Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Thank you very much for allowing me to contribute to this first reading debate on the Electoral Amendment Bill. I am now a member of the Justice and Electoral Committee but I was not a member of the committee whose terms of reference post the 2014 election was To examine the law and administrative procedures for the conduct of Parliamentary elections in light of the 2014 general election." The select committee received 211 submissions and heard from 32 submitters.I think critical to any analysis actually should be what the Electoral Commission recommended in terms of its election report. It really highlighted two critical priorities. The first was promoting voter participation—and that is within the context of a turnout of 72.1 percent in 2014 which actually built on the 2011 turnout of 69.6 percent. I think that really was a shock for the Electoral Commission actually that voter turnout was under 70 percent and that continues to be one of the priorities that it has highlighted. It has also highlighted finding ways to meet the changing needs and expectations of voters. Another critical finding from the Electoral Commission was that the number of people who voted early in 2014 was 29.3 percent but in 2011 it was 14.7 percent. So in fact we had a doubling of the number of people who chose to vote early.Within those two areas I think what the select committee has tried to do was not only use the submissions from the people who came to our inquiry but also to try to complement and implement the Electoral Commission's findings and recommendations. That really comes from its mandate which is outlined in the Electoral Act in section 4C(a) which is "facilitates participation in parliamentary democracy;". I actually think that should be at the forefront of our minds as a select committee when we debate the merits of this piece of legislation and any proposed amendments. From my perspective and I think the perspective of a number of us who have contributed today—we are fully aware of the declining voter participation rates and we do want to do something about changing those statistics.One of the other interesting statistics that I want to read into the Hansard today is that we also have a problem about enrolment. In 2005 94 percent of eligible voters were enrolled but in 2014 that had dropped to 90.3 percent. So there has been a steady decline in enrolment figures. So not only do we have declining enrolment but we have had up until the 2014 election declining voter turnout or participation rates. I think that it is incumbent on us to ensure that the next generation of voters actually are fully engaged in the system.What the Electoral Commission has been able to tell us is that we seem to have particular issues with a couple of cohorts of people: those who are under 50 and also those who are under 34. I am not too sure about why it is those particular age groups but I am sure that there will be submissions to the select committee that will outline those issues. We have also got issues about Māori on the general roll compared with voter participation rates of non-Māori on the general roll. The other interesting statistic—and my colleague Adrian Rurawhe will be interested in this—is that Māori on the Māori roll vote less than Māori on the general roll. We also have quite a few issues in the Pacific and Asian communities generally.So I think that there are a number of challenges ahead of us and again I think if we go back to one of the central purposes of our Electoral Act—it is to make sure that all eligible New Zealanders are enrolled in the system and they have their say. That is fundamental to democracy. That is fundamental to how our system works. It is certainly fundamental to determining who gets to occupy certain roles within this institution. So I look forward to having some really robust discussions at the select committee and actually as a committee enhancing what I think is a good piece of legislation. Where we have got to now is that we do not disagree with anything that is on the table but I think many of us have Supplementary Order Papers that probably have already been drafted given that I know how diligent my colleague Jacinda Ardern is and are ready to go to enhance this piece of legislation.In terms of the decline in voter participation there were some interesting comments about civics education and also about whether we should change the age at which young citizens should be able to vote. Obviously our voting age is 18 and I am sure we are going to get submissions that say we should allow 16-year-olds to vote. I was actually really interested in my colleague Chris Hipkins' comments as our spokesperson for education. Obviously we would hope that all 16-year-olds are at school and so they are contained within a system that can actually encourage and ensure—[Interruption] yes—that they are enrolled and they actually do vote because possibly we could set up booths at school. So if the biggest challenge going forward is that young people are not engaging in the system I think there is some merit in either a Supplementary Order Paper already—based on that presumption—or somebody making a submission to that effect and providing the rationale to us as a committee for us to make a determination that it has merit. I am really not going to speak for much longer. We obviously support this piece of legislation and I look forward to hearing submissions. I commend the bill to the House. Thank you."