Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Helensville): Thank you very much Madam Chair. I'm speaking to Part 2 of the Electoral Amendment Bill. I just want to focus a little bit if I may on the amendment of regulation 12—that's within the Electoral Regulations 1996—of course Part 2 being consequential amendments the other parts of our law that need to change as a result of the more substantive parts or aspects of Part 1 that we've already discussed in some detail.Looking at regulation 12 I wanted to focus on some of the mechanics of the list of late enrolments and specifically the timing of that and also what it is exactly that the Electoral Commission must do in relation to the list of people who have taken advantage of the provisions of Part 1 in enrolling later than they're currently able to do. Just to be clear when I say take advantage of" I don't mean that in any sort of ugly way but rather to avail themselves of the opportunity that the bill is now going to afford to them.So I note that it's "as soon as practicable after polling day" that the obligation applies for the Electoral Commission to send a certain list to the returning officer. We'll get to that list perhaps in a minute—I can sense your excitement to do so—but focussing first on this aspect of timing as I say as soon as practicable after polling day I wonder if the Minister can advise perhaps leaning heavily on his officials noting that he is not the same Minister who was in the chair last night whether any thought was given to another formulation of timing.For example it might be that the obligation applies as soon as practicable after polling day but in any case not later than the return of the writ or in any case prior to either the final results being announced or the provisional results being announced. Alternatively the Minister might offer a view as to whether there is a certain period of time that it would be ideal or desirable to have the Electoral Commission send those names. So if the Minister can address that aspect that would be very helpful indeed not only for the purpose of the current debate but I suppose to shape the understanding of the Electoral Commission following the election as to exactly what is expected of them other than that reasonably vague instruction to simply do so "as soon as practicable after polling day". So that was the first thing that I was interested to raise.The second is in relation to the list of persons who will be sent in the way I've described and these are the persons whose names have been entered on the electoral roll for the district after writ day and by the end of polling day under various sections of the Act. I wonder if the Minister can explain why it is that the Electoral Commission wouldn't simply advise all the names of eligible electors—so that would include not only those who have recently become eligible but also those who were already eligible prior to that time. It seems perhaps that what we're going to end up with in the regulations is an artificial distinction given that the law the policy behind the law and indeed the provisions of Part 1 now establish a regime where all enrolments are to be treated the same. Indeed all enrolment applications are to be allowed whether or not they are before writ day or indeed on polling day. So I wonder if we're going to have somewhat of an anachronism within the law whereby we're going to have a list of persons over here and list of persons over there for which there is no meaningful distinction.Alternatively I suppose we can look—[Bell rung] Madam Chair? Excuse me; I misunderstood the timing. The other aspect I was interested to look at within that provision was whether there might be someone else who would appropriately receive that list of persons of newly enrolled electors. Those might be I suppose the people who already receive notification of new electoral enrolments. Members of the public who are watching this broadcast both of them by now might be interested to know that actually enrolments that are made in the course of a three-year parliamentary term are as a matter of course periodically—I think perhaps on a monthly cycle but I'll be corrected if I'm wrong there but in any case periodically—advised to the offices of sitting MPs and that's a matter of current members of Parliament electorate and list I presume being able to maintain contact with—[Bell rung] Madam Chair?CHAIRPERSON (Hon Ruth Dyson): Can I first of all before I call the member apologise—in my excitement with the content of his speech I made an error and pushed the bell a minute early.CHRIS PENK: Thank you Madam Chair. Your excitement is understandable and indeed shared. In fact I will excite you not much longer Madam Chair; I've almost finished my points—if indeed I've started them! The question was really just whether the Minister can advise if there's anyone else who should be receiving this information following the newly registered electors having come on board so to speak the electoral train leaving "Election-ville Station".The only other point was just around the point regarding New Zealand Defence Force members. Dr Nick Smith has already made the point about allowing those who are defending democracy to indeed practise it as well. I've made that point already; so as much as I'd love to go there again so to speak—and I know others would as well—I shall refrain from doing so."