Pugh MaureenMAUREEN PUGH (National): Thanks very much Madam Speaker. I too came down to the House to speak on a different bill but this one here has really irked me because we are seeing again from the Government benches a pattern arising. I think it's very ironic that this is the second time today that I have been on my feet in this House debating the instruction to a select committee for a shortened report-back time. So twice today we have been here having this same debate about a truncated select committee process. Now that's a strong pattern that is emerging from this Government. Either they are in a blind panic to get stuff completed in time for a campaign or they have just woken up after 2½ years of sitting on their hands and they have got pins and needles and they are just shaking themselves back into life. Now the instruction to the select committee for a shortened report back is actually—Hon Iain Lees-Galloway: A narrow debate. MAUREEN PUGH: They're so vocal. They're so vocal when they've got nothing to say yet they won't stand up and actually defend their position. The other ironic thing about today and the shortened report-back period for the select committee is that we are expecting the public in a very concentrated time frame to turn up to a select committee process and submit on these bills. At the very time this country is in complete lockdown and we've got people locked down in their homes in their towns and in their cities here we are saying If you want to participate in this democracy in this country I'm sorry but you're going to have to risk your health and come and talk to us in Wellington to participate in your democracy New Zealand." Now we're talking about the democratic right that this Government believes that prisoners have to vote on one hand and on the other hand we're talking about the democratic right of the public to participate in their own parliamentary process. So at a time when the country is in complete lockdown the Minister instructs the select committee to have a shortened report-back time. There has been no rational rationale for this instruction to the select committee. We are absolutely gobsmacked on this side of the House because there is no rationale for them wanting this process. It has been in their sights—Kieran McAnulty: All we want is a rational rationale. MAUREEN PUGH: —for 2½ years and here we are now at the end of their term and they're rushing things through. Now Mr McAnulty always as usual has plenty to say and says nothing at the right time. Thank you Mr McAnulty for your very unhelpful contribution. This is a typical pattern that we've seen develop out of the Government's side of the House. They say all the right things. They talk about democracy and they talk about being kind but actually when it comes to the action of democracy we are bereft of action and participation for the people of this country to participate in the process. The only way that citizens of New Zealand have to contribute to the development of legislation that goes through this House is through the very well-established select committee process—the process which would normally take six months if we were going to give it justice. But of course the Minister of Justice doesn't see it that way and sees fit to say to New Zealanders "Your democratic rights are being truncated and if you want to participate on this particular bill risk your life and come to Wellington and submit in front of the select committee." It makes absolutely no sense to us on this side of the House and as we have said not one person from the Government's side has been able to defend the position and the instruction of the Minister to the select committee to truncate their submission process. Brett Hudson: They don't like democracy. MAUREEN PUGH: They do not like democracy Brett Hudson. They do not like democracy—Erica Stanford: They like it in Opposition. MAUREEN PUGH: —yes—but when it is in terms of the democratic right of prisoners to vote they make a unilateral decision and here we are in the position that we are in here tonight. We know that we have no ability to overrule and to vote down this motion but it would be irresponsible of us not to at least put up a good strong argument about why we should defend democracy in this country and why we should defend the public's right to participate in it. I think that if the Government had any sense of decency about democracy it would actually reconsider what it's doing and allow the select committee the time that it takes every other piece of legislation to go through the correct process.I think this is again a sad day when someone has to stand up and speak twice on an instruction to a select committee for a truncated process. The pattern that develops is not good for this country and for the legislation. We know—and we've seen it time and again even in this one term of this Government—that rushed legislation is bad legislation and we end up having to come back and amend that legislation because things have been overlooked because they have not had the time to get the scrutiny of the select committee members and the officials and to dissect the terms and conditions and the clauses within a bill and give it the overall scrutiny that it absolutely deserves. I think it's a very sad day for democracy in this country and I—Kieran McAnulty: She's run out of puff.MAUREEN PUGH: I have run out of puff. Thank you."