Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): So in answer to the last point that the previous speaker Darroch Ball made actually we don't have the arrogance to put our hands up and make the assumption that people would vote for us again. We'd go back out to seek that mandate. But let me put one thing to you. Let me ask you—let's see a show of hands here—DEPUTY SPEAKER: No don't ask me. You can ask the member.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Sorry Madam Deputy Speaker. Let me see from Mr Darroch Ball—I'm very interested to see whether he's going to put his hand up or not because he's talking about MMP and the system. So when people went to the ballot boxes and voted for New Zealand First at the general election last year do you think two-thirds of your voters supported you because they thought that you'd form a Government with Labour and the Greens? Do you? Do you think—put your hand up. Put your hand up. Oh he's not putting his hand up—that's interesting. [Interruption] So he's not going to—oh that's very interesting. The big speech about MMP and all of a sudden now he's reneging on that. He won't put his hand up. He won't actually admit the fact that maybe it's just possible—and actually the polls told us this because they went from 7 to 3 percent—Hon Gerry Brownlee: They saw his name.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Well they saw his name. It's just possible that maybe half of your voters under an MMP system voted for you with an expectation that you were going to form a Government with the National Party. Did you ever consider that?DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm sure they did but don't bring me into the debate.Hon MARK MITCHELL: So maybe we should have wiped the result and we should have just gone back and started again under the premise that you put forward to this House. Let's have a look at what else he said. This is what he said. He said that Nick Smith and the National Party—in fact Mr Little said this as well in his opening comment—don't understand the bill. He said we're ill-informed we're undereducated—Darroch Ball: Uneducated not undereducated.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Yes sorry—uneducated. So tell me something: what do you say to the Clerk of the House? What do you say to Dr Edward Willis who has a PhD in constitutional law? What do you say to Dr Christine Dann a founding member of the Green Party? What do you say to the Human Rights Commission or Sir Lockwood Smith a former Speaker? What do you say to 19 legal—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Would you stop bringing the Speaker into it?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Sorry you're right Madam Deputy Speaker. What's your response to 19 legal and political science academics including Andrew Geddis? What's your response to the Legislation Design and Advisory Committee? What about Keith Locke? I know that there's some sensitivities about past Green Party members—I will address that shortly. But what do you say to Keith Locke former—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Don't keep bringing me into the debate.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Sorry Madam Deputy Speaker. What's your response to—Hon Members: Ha ha!Hon MARK MITCHELL: —sorry—Graeme Edgeler electoral law expert; Jeanette Fitzsimons former Green Party co-leader? I'm going to come back to her submission because honestly from my point of view her submission was actually one of the most credible and she brought up some points that no one else actually covered. The New Zealand Law Society; Professor Janet McLean constitutional law professor at Auckland University; Professor Jack Vowles professor of political science at Victoria University of Wellington; the Rt Hon David Carter a former Speaker—what you've done is you've stood in this House and you've told them that they're ill-informed—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I haven't.Hon MARK MITCHELL: —and they're uneducated—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I haven't.Hon MARK MITCHELL: —and also that there's a lack of understanding around the bill.Darroch Ball: Yeah that's what I just said.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Oh you're standing by that? So you're applying all of that to the list of people that I just mentioned? OK we'll take that. No problem.The other thing that I wanted to address was this and it comes back to comments that the Hon Chris Hipkins made and that the Hon Gerry Brownlee addressed. I see that Marja Lubeck is in the House. Marja Lubeck was voted this year—Marja Lubeck: Say something nice.Hon MARK MITCHELL: I'm going to say something nice don't worry. She was voted into this House as a list MP—Marja Lubeck: And a good one.Hon MARK MITCHELL: —and she says a good one. What she has done is she's come out very strong in terms of issues in Rodney which is the electorate that she lives in which is my electorate as the electorate MP. We've just had the extension of the road of national significance cancelled so we're fighting very hard to try and get that reinstated. My expectation is that she'll be a strong voice within the Government for the electorate of Rodney. That's what my expectation is. The problem with this bill is that the minute it passes she is purely a creature of the party. That is exactly what Marja Lubeck is going to become—a creature of the party. I'll tell you why. I'll explain to you why. I'll explain to you why so people at home can understand why. The reality of it is this: if I take a position against my party on something that relates to my electorate and this bill was triggered—which by the way we won't because we highly value our list MPs along with our electorate MPs. We don't differentiate between them. We all have got a contribution to make and we're all an important part of the team. So we won't be taking any notice of this ridiculous bill. But anyway if I took a position on it I can go back to the electorate right? I can go back to my electorate like you say and I can seek a mandate. I can go back and say I'm no longer aligned to the values of my party. I don't agree with this policy that they're going to implement. It's going to be bad for us. I'm coming back and I'm going to stand as an Independent and I'm going to seek a mandate from you."—sorry Madam Deputy Speaker. I know you've given up on me but I am trying.But the problem is that Marja Lubeck can't do that.Marja Lubeck: Why not? Are you calling me a puppet?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Because you can't go back—yes you are. She's hit the nail on the head. Now she's starting to understand. Yes you are a puppet—yes you are a puppet. The problem for Marja Lubeck is this: she can't go back and seek a mandate. You're gone—you're gone. There's no coming back—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Actually I bring the member to order. The member is actually addressing the Chair and if the member thinks about that it might help him in not bringing the Speaker into the debate.Hon MARK MITCHELL: That's a very good point because I know that you could seek a mandate without a doubt Madam Deputy Speaker. The problem with this bill is that she can't go back to Rodney. She can't go back to Rodney and seek a mandate and that's the whole point—that's the whole point. I can; she can't.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Just cannon fodder.Hon MARK MITCHELL: She's cannon fodder. You are a puppet. When this bill passes you become a puppet. You can't represent the people of Rodney—she can't represent the people of Rodney.I just want to address the Green Party and the Green Party leader the Hon James Shaw very quickly before I finish because he and I sat in the green room last week before we went on to The AM Show and I said to him "James I wanted to acknowledge the leadership that you showed through a very difficult period when Metiria Turei had to leave Parliament around the benefit fraud storm that blew up. I thought that you showed outstanding leadership qualities through that—that was a difficult thing."Darroch Ball: I want to count how many times he's said "you" in this speech. It'll be ridiculous.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Have you got a comment to make on that because I firmly believe actually that he did. But the issue that I have now with the Hon James Shaw is this—and I understand why you get upset when you hear Rod Donald being quoted in the House but the reality of it is that he has left that on Hansard for a reason. He spelt out very clearly how he feels about this bill or how he felt about a bill very similar to this one. So the thing that I'd be worried about that I genuinely feel is that if you continue down the path that you're on—and I know you're going to take a call—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Would you look at me—would you look at me? It might help you—it might help you.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Sorry—sorry Madam Deputy Speaker. If Mr Shaw carries on down the path that he has chosen at the moment then I personally feel that the leadership qualities that were on display for us during the general election you're going to have a massive—sorry—Mr Shaw is going have a massive stain on that legacy that you have created. At the end of the day if you—sorry. If Mr Shaw sat there and actually thought about it if you sat there for a moment and reflected and thought "If Rod Donald was sitting in this seat what would he do?"—Darroch Ball: This is disgraceful—this is disgraceful.Hon MARK MITCHELL: No there's nothing disgraceful about it—there's nothing disgraceful about it. I'm sorry—we've gone back and referred to Hansard an official record in this Parliament. James is going to have an opportunity to address it but what I'd ask is just to reflect on that because I don't personally believe that the leader of the Green Party supports or believes in this bill any more than we do. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker."