Mooney JosephJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): I rise to speak in opposition to the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill on behalf of the National Party. There are two key issues of great concern with this bill. The first is a matter of constitutional importance: it is being rushed through the House without giving New Zealand a chance to properly consider it properly discuss it and properly debate it. It is of great concern that the first Government under MMP to be given a mandate to govern alone has used its mandate in the first months of its Government to rush through a piece of electoral law changing it in this rushed fashion. The little more than a day that was given to people to submit on the bill is completely inadequate on a matter of constitutional importance. The fact that many of the people who wished to be heard could not be heard is also a matter of great concern.This is a significant change to the law and it deserves proper discussion and proper consideration. People who do not feel they have been heard will not be people who are engaged will not be people who respect the law that they are governed under. The right to govern relies ultimately on the consent of the governed and it is crucial particularly in a matter of electoral law to have those discussions and to give people an opportunity to be heard whether or not they agree with it. That is the great concern here that I have: that New Zealand has not had that opportunity. And if New Zealand has not had her opportunity the ultimate aim of this Government which I imagine is to try to level the playing field and lessen division creates the great risk that it will actually generate more division. That people have not had that opportunity and they are seeing a Government that has a mandate to govern alone using that mandate to rush local electoral law changes through under urgency will cause great concern to people throughout our country. It also suggests without that discussion that this Government does not trust its electors and it says this is a racist piece of legislation. And I note the irony in that: that it was a Labour-led Government back in 2002 that enacted this legislation.Going to that point about trust I note that New Zealand was the first place in the world to give women the vote. We've led the way in the past. We were the first place in the world to have an openly transgender mayor who was also the world's first openly transgender member of Parliament.Hon Members: They were Labour!JOSEPH MOONEY: The voters voted for them back then. The voters voted for that individual person; they didn't require a specific piece of legislation requiring a transgender mayor; they voted for her.Hon Members: Labour!Chris Bishop: Who cares? It's not relevant.SPEAKER: Order! Order! A relatively new member and I think the exchange that's going back and forth is not being helpful.JOSEPH MOONEY: And I'd note that only three days ago in Palmerston North at a tightly contested election the voters of Palmerston North chose to elect a refugee who had originally come from the Congo to be their representative in a by-election.Chris Bishop: Yeah a National Party member.SPEAKER: Order! Can I just say I've just stopped one side doing things because of the problems that it caused and to have the shadow Leader of the House try to start it up again is not helpful.JOSEPH MOONEY: There's been no discussion on a second matter of great concern which is that because this law has been rushed through—the departmental disclosure statement itself said that—the policy details have not been tested or assessed in any way to ensure the bill's provisions are workable and complete and that more discussions need to be had. New Zealand has a very low participation in local democratic elections—often 27 percent 30 percent. That is a matter of considerable concern if you're trying to ensure that people are represented when the most people who live in that area do not actually participate in the elections. There's been no discussion about that.Another matter of concern that hasn't been discussed is that this has been phrased as a Māori ward when in fact it is the Māori roll ward. Only those who are on the Māori roll can vote in the ward.SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired and again I didn't interrupt the member and I didn't interrupt the member earlier but at the third reading we don't say what's not in the bill and what hasn't been discussed.