Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. Ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. I runga i te tau hou ka nui te mihi ki a koutou katoa.[Madam Speaker greetings. To the members of this House greetings to all. Because it is the new year I pass on my greetings to you all.]I'm pleased to rise to talk to the Electoral Amendment Bill. For those members that may not know we are a split committee—the Justice Committee. But I am pleased that despite the committee agreeing on this bill some constructive discussion was had and some amendments were recommended. I want to acknowledge the Minister in both highlighting those recommendations those amendments that the committee worked on.The purpose of the bill is to enable people to enrol and vote and uphold the integrity of the electoral system and to conduct elections efficiently and securely and to ensure that future elections are upheld. In summary in terms of those submitters that came before the select committee—131 we received in the select committee—34 focused on the changes in the current bill and 11 submitters chose to present to the committee orally. I want to thank those submitters that took the time to submit on this particular bill.There are three areas I want to canvass in the amendments that the select committee made to the Minister. One was on the election day enrolments. Can I just reference for the House's benefit the election day enrolment in terms of this particular bill refers to clauses 4 6 to 12 19 and 22. Twenty-two of the submitters who commented on the bill discussed election day enrolments.I want to particularly acknowledge some submitters who made comment around election day enrolments. I want to talk about Gafatasi Endemann who believed the election day enrolment would increase youth voter turnout. There probably isn't a member in this House that doesn't want to see more of our young people participating in our electoral system. Of course Professor Andrew Geddis also submitted under election day enrolment supporting that obviously if we're going to have advance voting it makes absolute sense that we also have election day advance enrolments on the same day. And there is of course the New Zealand Law Society who also supported the election day enrolment.Of course there were some submitters that didn't agree with election day enrolment and that's Daniel Church who also talked about the deadline for the return of the writ considering it may undermine public confidence—and even Alec van Helsdingen who also believed the extension may be unfortunate. What he did draw to the committee's attention which I thought was very useful is that in the future we may repeal the early day when digital rolls are introduced. So in terms of the election day enrolment amendment the submitters were well canvassed and the committee's amendments were made.In terms of the voting places—clause 13 14 and 16—I want to acknowledge the submitters that submitted on that particular area; 11 submitters commented on that. The Minister touched on the ability to open up places where we traditionally don't have polling booths—of course supermarkets malls and some hotels. There were discussions around the consumption of alcohol—but we've made that clear that this has to be a place that doesn't inhibit electors on that particular day—and of course within that gambit of the voting places the right for scrutineers to accompany the ballot boxes should they be transferred from the malls to other places in which they are accompanied. So that was a very useful and constructive piece of recommendation.Finally managing polling disruptions—the Minister has well canvassed those particularly as it relates to clause 17 and of course making sure that we are very clear when a poll can be disrupted the period in which it can be disrupted and then also the triggering of informing both the Prime Minister and the deputy of the Opposition party. So I'm proud of the work that the Justice Committee did in making these practical amendments despite us not agreeing on the bill. Having said that I think it's a piece of legislation that does protect the democracy and grows our commitment to democracy in this country by allowing voters the 19000 that were disallowed in 2007—to enable them to have their vote to have their say and to increase participation in our voters across this nation. I commend this bill to the House.