Waititi Rawiri; McKelvie IanRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) (remote): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Tēnā koe e te Pīka. Tēnā tātou e te Whare. Well I tell you what quite disturbing are the messages coming out from both National and ACT on this particular kaupapa. To continuously work towards continuing to silence Māori in this world-class democracy is an absolute disgrace. Our electoral law is discriminatory it is anti-democratic and it is downright racist. When we hear about voter suppression and the undermining of voters' rights we usually think about corrupt countries like the USA who pass law after law to make it harder for black Americans to cast their vote and let's not talk about their forgotten tangata whenua and the rights to vote there. E ki e ki National and ACT have spoken like true pro - Hobson's Pledge supporters. The very reason why Māori have bigger issues is because of racist laws like this. You lock us out and you make sure that it is your superiority that controls the democracy in this country and it must stop. The country is watching but voter suppression is very much alive and well in Aotearoa. In fact it has always been the reality for tangata whenua going right back to 1867. Electoral participation and basic rights for Māori to exercise in Aotearoa are guaranteed in article 3 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. There should be no barriers for Māori participating in the electoral process. Currently there are only two opportunities for Māori to choose electoral roles either at the time of initial enrolment or during the Māori electoral option period. The last one was in 2018 so they missed the opportunity to participate in the last election on the roll of their choice and I can tell you what there are more wanting to swap from the general roll to the Māori roll. The statistics are there so let's not make up things in the ACT Party about more wanting to go from the general to the Māori—it's rubbish.They will miss the next election because the next electoral option is 2024 so the next election to vote on the roll of their choice is 2026. Come on! This is 2022. We must do better as a country to ensure that Māori rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi and as the tangata whenua of this country are upheld and that we do not have the lockouts that we have currently in the legislation that is before us. What this does in effect is lock us out. Indigenous people tangata whenua—it's the only legislation in the world that does it for fully participating in this world-class democracy for up to eight years. It's an eight-year lockout. This is a stain on this country's democracy and it's a disgrace.Thousands of Māori request to change electoral rolls every year. This has likely led to thousands of Māori disengaging from the electoral process although I don't blame them. Since 2011 the Electoral Commission has proposed legislative changes which would address the issues and in the 2017 report on the general election recommended that voters of Māori descent be able to change roll types at any time as this would better meet the needs of Māori voters. Māori tangata whenua have been pushing for this for much longer. For decades our calls have fallen on deaf ears and it sounds like there are still deaf ears in this House. That is why last year I entered my member's bill into the biscuit tin: the Electoral (Right to Switch Rolls Freely) Amendment Bill. With amazing timing my bill was drawn last week at exactly the same time as the Government released this bill. I wish I could have been there to see the face on Willie Jackson. Anyway we are supporting this bill at first reading as it would—like my bill—enable Māori voters to switch between the Māori and non-Māori electoral rolls at any time. However we call on this House to also support my bill through to select committee to enable a debate. There are a number of differences in this bill that concern us. We believe Māori electoral boundaries should be redrawn after each election based on current enrolled voters not after every census—that's another five-year locking-out. So Labour is proposing to transfer the lockout of tangata whenua to another part of the electoral law which continues to tighten the colonial noose around our necks and lock us out for another five-year period when it comes to electoral boundaries. Come on!We also think there should be a legislative requirement that if someone stipulates they are Māori when enrolling but doesn't choose an electoral roll they are placed on the Māori roll—simple. Our bill would also change the name of the general electoral district to non-Māori electoral district as Māori are always made to feel like the other. You have the general roll and then you have the general elections. Come on! These are some of the things you all need to be looking at because it places Māori as the other. We agree to stopping people from changing rolls before a by-election maybe three months before—I agree with that. But Pākehā and non-Māori shouldn't be able to change their addresses to their holiday homes and baches that they own and also to their family addresses during a by-election to skew or influence the outcome of by-elections which we all know happens. I look forward to the opportunities to engage with colleagues from across the House to make this legislation a reality for our people. Let's get this racism and voter suppression—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): The member's time is up.