Smith NickELECTORAL (REGISTRATION OF SENTENCED PRISONERS) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed from 17 March.Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): There's a huge irony that at the time the world is grappling with the crisis of the coronavirus the Government is wanting to ram through Parliament only six months out from an election a bill to give prisoners the vote. Doesn't that speak volumes about the priorities of the Government? Their preservation because they think there might be a few more thousand votes from prisoners voting for them is a priority for them over either respect for conventions around electoral law or for that matter the other issues that should be a priority for our Parliament.Members on this side of the House come from a simple perspective and that is that when people commit crime serious enough for a judge to imprison them they lose particular rights in society.Hon Andrew Little: They're the same judges that said they should have the rights.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The very basis—well the member Andrew Little who is interjecting and wanting to advance this bill completely loses the plot around the issues of law and order and crime and that is why it will be a big issue at the upcoming election.The Minister has attempted to justify this bill on the basis of New Zealand Bill of Rights Act concerns. But his problem is that this bill still does not address the issues that some courts have raised about consistency with that Act. If the Government really wanted to ensure that our electoral law was compliant with the Act it would go the full hog and it would be providing for all prisoners to be able to vote and not just those sentenced to less than three years. That's a logical inconsistency in this bill.But I further want to highlight that this is now the fourth bill that this Minister of Justice has advanced to override the conventions of developing electoral law on a cross-party basis. There were nine bills amending our electoral law under the previous Sir John Key - Bill English - led Government. Every one of those Government bills were built with cross-party support and consultation. The dangerous Minister of Justice in our current Parliament believes that electoral law is at the whim of the Government of the day and if they can screw the rules to make it easier for the current Government to get re-elected they will do whatever it takes.This bill has appropriately been described by some commentators as Putinesque in the way in which it rides roughshod over those electoral conventions that we have. We are not a country that has a second House of Parliament. We're not a country that has a constitution. The integrity of our electoral laws has depended on Governments rightly showing constraint about any changes in electoral law and this Minister and members opposite are determined to do just whatever they wish in respect of electoral law. We changed the fundamental principle in this Parliament of only the voters being able to sack MPs by giving that power to party leaders—something that Winston Peters desperately wanted to control his own caucus. We passed a bill that took away from this Parliament its prerogative to determine what referendum will be held at general elections a power that's been taken away and only involves the executive or Cabinet. And earlier this year we had the Government rushing through laws to enable people to be able to enrol and vote on the same day.My next question for the Minister is this: why are you ramming this through in just three months? Why is it that the Government is so afraid of scrutiny? Nobody can reasonably argue that this issue of prisoner voting has suddenly come out of left field. The Minister of Justice made comments about it five years ago. Why is it that just six months before the election when the polls show it will be a very tight election Labour and other parties are wanting to screw the scrum and to gain every electoral advantage they can as a consequence of extending the right to vote to those people in prison who are there because they have breached the laws and breached the laws quite seriously?The last part I want to really ask a member of the Government to justify is what is proposed in clause 8 of this bill replacing section 115 in respect of the unpublished electoral roll. Is there anybody in this Parliament who believes that prisoners should have rights and protection above those of law-abiding citizens?Hon Willie Jackson: Oh don't be stupid.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Well the member opposite Mr Willie Jackson interjects that it's stupid. Well that's what this bill does. Mr Willie Jackson hasn't read the bill. Let me hear what it says. If you as a citizen of New Zealand want to be on the unpublished roll you have to satisfy the Electoral Commission that you meet a legal test where it would be prejudicial to your safety. But if you are a prisoner under this bill you do not need to satisfy that test to go on to the unpublished and secret roll.What sort of madness is it that we put rights in the law that are greater for those people who have offended committed crimes and gone to prison than for those law-abiding citizens? Only the warped minds of the current Government would ever introduce a bill to this House that somehow affords legal rights greater for those that have committed crimes and gone to prison than what an average citizen is able to enjoy. If the Government wants to change the law and to say that any person is able to go on to the unpublished roll that would be fair enough but to say that that provision is only to apply to those that have previously been in prison makes not an ounce of common sense.The underlying philosophical problem with this bill is that the current Government does not believe in punishment. It does not believe that when people offend against the laws of the land offend seriously against the laws of the land sufficiently for a judge to sentence them to prison they shouldn't continue to enjoy all the rights that go with a free society.My final point is I'd ask this Parliament to compare the British Parliament—Hon Willie Jackson: Sit down.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: —the Australian Parliament. Isn't it interesting? Willie Jackson says Sit down." Isn't that the intelligence of his contribution—it is simply to silence those that might seriously question the policies of his Government that are failing.The last thing is—and I'd love Willie Jackson to explain—why is the Government rushing through against all the conventions electoral law changes in the middle of an international crisis? Why is it rushing the law through? The honest answer Mr Jackson is singly this: you and your colleagues want to do everything possible to screw the rules for the 2020 election so that you might be re-elected. That is a very poor reason for this Parliament to rush such a law change."