Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): Kia ora Mr Speaker. I'm proud to be part of a Parliament that is removing a longstanding barrier to Māori participating by making it easier for Māori to change rolls between the Māori roll and the general roll.Māori seats were created way back in 1867 and it's a fascinating history to see how that changed over time. Way back then it was done as a way of enabling landholders to vote because back in those days Māori couldn't vote. That was a long-fought fight. When I look back in the past one thing struck me; it was back in 1986 when the royal commission into electoral law reform took a look at those seats. It was back then that they first stated that those Māori seats had begun to be seen as an expression of Māori status as tangata whenua in New Zealand. With that status and that right also should be the right to change freely between the two rolls and so it's good to see this bill being supported right across the House today.I'd like to really acknowledge the other parties in the House for the constructive discussions. I know that we had a good debate around how to make this work in a way that we could all achieve agreement and it's good to see that the Supplementary Order Paper that was tabled last night and agreed upon will enable that three-month buffer area to go in place before a general election as well as a by-election which is what the bill already provided for. That was for the reason that there was a view that it might be a way of either gaming or strategically voting. It's great to see that we can achieve agreement by having this voted on by all parties in the House and I'd like to acknowledge ACT the Māori Party National and the Greens for being able to do that.Look every year I have people come to my office or I encounter those people on the Māori or the general roll who in the months coming up to the general election for one reason or another wish to change rolls and they're always incredibly dismayed to learn that they cannot. It doesn't seem right that under the current rules Māori don't have the opportunity to change rolls until a really small window of time. The last Māori electoral option was in 2018 and under the current rules they wouldn't be able to change until 2024 if it wasn't for this bill being passed today. That means unless the law is changed Māori voters are locked into their choice of roll for two consecutive general elections and that doesn't seem right. So it's good to enable people I guess to remove barriers as much as possible to facilitate people voting. We know when we look at our turn-out rates some of the lower turn-out rates are in Māori seats are in rural areas and if we can encourage this information to flow right through New Zealand so that people know that they can change and if they wish to they have the right to feel connected to whichever seat in whichever way they choose to do so—because that's part of democracy in New Zealand.I'd like to also note that this bill does fit with a wider plan that we have in place. It's part of our 2020 manifesto commitment to continue to protect the integrity of New Zealanders' voting rights access to the polls—including reviewing as has already been mentioned today those financing rules which we are also doing. It's part of the two-track process that we're doing. There are some changes coming into force before this election but also a wider review of how our electoral system is working whether our voting age is right how those people overseas are being included how we fund political parties the length of our parliamentary term the changes to the party vote threshold and also the ratio of electorate seats to list seats. These are all critical issues to New Zealand's democracy that are in a longer trajectory that we need to look at closely as we change and continue to evolve.I'd like to conclude by saying that I'm really proud to have chaired the Justice Committee to have heard all these submissions to have worked alongside the Minister the Hon Kiritapu Allan some excellent officials colleagues from across the House to make New Zealand's democracy stronger and to enable people to vote as much as they possibly can. I commend this bill to the House.