Beaumont Carol: Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Beaumont Carol: Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
[Volume:674;Page:19984] 
CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and speak to the Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2). This is the second reading debate on this bill. It was introduced in November 2010 and referred on 23 November to the Justice and Electoral Committee of which I am now a member although I was not at that time. 
Before I talk a little more about why Labour supports this bill I have to say something in response to comments made by the member who just spoke Simon Bridges. I find it absolutely rich coming from that side of the House that Mr Simon Bridges thinks it is OK to talk about corruption in politics. Coming from a party that is as corrupt as any we have ever seen— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: To use the word the member has used brings the House into disorder. I ask the member to withdraw the word and not use it again. Members on both sides of the House are not to use that word either in interjections or in main speeches. 
CAROL BEAUMONT 
: I withdraw that word. I go on to talk about the fact that on the other side of the House we still have members of Parliament who were part of the regime of the hollow men. I will leave it at that. 
I go back to the Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2). As my colleague Charles Chauvel said this bill implements stage two of a two-stage reform of electoral administration establishing a new Electoral Commission and making other changes. I thought it would be useful to look a little bit at this Electoral Commission and what is proposed. This bill will complete the set-up of the Electoral Commission. In doing so it follows the first piece of legislation passed in May 2010 which established a new independent Crown entity to be known as the Electoral Commission. 
The Electoral Commission’s functions are to conduct elections; deal with donations to and expenditure of political parties and candidates; inform the public about electoral matters which is very important; apportion broadcasting time and funding; register parties and logos; and maintain the electoral roll. In carrying out those functions the functions of the three former electoral administration bodies—that is the Chief Electoral Officer the previous Electoral Commission and the Chief Registrar of Electors which had various responsibilities of those listed—are effectively now consolidated into one body the new Electoral Commission. This will undoubtedly streamline and improve the process. 
That is not to comment negatively on any of the three previous organisations. I think that one of the things we can agree on in this House and can take some confidence from is that as a country we are very concerned about ensuring that we have transparency around electoral processes. We want them to be robust and we want our electoral system to operate in a way that is not as it is in other countries subject to intimidation to people buying votes and to corruption among electoral officials. Fortunately that is not the case in this country although there is always room for improvement. Hence this bill establishes the new Electoral Commission to take on the consolidated functions of the three previous bodies. 
That consolidation makes a great deal of sense and we are certainly very supportive of it. I would go so far as to say that Labour is also appreciative of the consultative process that the Government has undertaken in relation to the changes in electoral administration. As I say the new Electoral Commission will be a more effective regulator of the elections providing greater integration greater efficiency and a more strategic approach. That is what is envisaged. 
The bill was scrutinised by the Justice and Electoral Committee. Only four submissions were made to the committee two of which we heard. We received advice from the Ministry of Justice. Of course it is always important to acknowledge the contribution of those officials to the process. 
In addition to phase two of the new Electoral Commission some of the other amendments that are included relate as Mr Chauvel said to online enrolment of electors—online re-enrolment and updates. This will give voters the option of re-enrolling and communicating changes to their enrolment details via the internet or by using an approved electronic medium. It will use the igovt log-on service that has been developed by the Department of Internal Affairs. It is stage one of a two-stage process and I think this is really important. As with any significant changes in the process of enrolling and using electronic media it is important that we get it right. This is stage one of a two-stage process that will eventually give electors the option of full online enrolment. That will require as we have been advised a higher level of security than is currently possible so that work will continue. The Department of Internal Affairs is working on that. 
The two-stage process is seen as necessary to ensure that the integrity of the electoral roll is maintained. That is absolutely fundamental to our system. Having confidence in the electoral roll is really important. It is the key by which people get the opportunity to vote and to have their vote counted. We all know that there can be problems. In my own experience there have been problems in relation to people whose names are in a slightly different order from what people in New Zealand have generally been used to. That has caused problems in relation to how people enrol and when they go to vote trying to find themselves on the electoral roll with staff at polling places. 
Also we have a problem in this country whereby at every election—and we have not nailed this problem yet—people in good faith go along to vote and cast a special vote because they cannot be found on the electoral roll. There is a reason for that: they have not enrolled. If their names cannot be found on the roll the officials at the polling place will let them fill in a statutory declaration and cast a special vote. They vote thinking that they have contributed to the outcome of the election. Of course sadly they have not. We need to work on how we can improve the feedback loop and how we can find those people. I have spoken to many people who have assured me that they vote year after year but in fact they are not on the electoral roll. 
That is an area that needs improvement but my point really is that the integrity of the electoral roll is very important. It is the fundamental process by which we get our voting paper and we cast our vote. I am sure that everybody in this House is a solid promoter of that. I am sure that every MP works very hard to support those people who try to make sure that every New Zealander who is eligible is on the electoral roll so that they can cast a vote that counts because that is the basic nature of our democracy. We all need to take greater responsibility for ensuring that people are on the roll. They are legally required to be but more important it is the essential step to casting their vote and to that vote counting. 
Secondly we should all take responsibility for encouraging our fellow citizens to go out and vote. That is of course very topical right now as we lead into an election in less than 5 months’ time. I urge all members across the House to take that responsibility seriously. 
Sandra Goudie 
: As long as we do it within the bounds of the rules. 
CAROL BEAUMONT 
: I am sure that even Ms Goudie takes it seriously. That is another part of the process in this bill. They are probably the two key changes being looked at here. 
There are also some provisions dealing with immigration processes and I am sure others will want to talk about those provisions. The immigration changes arose as a result of the inquiry into the conduct of the 2008 general election. Again I think it is a strength of our system that we hold an inquiry after each general election and each local government election to see whether we can improve the processes. That is in our best interests. Arguably those sorts of things are where we see this House operating at its best. We talk to New Zealanders and the relevant officials in a cross-party manner to find out how things went in those elections and what could be done better. On that positive note I commend this bill.