Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): That was just an extraordinary speech from the co-leader—[Interruption] I find it amazing that the members opposite think this is funny. They're actually sitting in the House they're laughing—they think this is funny. So take a call—take a call and address some of the issues that I'm going to raise. I find it extraordinary that James Shaw the co-leader of the Green Party has just stood in this House and said that they're going to use their vote—a vote actually that when you look around this wall Kiwis have gone overseas and fought for. It's something that we should take extremely seriously and it's a huge privilege and a huge right to stand in this House and to be able to use a vote. He just stood in this House and he said We don't believe in this." He's served his conscience up on a silver platter and he said "We will stand in this House and you'll get our eight votes and we will pass this legislation and then we'll go straight back to our caucus room and we'll write a letter to say that we don't want this law to apply to us and we're not actually going to allow it to apply to us." and yet they're going to stand in this House and they're going to vote for it. Someone on the Government benches take a call and explain to us and tell us exactly what that means.I've been making notes. The other extraordinary thing in this debate is this: this bill is the Rt Hon Winston Peters'. I haven't been that long—I've been here for two terms and am into my third term. The author of a bill when they're lucky enough to have it drawn from the ballot or a Minister brings it to the House—they're proud of it they believe in it and they'll stand in this House and they'll talk to it they'll defend it and they'll make a case. They might take the chair through the committee stage and they'll stand and they'll speak to the bill. The author of this bill has come to this House and made one speech and it was today in the third reading. I've been making notes on speakers so that I could stand up and I could respond to them. This was the Hon James Shaw: there are some notes here and I'm actually going to—if I have time—come back to them. These are the notes that I made for the Rt Hon Winston Peters—nothing. Go back and have a look at his 10-minute speech in support of his own bill. Have a look at his 10-minutes speech in support of his own bill. He does not talk to one substantive issue contained within that bill. He spent the whole time making personal attacks on members of the Opposition. So what does that tell us?Hon Ruth Dyson: It sounds like this speech.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Sounds like this speech? OK so she's saying that I'm not talking to one substantive issue on this bill. Let's get to some substantive issues.The Hon William Sio stood and said that effectively list members don't matter—list members don't matter. What happens—Hon Aupito William Sio: I did not. Don't put words in my mouth.Hon MARK MITCHELL: I'll tell you exactly what you said. You said that the party—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! The member—Hon MARK MITCHELL: Sorry Madam Assistant Speaker. I'll recite exactly what the member said. The member said that the party will put the list together and so if the list members—what happens then is that the party leader has got the right to be able to dismiss those list members of Parliament. Actually a lot of people on the face of it if they don't actually look at the debate carefully might agree with you. But there's a problem with that and what you've done is you've completely undermined every list member of this Parliament—certainly on your side of the House.But let's think about that. That list is put together and it's then published. It's then published for the country to have a look at.Dr Duncan Webb: It's what they vote on.Hon MARK MITCHELL: That's right. Mr Webb just said it's what they vote on. So is it the party leader that dictates who the public vote for? Is it the public that look in the list and decide who they vote for? The big thing that's been left out in this debate is the voters so that's one issue that I want to raise. This bill without a doubt is going to turn list MPs into zombies—there's no doubt about that. They may as well not—Dr Duncan Webb: Ha ha!Hon MARK MITCHELL: You can laugh. Are you an electorate MP? It's a bit different for you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! Mr Mitchell—thank you.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Sorry Madam Assistant Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Thank you. It's all right.Hon MARK MITCHELL: But the reality of it is list MPs in this—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I know you're trying.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Yeah I am. I'm doing my best. It's very hard.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Thank you.Hon MARK MITCHELL: The reality of it is list MPs of this House become zombies. That's a tough thing to say when you've got members like the Hon Ron Mark who prides himself on being pretty fiercely independent and comes to this House and has never been afraid of letting his voice be heard. But the reality of it is this: when this bill passes his leader owns all the power. His leader has the power. His leader can decide. If he wants to take a stand on something his leader can just eject him from Parliament—that's it. You're gone. Pack your bags and you're out of here—sling your hook. Hon Ron Mark: Yeah.Hon MARK MITCHELL: He agrees. He's agreeing with me. Right OK. So let's use that as a premise. So tell me something: how do you come to this House and how do you—sorry Madam Assistant Speaker. How does the member come to this House and how does he defend the community that he wants to actually represent? Right? How does he defend the community? What happens if there's a direct conflict with his leader and the community that he's wanting to represent? He's gone. He's gone—you're out. What happens if the member wants to actually advance something in his portfolio as the Minister of Defence and his leader doesn't agree? He's gone. You're out. Pack your bags—you're gone. So you become a zombie—you become a zombie MP. The member cannot advance the interests of either the electorate or his portfolio. You are now under the full control of your leader. That's it—end of story.The great thing about us the National Party is that we want to repeal this legislation. The Green member James Shaw made a point around whether we'll use this or not. The clear answer to that is this: no we will not and we will repeal the legislation. I'd be interested to know—and I'll put this to the Green Party—would you support us if we brought a bill to this House repealing this legislation? There was another issue raised around MMP. I can tell you in my own electorate I was at Wentworth College on Monday and they were doing civics and they wanted to know about the history of MMP. MMP was formed in Germany post - World War II. It was a system that was put together so that they would try to prevent all the power being concentrated in one party like we saw in the Nazi Party. Germany the home of MMP—what do they think of this legislation?Hon Dr Nick Smith: It's banned.Hon MARK MITCHELL: It's banned. It's illegal. They will not allow it to be passed in their House of Representatives for the very reasons that the Hon Dr Nick Smith has made and the very reasons that the Rt Hon David Carter has made. It will suppress everything in this country that we fundamentally believe in and that is free speech. I'm going to end up on one point and I'm going to relate it back to my own electorate. In 2017 on the campaign trail I had the New Zealand First candidate the Hon Tracey Martin stand up in front of a packed hall at a public meeting and say "Mark Mitchell will not represent you. Mark Mitchell will not advance the issues in the electorate"—my electorate of Rodney—"because he's a creature of the party and he'll always do what the party says and what the party tells him to do." Well the Hon Tracey Martin is just about to vote on a bill that is going to cement in concrete that she is a creature of her party. She will never ever take a stand against her party leader. She will never ever advance a local issue because she is just about to vote into law legislation that means that she is a creature of the party. I'm proud to be a member of the New Zealand National Party but I'm even more proud to represent my electorate of Rodney as their representative—Dr Duncan Webb: "More proud"?Hon MARK MITCHELL: —in this House of Representatives. Absolutely I am. He's amazed. Mr Webb's amazed that I take more pride in actually representing my electorate. Of course I do—that's what I'm sent here for. That's what they voted—the electorate gets to actually make a vote for who they want to represent them and they also get to make a vote with a party vote in terms of who's best aligned with their own values and who they think can lead the country.While I've been in this House I've taken three stands against my own country in the last six years—all things that I knew were important to my electorate; all things that I knew were—Hon Members: Ha ha!Hon MARK MITCHELL: They think it's funny. Mr Greg O'Connor thinks that's funny. You know what? The sad thing is that he took a stand on something that he thought was important two or three weeks ago and he immediately had to—like a whimpering dog tail between his legs—come out and apologise. He had to come out and say he was sorry. So that's why this bill will make no difference to him. It will make no difference to him because he's under the complete control of the leader. We've seen that clearly demonstrated.We will not adhere to this bill and we will continue to represent the people that vote us in and send us to this House of Representatives. Thank you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I understand this is a split call. Greg O'Connor—five minutes."