Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. The National Party at the first reading did not support this legislation. We weren't opposed to the idea of having greater flexibility around switching between rolls but we were concerned about the way that it had been put together—that the bill as introduced included an exclusion around by-election periods to stop what the Minister of Justice referred to as tactical roll switching" switching between the general roll and the Māori roll or vice versa in order to vote in a by-election. And the point that we made during the select committee process was that that same logic applied when it comes to general elections and you'd have a situation where one group of New Zealanders would have an opportunity at each given election to choose which roll was the most likely to have the most effect and switch during the election period to do that which we didn't think was appropriate. So we argued for a three-month exclusion around that.We've been in conversations with the Minister around this and the Minister herself in the speech referred to the fact that this bill will require 75 percent of Parliament to support it and so I think the Government has been more willing than usual to listen to our concerns. It's our understanding that at the next stage of the committee of the whole House the Government intends to bring in a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) allowing for that exclusion around the general election time and around local body election time. So we're signalling here at the second meeting that if indeed that is the case then we will on this side support the bill. So that would be a rare occasion where there has been a willingness on the side of the Government to listen to our concerns. And so we're looking forward to that stage and we will in the spirit of bipartisanship and good faith support it at this stage as well in anticipation of the amendments outlined by the Minister. Because we all want to ensure that New Zealanders engage in the electoral process but we also want to ensure that people support the process and are treated in the same way.So if you have that exclusion around the hurly burly of the election period and you think of the example if you're in a particular general ward which is looking very close it might make sense to switch between rolls to vote in the last month in that electorate or vice versa. And the Māori electorate if that is looking very close—you know we didn't think it's appropriate to be able to switch between those rolls in that three-month period leading up to an election. So with that excluded then it does provide the opportunity for people to be able to move between the rolls a bit more freely than once every five years or four to six years as is currently implied.Now the Minister in her speech did refer to the desirability of broad support for electoral law changes and I suppose the only point I'd make in that regard is that unfortunately the Minister and the Government has been inconsistent on that matter because there are other electoral bills before the House which the National Party opposes stridently particularly around electoral financing and reducing thresholds that we feel is skewing the system in favour of some parties and against other parties. We've made that very clear and the Government hasn't listened in that case and are prepared to push things through in advance of an independent broader reconsideration of electoral laws that is supposed to be carrying on. So that's supposed to be considering New Zealand's electoral laws and reporting after the election. But in the meantime the Government is pushing ahead with some rapid changes that will change the electoral financing bills. And the issue there of course is fundamentally when you strip it all away do you want people to voluntarily fund political parties or do you want the taxpayer to fund political parties? We believe firmly in people voluntarily funding political parties rather than the taxpayer being forced to do it and I think most New Zealanders agree with that proposition.So on that issue unfortunately there hasn't been an attempt to bring bipartisanship across the House and we lament that. We do suggest that the Government looks into itself and reflects on what they've done here today and what we've agreed to here today in terms of agreeing to legislation that we had concerns about. We raised our significant concerns with the Government—the Government has responded to them to a degree and we've been prepared on that basis to make the change. So we hope that this will give many people across the country the opportunity to choose between the rolls.I suppose the only point I'd make in finishing is the great importance of maintaining trust and confidence in our electoral system. We look around the world and electoral processes are being challenged in many places. One of the great strengths of this country is the high degree of confidence that New Zealanders have in the way that the electoral system works. But we should never take that for granted and we should be eternally vigilant in defending that defending the robustness of our processes. The best way to do that is to have a degree of broad support across the House for changes that are made. We've observed that in the breach sadly when it comes to some elements of that and I lament that. So I encourage the Minister Kiritapu Allan when she considers any further changes in this area that she adopts that broad approach when considering significant change. Thank you Madam Speaker.On the basis of the undertakings given to us to bring in SOPs amending the bill that we have before us right now National will be supporting this legislation further on."