Little AndrewHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Justice): Thank you Mr Chair. I just take the opportunity to respond to some of the comments that have been raised and perhaps just in response to the member who has just resumed his seat Simeon Brown. He is simply plainly incorrect that on voting days you know people can't campaign and knock on doors. They do throughout the entire advanced voting period which is a period of two weeks leading up to election day. The member is simply wrong about that. But there's another member who is wrong about a lot of things too. So the Hon Dr Nick Smith said a number of things. For example he said that under the previous Government nine bills and electoral law changes—all of them done by consensus with an agreement. That is simply incorrect. It's simply not true. So they changed the law to take away the right of those who have been sentenced to prison for less than three years. They took that away. That was a Government bill. Every Government member voted for it. It was approved by the Government caucus and they rammed it through Parliament. No consensus. No consensus. We just have to tell the truth in this House—I think it's very important—because here's another thing too. He said that the first time that he found out about this bill and what we were intending to do was when members of the Justice Committee questioned officials at the select committee. Again not true. I wrote to the select committee on 4 December 2018 following the report of the Electoral Commission which made a number of what it described as non-controversial suggestions and I said the Government would pick those up. I did that because the committee was way behind in its timetable for its inquiry into the general election and as it turns out it was another full year before that committee even reported on its inquiry. And it was important for these changes that are important—they are about promoting democracy in this great country of ours—and that's why we're doing this. And I'm sorry that members in the Opposition are so tardy and lax. They can't keep up. They don't want to help improve our democracy and will hold up inquiries. That's very unfortunate. Can I turn to very I think constructive questions raised by the member Chris Penk. He wondered why in clause 6 the proposed changes to section 88 distinguish between those in New Zealand and those outside New Zealand and this comes through in a number of aspects. Can I refer the member to the very first operative clause in the bill which is clause 4 and section 60. This is about who may vote and it distinguishes in new section 60(g) any person present in New Zealand—(i) who is qualified to be registered as an elector of the district; and (ii) applies on polling day for registration". So after section 60(f) a new paragraph (g) just deals with those who are entitled to vote on election day. So if you are outside the country because the whole notion of election day enrolment is that you've got to both apply and cast your vote and have that counted it is too problematic for someone outside the country to try to do that. So the benefit of election day enrolment and voting is confined to those who are in the country and who can turn up to an election. I think that answers his other question about "present in New Zealand" and what have you.Now there was another question I think the member raised in relation to clause 5 and the form that's used and approved in advance. It follows that in order for a form to be used it has to be approved and it's typically promulgated by Order in Council hence the approval. And so the member need not lie awake at night worrying whether the forms that are going to be used—Hon Member: I have been.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I'm sure the member—I can see it on his face but he can rest assured and tell his constituents that all the forms that will be used in the 2020 election will be fully approved endorsed by Order in Council and every member perhaps bar one from Nelson will be very happy with the approach that we take. I thank the member the Hon Tim Macindoe for his adumbration of those parts of the bill that he finds agreeable and indeed his colleagues find agreeable. And again I just on the grounds that I've already outlined challenge his concerns about process in relation to the Electoral Commission's advice about same-day enrolment and voting. Their advice to me was very clear. They were agreeable to the idea. Their preference would be to implement it for 2023. They consider themselves under the previous Government to have been resource constrained and all these other things. We've worked with them to deal with their resource issues. But when I said "Could however it be implemented for 2020?" they said yes it could. And let's get the law on and let's do that so there's that.In relation to the extra 10 days just to be very clear for those who are watching on from home about the extra 10 days. We already have a period by which the writs have to be returned which is I think 50 days. So from the time of the polling polling day itself and the time when the writs are returned confirming the final result it's 50 days so that is to be extended by 10 days to 60 days. The last time the time available for the Electoral Commission to ensure all the counting was done and was accurate was pushed out was in the 1950s. It was under Sid Holland; it was a National Government at the time. They pushed it out by another 10 days. Because the population's getting bigger and more people are voting we have to have more time to count these votes to get it accurate and the same is happening now. So there is nothing unusual about this. The election night interim result will still happen. We will all go to bed on election night—with the odd exception of a few elections—knowing largely with a reasonable degree of confidence about who either is going to form the Government or could form a Government. And once the final results are through—Hon Tim Macindoe: 1993 1996.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: There are exceptions and Mr Macindoe does highlight the odd exception. But by and large our robust democracy has survived these little breakouts.I've just been advised that my reference to the concerns raised by Chris Penk about forms in clause 5 they are not approved by Order in Council they're approved by the Electoral Commission so let's not undermine their role. But the Electoral Commission—because they are thorough and good at their job and very professional and we are pleased to have the Electoral Commission that we do—will do a very good job with those forms.In terms of the points raised by Simeon Brown and again he's expressed concern about the 10 days extra and again I think Mr Brown need not fret. There's nothing unusual about this. No one is going to lose their jobs Earth will continue to spin on its axis during this extra 10-day period and life will carry on. It is interesting to observe in Belgium how they did not have a confirmed Government for I think 18 months—it might've been two years—and commerce carried on people's lives carried on the kids played sport the adults played sport and life was generally good; that will continue to happen during those 10 days. I give that cast-iron guarantee to this House that ordinary life will continue for all citizens during that 10-day period and no one need fret about it.This in the end is the constant and eternal journey we are all on to perfect our imperfect democracy. We think we're close to perfection but there's more that we can do. These are just little extra steps so that we can just slightly perfect what we've got now. It would be good after the next election when the Justice Committee does its next inquiry for it perhaps to do it a little more speedily and then we can kind of bring on these changes. Those changes and doing them in a timely way is important for the Electoral Commission because they need time to prepare make the changes organise themselves and bid for extra resources where that is needed so that they can continue to conduct elections in the very expert and professional way that they do.So on that note I hope I've answered the members' sensible questions."