SpeechHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare; thank you. The Green Party is very pleased to be supporting the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill. When the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill was passed last year that was a major step forward for Māori representation in local government and in recognising the Crown-Māori relationship at a local level. It was that law change that the Green Party had sought to do through a member's bill in the name of Marama Davidson and we were delighted when the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and the Labour Government picked it up. Previously that requirement that councils had to run a community poll if they wanted to establish a Māori ward but they didn't have to run such a poll if they were establishing a general ward was hugely discriminatory and there was a lot of public support for removal of this double standard.So that law change has given councils a chance to decide that they will have Māori wards at the local elections without having to run that poll. It's providing one more tool to provide space for Māori around the council decision-making table. So of course Rotorua District Council has sought to make the most of that opportunity to ensure that their communities are fully represented. But the provisions in the Local Electoral Act have caused problems. So this bill sponsored by Tāmati Coffey this local bill is an effort to remedy those problems. And we know that the Hon Nanaia Mahuta is working on more widespread changes to deal with these issues but they won't be ready in time for this election.So the Rotorua District Council as councils are required to do every six years set out to review its representation arrangements last year and it was doing that in the way that the Local Electoral Act required. I'd just like to do a shout-out to the Rotorua Daily Post and the journalist Felix Desmarais there because of the very matter of fact and helpful articles that the Rotorua Daily Post has been providing about the whole representation review—the processes the requirements of the law and just what has happened. And I think that really shows the benefits of the funding that the Government has provided to media for reporting on local democracy issues—it allows a lot more coverage than might otherwise have happened.As the Rotorua Daily Post noted this bill has been on a long journey. There was first of all the governance model that the council first proposed. There is what it now prefers. There's the interim model that it agreed to last November when it got advice from the Local Government Commission that its preferred model was inconsistent with the Local Electoral Act. And then there is what is contained in this bill.So the council wants a representation arrangement that the Local Electoral Act doesn't currently provide for. It wants a representation arrangement which provides greater representation and a greater say and greater space at that council table for Māori. At the moment the council has 10 councillors and a mayor and as others have noted this bill will provide for one mayor elected at large one Māori ward with three councillor seats one general ward with three councillor seats and four seats where councillors are elected at large.This is the preferred model that Rotorua Lakes Council has chosen because it means that those on the Māori roll are electing the same number of councillors as are being elected by those on the general roll—three in the ward and four at large. But this option is inconsistent with the formula in the Schedule to the Local Electoral Act because that formula plus the 10 percent plus or minus rule which relates to the number of voters that each councillor represents isn't complied with. The Māori electoral population in the Rotorua district is 28 percent of the total population so if the formula in the Local Electoral Act was applied that would mean that the six ward members should be split into four for a general ward and only two for the Māori ward. That would see Māori voters voting for fewer councillors than those on the general roll. So this bill in allowing for that three by three split is much more equitable will allow much stronger representation and will mean a more diverse community—and one that in the Green Party's view better recognises the diversity of Rotorua—and we are pleased to support it.