Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. Here we are; we're in the final week of this Parliament sitting in this Chamber. We're about to go to the election. We've got a Government that's been in power for six years and in the final week what are they doing? They're worried about lowering the voting age in local body elections so that tells you what you need to know about the headspace of this Government and where its priorities lie.We don't agree with this bill and we won't be supporting it—not because we've got anything against 16- and 17-year-olds. We love 16- and 17-year-olds and we want them to thrive and do the best but ultimately we have an 18-year-old voting age and we have for a very long time now and the argument for changing it is based on some very weak foundations. One is that we've had this declaration of inconsistency from the Supreme Court which we've just debated and the Supreme Court said that the voting age at 18 breached the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act in relation to discriminating against 16- and 17-year-olds and that that discrimination had not been justified.Now most people looking at that will say Oh it's an unjustified breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act—isn't that a terrible thing?" But that's not exactly what they meant. What they meant is that it simply had not been justified because the Crown on the side of the Government when it was arguing the case did not make the case. The Crown simply said "Actually we don't think it's anything for the courts to decide. Parliament decides the voting age and we're not going to argue that point." So the Supreme Court didn't say that the voting age of 18 couldn't be justified; it simply said that it hadn't been justified by the Government of the day. Now we firmly believe it could be justified and it is justified simply by the fact that the line has to be drawn somewhere and the line of 16-year-olds' rights and 18-year-olds' rights and 20yearolds' rights varies across the spectrum. It's made quite explicit in this bill actually because when we come to the local council voting rules where they want to reduce the voting age to 16 they also exclude voting on local alcohol bills because the alcohol age is 18 and that is discriminating against 16- and 17-year-olds not being able to buy alcohol but we do that because Parliament and society as a whole for a very long time has decided that's the appropriate age. So there are lines to be drawn. You can argue about it. There will be some 16-year-olds who will be fantastically interested in politics and fully equipped. I have no criticisms of the ability of some 16-year-olds to vote but you've got to draw the line somewhere and that's for Parliament to decide and that's perfectly appropriate. So if we've got a voting age of 18 for general elections I can't see any logic in changing the voting age for local elections because as the Minister himself has pointed out that very much complicates the system and creates a vast and expensive apparatus being developed specifically for local elections.One of the arguments that's sort of put forward is that at local elections we've got a problem with not enough people turning out to vote and if we get a few 16- and 17-year-old voters we might get a few more people voting. Well I think that's a very long bow and I have a very simple view in terms of voter turnout: it is the job of candidates to persuade people to come out and vote for them—nobody else. That's right—if you can't get anybody to come out and vote for you it's not anybody else's fault but your own. So if you're standing for Parliament that's what you've got to do. You've got to get out and persuade people to vote and if you're standing for a local council or a local board it's your job to get out there and persuade people to vote for you—that's your job. So changing the voting age is not going to fix it in particular.My second objection to all this is around the Government's priorities and what it says of the Government's priorities because this is broadly in the justice space. It also integrates with the local government space. And the point I've been making is: one week the final week of Parliament when in the broader justice sector we've got real problems with violent crime. We've got real problems with youth crime and the ram-raiders running amok up and down the country terrorising the retail sector and being of great concern to people.Thirdly you've got very long delays to justice wherever you look and people's lives have been on hold for years. There are real massive challenges and instead of focusing on that effectively this Government wants to have all these officials working away on the complicated arrangements in electoral law and spending the next few months trying to figure out how to effectively reduce the voting age and hearing the thousands of submissions. The reality is that every Government has to work out what its priorities are because you cannot do everything and so you've got to work out what your priorities are. If this is their priority what I would say to you is that they've got their priorities wrong. They need to be focused on the things that people really worry about. I'm a very hard-working candidate in Epsom at the moment and I go out doorknocking all the time and when I'm at those doors and I knock there are two things that people raise time and time again. They say "We're worried about the cost of living and we're worried about the law and order." I've never knocked on any door where anyone says "The number one issue for me is that we've got to reduce the voting age to 16." I haven't heard it—I haven't heard it.So that's what we need to be focused on and this is a Government that has always had very strange priorities like I say in the justice sector around electoral law. It's on violent crime it's on youth crime it's around extending the courts and if you want to get into electoral law the one useful thing the Government could do is repeal its own Act which moved away from equal voting rights. If you're worried about human rights and you're worried about the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act removing the basic right of New Zealanders to have equal voting rights and an equal say in who governs them has been taken away in the Canterbury Regional Council bill and they should be repealing that if they're concerned about voting rights not this bill.So this is a muddled and confused Government when it comes to its priorities and that is why I think we're finding that people are hanging up the hook on this Government and waiting with bated breath over the next few weeks for a change because they want a Government that is focused on the things that really concern the community. What really concerns the community in the justice and the electoral sector is dealing more effectively with the real serious violent crime that we see in our community dealing effectively with the ram-raiders and the youth crime and dealing effectively with the long delays to justice that we're seeing. These are very difficult problems and we should have our officials over in justice and in the Electoral Commission and all those people focused on those issues. The Electoral Commission rather should be focused on ensuring that we have equal voting rights in this country not on this issue that they have given to them today.So on that basis now my final words will be to the Make It 16 group that started this off. Yep they'll be looking and saying "Well this guy's not agreeing with us. Well that's no good." That's unfortunately how politics works; you don't win every argument. Good luck to them for the efforts that they've made and good luck to them for the campaigning and keep trying and no criticism whatsoever—go for it. Go for gold. You've raised some very good arguments it's just that we think when we're dealing with the priorities of New Zealand as we face them today that this is not the number one issue. Actually most New Zealanders if you ask them are comfortable with the voting age that we've have had for a long time which is 18. On that basis Madam Speaker we will be voting against this bill."