that's just a joke." Well I don't take this as a joke Mr Darroch Ball. I take this incredibly seriously and on this side of the House I am not afraid to stand up for those who are victims of crimes.The question I was asking: where's the support from the Government to help people who have been victims of crime to get on to the secret roll and who want some support in that? They have to go to organisations who volunteer their time to assist them voluntary organisations who support the victims of crime. But this bill affords more rights to those who have been sentenced to serious offences and I remind the member: 1929 serious violent offenders sentenced to three years or less in the 2018-19 year for crimes such as manslaughter sexual assault abduction and acts intended to cause injury and I will not stand and vote for a bill which affords those people more rights than victims of crime. The New Zealand First Party should hang their heads in shame—Darroch Ball: Sit down!SIMEON BROWN: And I will not sit down. I will continue to stand up for victims of crime. That member should hang his head in shame for what he voted for last Thursday during urgency and what he is now voting for again today."