SpeechVANUSHI WALTERS (Labour—Upper Harbour): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. I'm a little bit disheartened by the contributions from Opposition members on this bill. I do think that when it comes to electoral reform in particular there are times when we're asked to rise to the challenge of stepping outside our own interest and protecting the integrity of electoral process.So let me start with where I think we agree. Ginny Andersen spoke earlier about the balance. She spoke repeatedly about a balance but Opposition members have also spoken about the balance. There's no intention to shift the dial totally one way or totally the other. The question is where the dial ought to sit at any given moment in time given changes to how the online space operates and given changes to trust which I'll talk about in a moment. But the appropriate place to talk about where balance sits is at select committee.And I guess what I'm perplexed with is that Opposition members have spoken about a number of items contained within this bill to which they agree. And the thing to do in those cases is to refer the bill to select committee so that we can have that appropriate discussion at select committee. If no other bill requires it it is a bill about our electoral process which requires that due process. There's a saying that goes Democracy is the most faith-fuelled activity there is." And for me if you substitute the word "trust" for the word "faith" I believe that's true: trust is the currency of the modern world and while it can't be denied that our institutions like Parliament are the bricks the mortar it's really that sense of trust that people have in those systems. Trust in the space of democracy and politics is about protecting transparency to demonstrate that there's a fair competition of ideas.And again we recognise that there's a need to balance. There are some circumstances where very validly we're protecting both the right of political expression—and I absolutely agree that people should be able to contribute not just their volunteerism but also their finances to support causes that they believe in but it is a balance. And where there is no public interest in sharing that information it shouldn't be shared. It's a balance. We need to discuss it; we need to give it robust intention.So what's the need? What is the state of political trust in New Zealand? Well we know internationally that we've had reports from the Edelman Trust Barometer that haven't shown a retreat in trust but they've certainly seen a decrease in political trust. And even Opposition members have referred to the survey undertaken by Victoria University which showed that almost 70 percent of respondents indicated they didn't have a reasonable amount of trust in party funding. This was specific research along with the Ministry of Justice research where the respondents asked for greater transparency. It is a balance it is a balance—it is a balance. The Opposition members acknowledge this so they should acknowledge that where that discussion needs to happen is at select committee.I'm not going to speak about the detail of the bill. I believe we will have time to do that at select committee. And also those provisions were covered by Ginny Andersen but it includes lowering the thresholds in terms of when reporting obligations apply. They are not lowered to zero. Again this is demonstrative of it being a balance. But the lowering of those thresholds is not the totality of the bill; Opposition members have acknowledged that. There are other things that are in this bill that need to be acted on. I hope Opposition members acknowledge that there are New Zealanders who are citizens who are residents who would or may if this bill does not proceed lose the opportunity to vote in the next elections because of COVID travel-related circumstances that are happening in today's world. I hope the Opposition members would acknowledge that there is utility in legislative certainty around when an election period applies as well.The Opposition members agree with many points in this bill; they have said so—they have said so this afternoon. It is time to take it to select committee so that we can demonstrate our whole of Parliament effort to demonstrate integrity in this space. I commend this bill to the House."