Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National): Thank you Madam Chair. I'm very disappointed in the language used by the Minister there saying that is a discriminatory poll. The fact is it gives everybody the vote and if people in a community decide to vote one way that is not discriminatory; that is the exercise of democracy. The Treaty of Waitangi the whole purpose is to give everybody a vote; everybody is treated equal. That is the purpose of this whole institution that we are in. That is the fundamental part of what was signed between the two parties to the Treaty. It was to make sure that every vote counted that we had democracy and that nobody could tell somebody else what to do—that the country the elected people as a group actually decide the laws of this land that they are not decided by some King or Queen in England; they're decided by the people of New Zealand.Now how can that be discriminatory? That's the fundamental rationale of this country. That is what we are based on and the Minister says that having an open vote where everybody has a chance to make their decision and everybody has the ability to tick a box yes" or "no" is discriminatory! How can that be discriminatory? It is what we fundamentally believe in. The only discrimination is actually in this clause now because it stops the ability of a council having actually a binding referendum on this issue. It can have a binding referendum on any issue it wants to it can have an unbinding referendum on any issue but it cannot have a binding referendum on Māori seats now. So that is the discriminatory provision—the actual provision we are seeing in front of us here today. There is nothing discriminatory in every individual in every council having an individual vote and expressing their view. That is not discriminatory. That is called freedom. That is called the essence of this Parliament and this country. That is called the essence of the Treaty of Waitangi. So to take away that by putting a discriminatory bill into our political system now actually is the opposite of what this country stands for.We may think that's fine now and we may think "Oh who cares in 50 years 100 years' time?" but the reality is New Zealand will change. If you think New Zealand hasn't changed in the last hundred years you're dreaming and it will change in the next hundred years and the people in a hundred years' time need to know that they have exactly the same rights as everybody else. To take that away from them to make them a second-class citizen because their vote doesn't count they can have a referendum but it doesn't count—the elected representatives are actually the ones whose vote counts. Under this rule the elected 12 councillors in Hamilton for example are the only ones that count because they're the ones that decide if they're going to have a referendum and they decide if it's binding or not. And they don't even have to follow the results. So those are the only 12 people that actually decide if everybody in the community that I live in has a say and that's not what I'm here for. I'm not in this Parliament to do that. I'm here to represent every voice in that community whether they're National Labour Green or whatever. And I want to make sure they've all got a chance to have their say.We can fight around the politics of what we do in this room and we can make different choices around what we believe is right or wrong to get to the end goals for New Zealand but we never ever fundamentally take away the innocence and the love that comes from having your own vote. And we are doing that in this bill here today. We're taking away the real heart of what it means to be a New Zealander and the real heart of what it actually means to have a vote. I say I don't know if I trust those 12 councillors and that mayor to get it right all the time—and I'm quite happy to say that to them because that's why we have elections. But I wish that every one of those voters in Hamilton is treated equally and if they decide they want to have a referendum and if they decide within that referendum that they want to vote against Māori seats then that could have the potential of being binding and I don't see a problem with that at all."