Ghahraman GolrizGOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker and what a pleasure to follow my friend and fellow AGGS (Auckland Girls' Grammar School) girl the Hon Kiri Allan the new Minister of Justice especially because today I would like to speak about democracy and the work that we will do together to strengthen New Zealand's democracy.We here in Aotearoa have a lot of be proud of with our democracy: we were the first nation to give women the vote; we have a mixed-member proportional Parliament that is diverse and truly representative of the vote out there. But for decades Governments and politicians have failed to make the type of electoral changes that we know we need for a truly modern strong inclusive and equal democracy. They've known what these changes were that we needed because independent institutions like our Electoral Commission our Justice Committee our Supreme Court the Court of Appeal the Waitangi Tribunal and the public after round and round of consultation have told them. These are the types of changes that are reflected in my Greens' Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill. It's about taking party politics out of electoral reform and listening to the public to the experts and to the independent bodies without the stake that we have as politicians in maintaining the status quo.Communities around New Zealand are locked out of our democracy right now because of arbitrary rules that we can change. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds have a right in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act to vote. They can leave school they can have sex they can work full-time they pay taxes but they can't vote. We deny them that one vote—the say in our democracy that impacts their lives for the longest—even though they've proven to us again and again that they are engaged and passionate about the issues that affect their lives about the climate crisis about mental health about public transport.Overseas New Zealanders can't vote in the next general election unless they've been back here in the last three years. It's been a bit hard in the last three years! It's always hard for students for families with small kids overseas to get back in that tiny arbitrary time. It's time to change that.People in our overcrowded prisons were disenfranchised by a bare majority Parliament under the National Party Government and they haven't been fully restored to that right. We know that our justice system is prejudiced. We know that it targets Māori the poor and people with mental health challenges the most and then we cut them off from democracy itself. The Supreme Court and the Waitangi Tribunal have told us that that's wrong that that degrades human rights in Aotearoa.But let's talk about perhaps the biggest elephant in the room when it comes to democracy: money—secret money. There is in New Zealand no limit on political donations that any politician or party can receive. That's shocking to me. That breeds the kind of American-style democracy—so-called democracy—where the highest bidder gets to influence elections and influence policy. That seems wrong. But what's worse is that we have so few rules around transparency here in New Zealand that the public can't know who is taking a stake in our democracy when they vote. Is it big oil stopping climate action? Is it the gun lobby? Is it property investors stopping the capital gains tax rent controls and rental warrants of fitness?Earlier this week the National Party did a U-turn on its position last term when it said it would support electoral reform when it came to political donations. Of course at the time they were being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. Now they say they don't see the point of having more transparency in political donations and of course they would say that because of the $1.4 million that the National Party got from donors in 2021 71 percent was in secret. The ACT Party received 74 percent of its donations in secret. Is it one vote per person really? It's time to ensure Aotearoa has the kind of fair inclusive and truly equal democracy that we know we deserve. So I will be working with this new Minister this old AGGS girl to make that real.