Katene Rahui: Electoral Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Katene Rahui: Electoral Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1320] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 I stand to speak on behalf of the Maori Party fuelled by the burning passion that comes from the rapid journey from selection to election as a member of Parliament. In the 84 working days between my selection as the Maori Party candidate for Te Tai Tonga and election day I became intimately aware of the intricacies and anomalies of the Electoral Finance Act 2007. As part of the latest intake to Parliament—the class of 2008—the machinations of electoral finance law became a vital component of my learning about the art of political campaigning. Suddenly my every waking moment was spent in appointing a financial agent. The Electoral Commission became the source of authority for every question that came up in my campaign and as a practising lawyer I agreed with its concerns that parts of this Act were almost impossible to interpret. Yet ironically the original 2007 Act was intended to promote public and political confidence in the administration of elections and to encourage participation in parliamentary democracy. 
It is hard to encourage confidence in an Act that even the Electoral Commission struggled with. These issues of accountability transparency and integrity are of paramount importance to iwi Maori. The pursuit of tikanga such as accountability transparency and integrity give expression to kaupapa such as rangatiratanga or chieftainship and kaitiakitanga—the sustainable protection of taonga. We have supported donation disclosure in the electoral finance regime therefore as a transparent act and we are pleased that the existing provisions of the Act relating to the donations of political parties and constituency candidates will be retained in this new interim regime. 
It is all about walking the talk. It is about fully participating in a democracy and making a commitment to honourable behaviour. In every aspect of our lives we consider that maintaining integrity and transparency is second nature. It is about being upfront being honest and giving substance to the korero. Pena ki te tangihanga ka tae a-tinana tatou te Maori ki te marae kia kitea te tuturu o te whanaungatanga ki te tupapaku. Like that which we do in tangihanga we as Maori will always attend the marae in person to show our respect our support and our connection to the deceased. We do so to make real our expression of sympathy and to give physical form to the emotions we seek to convey. 
It is because we hold these values in such high regard that the Maori Party welcomed the provisions within the Electoral Finance Act 2007 that were established to provide greater accountability on the part of candidates parties and others engaged in electoral activities in order to minimise the perception of corruption. We have all lived through the tales of political parties that seek out dubious trusts or lawyers’ accounts to obscure the actual identity of donors. We welcome therefore the decision to retain the rules around donations including anonymous donations and overseas donations. Although we support the retention of the provisions that relate to donations and penalties we believe that the current rules could be simpler and more transparent. It is in this regard that the Maori Party is pleased to support this bill and the interim regime as merely the first stage of the reform of electoral finance law. 
That the law needs reforming is without a scrap of doubt. The opportunity to reframe a replacement law from all reports appears to have been unanimously supported across the House. That is a very solid foundation from which to move forward. The Maori Party is a firm believer in the concept of kotahitanga wherein all people are encouraged to make a contribution to have their opinions heard and to then reach a consensus together. 
The politics around electioneering and the performance of political parties in an election campaign are issues with which New Zealanders have a particular fascination every 3 years. As a relatively new party in this Parliament the Maori Party has always been extremely interested in inspiring participation in the operations of our democracy. We believe that the exercise of democratic participation is of such crucial importance to a healthy nation that discussing improvements in the performance of the system is a worthwhile activity for all citizens. We think that it is vital that people own electoral participation in a democracy. They must be intimately involved in guiding Parliament as to how this can operate. This is an aspect that the Public Service Association has been particularly vocal about with its national secretary calling for an electoral process that is robust fair and transparent. No Parliament should ever be so arrogant as to make changes to the nature of democracy without consulting the people first. 
So we are pleased that an extensive timetable is proposed for the second stage of the reform including the release of a discussion document on electoral finance a minimum period of at least 6 months for the bill to be at the select committee and a commitment that consultation with all parliamentary parties will take place at every stage of the reform process. Such commitment to obtaining buy-in is a very clear way to invest in the type of broad-based support that is required. We are adamant that electoral finance laws must not be designed and determined by politicians and parties in isolation from the people. 
 We know that the levels of political participation and engagement are consistently lower in Maori electorates than in general electorates. In the last election the actual turnout in the Maori electorates at 62 percent was disappointingly low compared with the figure of 80 percent in the general seats. What is more the Maori electorate with the highest turnout Waiariki with a turnout of 64.54 percent was still considerably lower than the general electorate with the lowest turnout—Manukau East with 71.55 percent. In the last election the Maori roll turnout was the lowest in any election since 1981 apart from 2002 when it was just 57 percent. 
Why is the issue of turnout so important? It is because political engagement is vital in the successful running of a diverse and representative democracy. In 2008 2.38 million New Zealanders elected 122 people to represent their views and interests. Quite frankly if there were significant numbers of other New Zealanders—specifically Maori—turning out to vote then we could not pretend to be a representative Parliament or as some might like to think a microcosm of society itself. 
These are complex issues and it is because of this issue being so important that the Maori Party negotiated and achieved a commitment in its confidence and supply agreement with National to establish a group to consider constitutional issues including Maori representation. This group will be established by no later than early 2010 and it is a key mechanism by which we think some of the issues around Maori involvement in democratic participation will be addressed. But if we could sound one clear word of warning in respect of the second stage of electoral reform it would be that the Government should think very carefully about how to excite Maori participation in any discussion around the adequacy of electoral administration policy. 
We support the retention of donation disclosure and the regulations around the penalties. We are pleased that the administration of electoral legislation remains with the party secretary or the candidate rather than appointing an additional layer by electing a financial agent. But most of all we are so pleased that the inordinate number of rules and regulations is to be managed. We are pleased that the ridiculous attention to the meticulous is to be removed and we are hopeful that this will open up the doors to a far wider involvement of all New Zealanders in the electoral system. High on the list of the positives has to be the fact that the bill returns us to the point where all election expenditure is to be regulated in the 3-month period through to polling day. 
Finally we signal our readiness to be fully involved in subsequent processes to engage in further electoral finance reform in order to ensure that a far more efficient and responsive electoral system is in place in 2011. We will support this bill.