Prime Willow-JeanWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour—Northland): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe otirā tēnā tātou katoa. Te pānuitanga tuatoru o te Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Amendment Bill. Tuatahi māku e mihi kau ana ki a koe e te Minita nāu i ārahi tēnei pire i roto i te Whare i tēnei ahiahi nō reira mihi kau ana ki a koe otirā ki ngā mema o taku komiti o te Komiti Justice tēnā rā tātou katoa.[Greetings one and all—the third reading of the Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Amendment Bill. Firstly I'd like to acknowledge the Minister you who has guided this bill in the House this afternoon thank you and also to the members of my committee the Justice Committee thank you one and all.]I just want to take a brief opportunity to talk to a couple of points in this third reading speech particularly in light of some of the speeches that have been made this afternoon. First and foremost I just want to say that the Māori seats to me are a taonga to our Parliament here in Aotearoa that they have long existed and that people with great mana have held those seats and represented us. While I stand here as the MP for Northland I am actually on the Māori electoral roll and my MP is Kelvin Davis. I fundamentally believe in our Māori seats and that is why I am on the Māori roll even though I stand and represent in the general. Such is the great thing about my whakapapa being bicultural and being bilingual. I am very proud of that fact.I do though agree with what everybody has said in the Whare tonight. The fact that Māori have not been able to switch rolls for some five to six years based on a census cycle. Then the census gets delayed and points have been made around for example Māori getting a four-month window to do that and being lucky if they got the letter with the little orange guy on it and actually did something about it in that short time frame—maybe even having to set their Google alerts and then missing that opportunity for another four five or six years—was just so unfair. So I'm really proud that across the House we have been able address that fundamental issue. While there are a few bits in there that some you know strongly agree with and disagree with in terms of the compromised position that we've reached I do want to acknowledge the Minister the Hon Kiritapu Allan for leading that and everybody for finding something that this Parliament can support and reach that threshold.The one that I did want to talk to—based on my own personal experience—if I may is the provision around changing or not being able to change around by-elections. So in 2015 I found myself in the situation of being in a by-election. I had just voted in the general election my MP that I voted for was successful Kelvin Davis was in Parliament and I then became the candidate again for the Northland seat—and this was the Northland by-election. Should I be able to change rolls and then vote for myself and then everybody in my whānau do the same? And I would argue that there would have been thousands of Ngapuhi that would have done that if they were given that opportunity. So I understand that there is a bit of a problem there. I do think that it is fair that if you have just participated in a general election and you have selected your person with your one vote that it would be I think a perverse outcome to then get a second opportunity in a by-election. That is quite opportunistic. And I mean I'm a strategist. I come from Ngapuhi. I can see why something like that would be promoted. So I do want to say that I do actually genuinely support that amendment that has been made there because I do think it does undermine our one person one vote democracy that we have in Aotearoa. So that therefore would destroy any arguments that this is an unfair system. Māori should be able to switch rolls they shouldn't have to wait five to six years to do it but I do agree with that one particular limitation that we've put on it. Based on my own personal experience I've seen what could very well have happened in our by-election should that have been allowed to occur. I commend the bill to the House.