Curran ClareHon CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): Thank you Mr Speaker. Well Nicola Willis likes to throw bombs at other parties in the House around donations and I've got a question for her: why did she launder donations of between $1500 and $15000 through her Wellington central office? Got any answer to that Nicola Willis? Laundering donations—Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I believe there's a provision in the Standing Orders that where an allegation like that is made a member may take a call to refute that allegation and I think it would be appropriate.SPEAKER: A person at the end of a speech can make a personal explanation—at the end of a speech. That is open to Nicola Willis if she wishes to do so. Hon CLARE CURRAN: Thank you Mr Speaker. So despite all of the howls and the fake outrage from the National Party on this bill the ultimate point is that they are supporting this bill and that's a good thing for our nation. But after 18 months the Justice Committee which has been conducting an inquiry into the general election the local body elections and extending it to foreign interference in our electoral system has been unable to report to the House back to Parliament which it should have done. Why is that? Because it's been held up. It's been held up by the National Party. It's been held up by one particular member—that member is Nick Smith. I challenge again the National Party to explain that to refute that. That is what the people of New Zealand anybody listening to this debate should know. It's very deliberate. It's a very deliberate tactic. As a result it's their own fault that we are in this House today debating this legislation under urgency because the Minister who signalled for months that he wanted that report—there's been very good work done by both sides. That report deserves to come back to Parliament. But because he couldn't wait any longer he had to bring this bill to the House. That's why we're debating this bill today. This bill is not a fix-it for everything. There is a much bigger piece of work that needs to be done and the people of New Zealand deserve to see the depth of the work that's been done. I want to acknowledge all of the submitters that spent hours before the committee giving their presentations on the impact of foreign donations and interference in our system. I particularly acknowledge Professor Anne-Marie Brady on that. I want to point out to the Opposition over there that currently there's one large donation that they are responsible for that is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. There's another $150000 donation channelled through Chinese donations—both of them are Chinese—that is under scrutiny and should be under further scrutiny. These are serious matters—very serious in our system that these things can be happening. We have to pay attention. It is currently illegal for there to be—and I'll quickly read the provision. Section 207L in the Electoral Act makes it an illegal practice to enter into an agreement arrangement or understanding with any other person that has the effect of circumventing" restrictions on overseas donations or contributions over $1500. It is "a corrupt practice if the circumvention is wilful;". These things need more scrutiny. This bill does not fix all of it but it lowers that threshold to $50. That is not minor; it is significant. The scrutiny and the duty of care on the party secretaries is absolutely critical and it will make a significant change. This is an important bill. It's one step in much-needed electoral reform. I commend it to the House.SPEAKER: Was the member going to make a point of order—no? Mr Brownlee? I was just checking were we going to have a point of order?Hon Gerry Brownlee: No no. The moment's passed.Bill read a third time."