Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): Kia ora. Thank you Mr Speaker. The Electoral Amendment Bill makes a number of changes and the basis of that is to increase public trust and transparency in political donations and the donations framework and also on top of that to extend voter eligibility to those people who have been overseas in order for them to be able to enrol and vote in the next general election. When we look at the purpose and reason why we're undertaking this exercise it is critically important that appropriately regulated political donations and loans underpin public trust the trust that the public have in us as politicians and the integrity of our electoral system. And these institutions are at the very core of the importance of democracy in New Zealand. So it really strikes me that the member who just spoke Paul Goldsmith would quibble over the drag of having increased paperwork when what we are talking about are some of the most fundamental facets of our democracy. There is no problem in terms of increased transparency and paperwork if this gives us a more open and fair democracy where the members of the public have a greater level of trust in the work that we do and the way that we are funded.So what this bill does is it does a range of things. Actually one other point I'll make about the previous member's speech which I'd like to point out is that there were some claims I recall hearing: that this legislation was in fact being rushed through by the Minister. What I'd like to highlight to that member is that the Justice Committee over the past five years have undertaken two thorough reviews of the previous election and the 2017 general election. The issue of donations and how donations are funnelled and split and treated was thoroughly examined by the Justice Committee and that full report was reported back to the House. Subsequently this term's Justice Committee has also undertaken a complete review of the 2020 general election and the interim report of that undertaking has already been delivered to the House. So I would like to highlight that there has been substantial consideration and ample opportunity for members of the public to submit and give their views on the donations process and all of those submissions and views have been taken into account into getting to this point in time.So what this bill does is it lowers the public disclosure threshold for donations and contributions to political parties from $15000 to $5000 to make sure that those bigger donations—people are able to see where they are coming from. It also amends the reporting requirements for donations by reducing the threshold from $30000 to $20000 and it requires disclosures of donations above this threshold within 10 working days within a general election year. It also requires party secretaries—and this is where I understand the annoyance comes with increased paperwork—to report donations under $1500 that are not made anonymously and there are small donations that are made right across the board for many political parties. It also requires party secretaries to disclose their annual financial statements. It requires a return of party donations to specify the total amount of all donations received in money and the total amount of all donations received other than in money—so those other items that might have been provided as a gift in a sense that has a value. It also requires candidates to publicly report on loans from unregistered lenders received to support their campaign—another important way we're increasing transparency in our democratic process.So it saddens me that the National Party will not be supporting a bill that undertakes to try and prevent political donations from having an improper influence on electoral outcomes. It saddens me that they do not want to support a bill that preserves the freedom of political expression and to be able to support any eligible candidate or party. We want to encourage that and this bill gets that balance right.It is also important that we ensure political parties can raise the funds they need to play a robust role within our MMP political system and that's what this bill will endeavour to do—he need for rules to be efficient and practical for participants such as candidates such as parties and also promoters; that we can understand our rules clearly and so that they are clear for not only those who are having to abide by them but also by those people who are voting in our democracy.Lowering the public disclosure threshold for donations and contributions to political parties is a very important point: $15000 to $5000. That's going to have a really big impact on the way that things are done and have been done in the past. It's important that through requiring party secretaries to disclose their annual financial statements and also requiring a return of party donations to specify the total amount of all donations received in money and the total of all donations received other than money as dated—these are important parts to increase yes paperwork but also transparency.One other matter that I would like to speak to is the importance of acknowledging the impact that COVID has had upon our voting system and our democracy. Under the current law New Zealand citizens and permanent residents lose their eligibility to vote if they remain overseas beyond three years for New Zealand citizens and just one year for permanent residents. There have been some very unique challenges that we are well aware of and citizens and permanent residents who haven't been able to return home over the past two years including COVID-19 travel restrictions and mandatory isolation requirements. While many of these requirements have been lifted overseas voters still face consideration financial travel health and logistical barriers to returning home including the risk of further COVID-19 restrictions. So by making sure that we extend the eligibility of the period for overseas voters to six years for citizens and four years for permanent residents this is a temporary measure for the 2023 general election.This is a bill that looks at our current rules and updates those to make sure we are constantly examining how our transparency works and to give greater faith to those people who turn up to vote on the day that we have a system that's fair and transparent. We're also doing a bunch of wider work in terms of electoral reform. And it's important to touch on that because it relates to some of these changes. Alongside these amendments we're also improving the Māori electoral option and we introduced that bill to the House last month and it's currently at the Justice Committee.In October last year the Government announced an independent review of electoral law to ensure the rules remain fit for purpose and also meet the needs for the next generation of voters. We've established a bipartisan independent panel of experts to undertake this review and I look forward to seeing what they report back on and also what comes out of that review. As part of this work the panel will consider our electoral finance framework far more broadly than what this bill does; and along with this whether there should be permanent changes to our overseas voting eligibility.This is a good bill and I'm proud to stand by it to see these changes take place. I hope it not only increases the transparency within our democratic system but encourages more voters than ever to vote in the next general election. I commend it to the House.