Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Helensville): Thank you Mr Chair. I just wanted to resume on that subject of the practical aspects of the bill more particularly the administration that is involved not only in the campaigning side of things which has been the subject of a little bit of discussion so far but also the mechanics of voting and the practical challenges that are faced for those who are detained at Her Majesty's pleasure and soon to be given in the case of those who are there for up to three years the ability to vote. The implication I would hope for all members of this House and indeed all candidates across the land is that there is a deep and obvious connection between the right which we could also phrase as the responsibility" to vote and the right—and again responsibility—to be informed such that a vote can be meaningful. So I have a couple of specific questions in that regard but also I'm just interested in assurances that the Minister of Justice can give about the way that he would envisage the law being given effect to. I do want to acknowledge that I'm not asking the Minister to say anything that would be inappropriate from the point of view of directing the Electoral Commission. We've got an important constitutional point that legislators don't direct the specific operations of that body. It's quite right that they be able to conduct their important role in a way that's free from interference. But having said that of course it's the responsibility of this House and of course the Minister in whose name this bill appears before us to consider whether it will be possible for them to carry out the role that they already have which I would like to acknowledge as being done by them in an exceptional manner as compared with of course the provisions of the bill. So one of the issues that I've become aware of is exercising my right—and again responsibility—as a member of Parliament to visit prisons. I have Auckland prison within my electorate commonly known as "Pare" colloquially in the area—the maximum security prison. I was aware visiting that establishment that there are very serious demands for security which relate not only to the desire—the understandable desire—of many prisoners to escape their confines but also in relation to issues such as the potential for self-harm; so that the material that comes through the wire so to speak is severely restricted even to the point where flakes of paint need to be restricted. So I wonder how the Minister would envisage campaigning by candidates MPs or otherwise in a context where the literature that they might produce pamphlets or collateral however you might describe it—whether that would be made available to prisoners; noting the difficulties of them receiving basically anything physical at all. Of course as others have pointed out and I think the Hon Dr Nick Smith asked the question about the ability to communicate the other way so to speak—prisoners to communicate with candidates—and of course how that interacts with the restrictions that are quite rightly placed on prisoners in terms of interacting with the outside world. So that's sort of a broad set of questions. But I did want to specifically—please Madam Chair if you could invite the Minister to answer that particular point about the physical material that's associated with campaigning. I also would be interested to know and I ask this probably foolishly but I ask this question because I don't know the answer; and I know that might sound a bit silly to be making it a novel point but my question to the Minister is quite simply: is it the case that under our electoral law that qualification for being a candidate for election includes the basis that one is on the electoral roll and therefore is it the case that by virtue of this legislation a prisoner who is incarcerated for less than three years will be able to be a candidate at the election as a result of this legislation? Now I appreciate the answer might be no or it also might be yes but in any case I would genuinely be interested to know that point from the Minister. Thank you."