Watts SimonSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Well thank you very much Madam Speaker. Here we are three days to go in the dying days of this Government and we are talking about the Electoral (Lowering Voting Age for Local Elections and Polls) Legislation Bill. Wow isn't that interesting? Isn't that an interesting topic?As the local government spokesperson I tell you what: as I travel round this country talking to local governments and talking to local councils and talking to local communities do I hear continuously that this is the fundamental issue that this House should be taking through as legislation today? Well I'll tell you what Madam Speaker I'll give you a little bit of a hint: the answer is no. There is no way that this is a priority for local government; they are drowning under a significant barrage by the Minister of Reform" that is impacting them significantly.Lowering the voting age is just another piece of electoral burden by this Government on that sector which is not going to deal with the fundamental issues that they face. The fundamental issues that local government face are not the voting age and the people who can vote in local elections; it's actually around funding and finance and dealing with climate adaptation and dealing with infrastructure as a result of the disasters and the weather events that we've had in the last seven months—those are the priorities. Yet only in the last 48 hours have we seen the Government actually respond to that; yet they've had officials and other members of their caucus looking at and putting together this bill. Well what a distraction; what a sideshow.But Kiwis can see through this can't they Madam Speaker. They can see through this. They know that this is not a priority. As a result we've got a Government that's ramming this legislation through the House today as it does using its parliamentary majority. But I'll give you a little bit of an insight into what I can expect to occur with this bill under a National-led Government Madam Speaker: it will not see the light of day. It will not see the light of day because this is not a priority.This is not an issue in regards to something that's against those who are 16 or 17. I've got young boys coming up; they'll be in this age band before long. It's nothing about that aspect but it is the fact that the age of 18 is widely accepted as the age which is appropriate in terms of those who should be voting the age at which they enter into adulthood and the age which is appropriate for people to be voting.You've got a Government that has recognised the fact that they cannot get this over the line at an overall general election point of view—they can't get that over the line because they need a 75 percent majority. They think "Oh well since we can't get that over the line let's just actually try and ram this through local government." Well I think that's disrespectful to local government because what they are in effect saying is that they're going to experiment on local government through a reform on the voting age which they are not able to carry through at an overall national level. Well I'm sorry; local government are not there to be able to just be pushed upon by such changes that a Government does not have the mandate in order to do across the country. It is inconsistent and inconsistent in electoral reform is no good for anyone. That is why on this side of the House we will be continuing to oppose this legislation as we go through.I don't think that we need to really discuss anything more in regards to this bill. It is a bill which is not a priority. It is a bill that this Government is ramming through in their dying days. I think when we reflect back on this Labour-led Government in time to come we will reflect on say: why did they not use the opportunity that was afforded to them to pass legislation that would have genuine impact for those Kiwis across this country who are dealing with significant and massive issues in their lives? Primarily those issues relate to the cost of living crisis and the impact of law and order. That is a great disappoint. But this Government have a choice; they are accountable for the decisions that they pass through this House and they have made a conscious decision in order to prioritise legislation such as this over and above legislation that will make a fundamental and positive impact for all Kiwis.The good thing is that Kiwis will have the choice in 35 days from now—35; not that long away. Five weeks from now they'll have the choice. Go to the polls make your decision and the future Government will have a mandate in order to execute that. I think that is appropriate and that is appropriate for our democracy. National will be opposing this bill."