SpeechVANUSHI WALTERS (Labour—Upper Harbour): Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to take a call in relation to this bill. I just want to start by congratulating the member and recognising both her work on this bill but also her luck in it being drawn. Ms Ghahraman and I have known each other for a number of years and sat on the steering board of an organisation called Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa so we have a passion for a number of the same issues. And I am always excited to see the work that she's doing on members' bills because they come with strong values-based proposals. So I do want to recognise that.However as my colleague Ginny Andersen has canvassed we won't be supporting the bill today so I'd just like to speak to some of my rationale behind that. Ms Anderson has already spoken to the significant overlap in terms of work and it was actually really good to hear that acknowledgment from Ms Ghahraman as well that a number of proposals within the bill are already in train. So some of them are in front of the Justice Committee now—which is the Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Legislation Bill—and there's of course the independent review of electoral law as well with the report due back no later than 30 November 2023.So in short I agree with the need for us to be discussing these issues and these important processes. But I do think it's important for us to know when we need to seek independent advice first. There are some signals within the bill in front of us today that indicate that they're in that space. They touch several of the proposals; touch on areas of our law which are morally entrenched. That in my view gives them semi-constitutional status. And that to us should be an indication that there needs to be a robust process if there are changes to those areas of law. So it's my view that a member's bill just isn't the right vehicle for a number of the changes proposed.I just want to briefly explain I guess that term moral entrenchment". There's a section within our Electoral Act section 268 which creates "reserved provisions" and that restricts the repeal or amendment of some provisions including the definition of the term "adult" which is in section 3(1) and section 60(f) of the Electoral Act. This bill attempts through clauses 10 and 11 to change those provisions.So the reserved entrenchment provision clause says that that cannot be changed unless the change is passed by a majority of 75 percent of all the members of the House of Representatives or has been carried by a majority of valid votes in what would be a referendum.The reason it's called "moral entrenchment" is that in reality changes could be made to those rules by a simple majority first by repealing section 268 itself and then in the absence of that section using a simple majority to change the voting age. So it's not true entrenchment but it is an indication to Parliament that we need to be very cautious and step through due process if we are going to make changes in this area.Now this is what we are doing at the moment. It's why we have the independent review; it's why we have a non-partisan review as well. I understand that the previous Minister of Justice consulted with parliamentary parties across the House when setting the terms of reference also consulted with the Justice Committee and a number of different organisations—including Māori organisations the New Zealand Law Society youth organisations universities—when seeking nominations for the potential panel members. Due process for really robust work like this is incredibly important.So in short the work is under way. It doesn't just address the voting age; there's also the length of the parliamentary term—which interestingly is another morally entrenched provision—and there's an examination of the Electoral Commission's recommendations on MMP as well including things like changes to the party vote threshold. So I'm afraid I don't support this bill proceeding through the House today but I do believe these are issues that will be addressed through a separate track. Thank you."