Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. The Electoral Amendment Bill (No 2) could be better named the Whisky Tango Foxtrot Bill". It is an indulgence in the politics of pantomime. It is pantomime politics; huge amounts of drama and theatrics for very little purpose.The Government is putting the House into urgency tonight in order to pass a bill that it has claimed bans foreign donations. Well that's the first big problem with this bill. It does nothing of the sort. It doesn't change the definition of an overseas person. It doesn't change the definition of an overseas donation except for one little thing. It says the threshold for declaring an overseas donation and giving up all the money above that threshold is going from $1500 down to $50. That's the only change being made in this bill tonight. It is a meaningless change and the reason for that is that it is totally impractical to enforce.Let me give you the example of the ACT Party. Now I asked our party secretary and she said today the ACT Party has received 11 donations of over $50 just a standard day on the website. People come along they give us money because they like what we stand for. The bill requires that they take all reasonable steps to work out where those people live those people who have made online donations. What does all reasonable steps actually mean? Do we need to hire a forensic accountant to find out where those people really live? Or is it enough just to put a notification on our website saying that they shouldn't lie? And if we are suspecting that maybe people are hiding their identity what's the remedy and what's the punishment? The truth is that it is completely meaningless because such a large volume of donations are such that it will be impossible for anybody to truly enforce this change from $1500 down to $50.And another mystery is: why would the Government do this? The fact of the matter is that it is simply a matter of politics. This Government has run out of ideas and they thought that doing something dramatic putting Parliament into urgency and going after something that nobody likes such as electoral donations from foreigners would get them a good cycle in the headlines better than the 24 hours they had beforehand where they're behind in the polls and where they're losing data all over the show. The fact of the matter is that they did this because they thought it would give them a sugar hit in the press.But the great irony is not only is it ineffective not only will it never be practical to be enforced but ironically a bill to try and defend the democratic rights of New Zealanders is being passed under urgency with no need whatsoever and this is excluding New Zealanders from being able to make a contribution through the select committee process which is what normally happens when New Zealanders engage in the democratic process. So you have a bill that's supposed to be defending democracy being rammed through for no reason for no immediate cause of urgency and excluding New Zealanders from participating in democracy in the name of defending New Zealand democracy. How crazy is that? That's what this Government is doing.I hear from all around the House the plaintive cries from the Green Party those great upholders of due process "It was so terrible when the previous Government used urgency." Today they're going along with this and what do we hear? Not a peep. No principles in the Green Party.I'm sorry to hear from my friends in the National Party because I heard some very fine speeches made by the likes of Chris Bishop and I thought he was going to vote against it. Well I'd say to my friends in the National Party if it's such a bad bill and you don't agree with it vote against it. Honestly I'm doing it. It's not that hard. If the National Party had the courage of their convictions they might be even further ahead of the Labour Party in the poll—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Order!DAVID SEYMOUR: —but instead the ACT Party stands alone for our democracy and due process in this Parliament proudly opposing this political pantomime bill."