Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to take a call on the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill (No 2). I just want to comment about how amusing it is that members opposite are saying is such a pleasure to be here fixing up their mess from last week a mess which they created and a mess which I remind the House they voted for in the third reading. The Green Party voted for it the Labour Party voted for it and the New Zealand First Party voted for it. Now typically at the second reading of a bill it's an opportunity to talk about what we heard at the select committee. Now how long have we had in the committee for this bill today? Zero—zero. We're rushing this through under urgency. How many submissions have the public put through? Zero. We've had no opportunity for this to go to a select committee. There's been no opportunity for the public to have a say and once again—Hon Scott Simpson: No scrutiny.SIMEON BROWN: No scrutiny—no scrutiny exactly. My good friend Scott Simpson says there's been no scrutiny of this piece of legislation. And you have to ask the question: why are we in this situation? The reason we're in this situation is because the Government in their infinite wisdom decided last week to ram this piece of legislation through to have a third reading after the committee of the whole House where the changes were made without there being any time for there to be any consideration. And here we are with a bill which seems to correct those so-called mistakes which were made by the committee of the whole House. The question has to be asked: why knowing that did the Government vote for it? Why did the Government vote for a bill which essentially made every prison manager up and down the country a criminal? Why did the Government at third reading vote for a bill which essentially makes every prison manager a criminal? That's the question. Either the Government was fully aware of what the bill did and was therefore acting irresponsibly or they just didn't understand the legislation they were putting through and therefore they were incompetent. There's two things: they were either irresponsible knowing full well what was in the piece of legislation or they didn't understand the legislation they were voting for and therefore they were acting incompetently—Hon Scott Simpson: Or both.SIMEON BROWN: Or both. And it could well be that some members knew some parts and some members knew otherwise because I was here I was watching it. Ministers were pouring down from the Beehive trying to understand what was happening—Tim van de Molen: Running around like headless chickens.SIMEON BROWN: —and running around like headless chickens; that's right Tim van de Molen. He was here watching the mess unfold. Everyone was here. Then there was a little deal done off to the side with the Green Party and the New Zealand First Party and they either knew full well what they were voting for down here in the House or they were acting irresponsibly and were acting incompetently. The reality was whatever it was it was incompetent because this Government voted for a piece of legislation which essentially made prison managers criminals by advising and assisting prisoners to enrol to vote even though they weren't qualified to do so. So one part of the piece of legislation said prisoners could only be enrolled to vote if they were sentenced to less than three years. The second part of the legislation with the Supplementary Order Paper put forward by the Green Party said: actually we're going to require Corrections to assist all prisoners that are received into the prison to enrol to vote. So it's internally inconsistent and this Government in its shambolic incompetence voted for that piece of legislation.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson): Could you move on to the current bill that we're debating now please? [Interruption] You've had four minutes—sorry can you resume your seat?SIMEON BROWN: Oh sorry Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson): It's not a good idea to respond by an argument. You've had four minutes and I'd really like you to talk about this bill rather than the bill from last week.SIMEON BROWN: I'm talking about this bill right here Madam Speaker because what this bill does—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson): It's really pushing your luck.SIMEON BROWN: —is it tries to fix what did happen last week. So this bill requires Corrections to assist prisoners received into prison to enrol to vote if they're sentenced to less than three years' imprisonment.Hon Scott Simpson: It's a patch-up job. SIMEON BROWN: So it's a bit of a patch-up. It's got three parts to it. Firstly it requires Corrections to assist prisoners received into prison to enrol to vote if they're sentenced to less than three years' imprisonment and are therefore qualified to vote. And I remind the House that the New Zealand First Party is giving prisoners who've committed serious offences the right to vote. Matt King: Really?SIMEON BROWN: It reasserts—absolutely. It reasserts the requirement on Corrections to assist prisoners sentenced to three years or more imprisonment to enrol to vote before they're released. And finally it requires the Electoral Commission to remove from the electoral roll when notified by Corrections the names of prisoners who are disqualified from enrolling to vote. Those are the three things that this bill seeks to achieve. Three simple small changes that this bill seeks to achieve but this is about giving effect to the principle in the previous piece of legislation which is prisoners serving less than three years are now entitled to vote.He's got a smirk on his face. Darroch Ball's got a smirk on his face because he thinks he's so clever. He thinks he's so clever because he thinks he's going to get away with passing two pieces of legislation over one week under urgency—two pieces of legislation under urgency—and he's going to think that the public won't be aware. He's going to think people out in voter land the very few left who vote New Zealand First—very few of them not many of them—won't see that they have had two pieces of legislation rushed through this House without the level of scrutiny which is required. I challenge the member to take a call and to explain to New Zealanders why he believes—I ask him to take a call and explain to Zealanders why he believes that it's OK that people convicted to incredibly serious offences should not only be—Chlöe Swarbrick: Because it's unconstitutional. SIMEON BROWN: I'm asking him to take a call—you can take one too Chlöe Swarbrick. Take a call and explain to New Zealanders why people who are convicted of serious violent offences such as manslaughter sexual assault abduction should be given the right to vote but also that Corrections officers should essentially be giving them additional help in their enrolment process. I ask the question again that I asked in my first reading speech: where is the support and the help given to victims of crime? Where is the support and help given to them when they are hurt by people who commit these serious offences? Where is the support given to them in this process? This bill essentially affords additional rights to people who've committed crimes but not to people who've had serious crimes committed against them. Where's the support for them? Where's the support? Where's the support for people who have had serious offences taken against them who are trying to get help to potentially have their name put on the secret electoral roll? There's none. There's no legislative assistance for them. Hon Andrew Little: The member is just plain wrong.SIMEON BROWN: There's no legislative assistance for them is there Minister? No legislative assistance is there?Hon Andrew Little: Get your facts right.SIMEON BROWN: He's getting angry again. That seems to be the modus operandi of the Minister there. So the Government parties have had a shambolic week. And now as we come to the second reading we are again reminded that these changes have not had the opportunity to have the scrutiny which they deserve. They haven't had the scrutiny which they should have. They haven't had a select committee process which we suggested it have. Nick Smith in the House last week moved that they go to a select committee to ensure that the process has taken place.Tim van de Molen: Surely the Greens will oppose it.SIMEON BROWN: And surely the Greens would oppose this sort of rushed urgency. Back in the days back in the old days they used to stand in this Parliament and stand on the principle that we shouldn't be rushing all this legislation through under urgency. Hon Scott Simpson: Bring back Catherine Delahunty.SIMEON BROWN: Here they are supporting this to go through under urgency. And I don't know whether I'd agree with you Scott Simpson when you say Bring back Catherine Delahunty."Hon Scott Simpson: Well she had principles. SIMEON BROWN: Well she might have had principles but I'm not sure whether we want more Green MPs in Parliament. I think we'll want less and we're not too far away from that being a reality because a Government that continues to pass legislation like this will face the public of New Zealand in only 80 days and they will show their displeasure."