Parata Hekia: Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Parata Hekia: Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
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HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 I am pleased to take a call on the Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2). As previous speakers have noted there are three key provisions within this bill and the bill itself is part of a suite of electoral reforms. This bill is but one part of those reforms and as the previous speaker indicated this has been carried out in the context of a consensus amongst parties on the Justice and Electoral Committee. It is important that the functioning of democracy in New Zealand is clear and transparent accountable well understood and has the support of all parties in Parliament. Democracy is only as good as the quality of the people who participate in it and this bill is part of the legislative framework that provides for that quality. 
The first part of the bill is about establishing the Electoral Commission as a Crown entity and the second phase is about tidying up the institutional or structural administration of electoral legislation. The bill amends the Electoral Act 1993 to ensure that stage two of the two-stage process of electoral administration can occur and occur in a way that is the least disruptive possible to the general election at the end of 2011. We look forward to the full complement of commissioners being in place to oversee the administration of this legislation. 
But I want to move on to the provision about immigrant communities which provides for those people who are enrolled on the register to have as much assurance as possible about what the process is and the quality of that process that will enable them to ensure that they can indeed exercise their right of democracy which is to cast a vote. In the recent Mana by-election it was indeed clear to us—particularly in Mana which comprises a very committed set of communities embracing refugee communities and immigrant communities—that as part of their citizenship entitlement in New Zealand they understand how they might participate in the democratic process. 
Many of these refugees and immigrants come from countries where democracy is practised in ways that are quite different from the way we in New Zealand have come to know democracy and enjoy it—where one’s vote is free and untrammelled where one can go to a polling booth without being intimidated or threatened and where one can in the repeated words of columnist Chris Trotter “vote as if one is free”. But one can vote as if one is free only if one is indeed registered to vote. 
The bill also includes amendments arising from the Government’s response to the report of the Justice and Electoral Committee on its inquiry into the 2008 election. These amendments will enable the Department of Labour’s immigration information which is currently used to check whether enrolled electors are entitled to be on the electoral roll to be used to check whether an applicant for enrolment is qualified to be enrolled. It will provide a new notice of procedure for applications that fail the pre-enrolment immigration status check. It will be used to authorise the destruction of paper enrolment records as long as they have been stored as secure electronic images and it will allow information from the Department of Internal Affairs on new and renewing passport applicants to be provided to the Chief Registrar of Electors for enrolment purposes. Together with the other two main provisions of this bill I commend it to the House. Thank you.