Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Chair ngā mihi nui ki a koutou kia ora. The Green Party supports this bill. We have supported it at all stages. We want to thank the Justice and Electoral Committee which heard it and the submitters. It is an interesting question because you could consider those opening and closing broadcasts to be a little bit of a relic of history—a relic of the TV age. But I am a little sad if I am honest because although they may be a relic we have so few opportunities for long-form political discourse in the public sphere. There are very few opportunities and in fact even debates now are condensed into these little sound bites. So sure maybe they were a relic but maybe there are some lessons from other ages.But there was a unanimous opinion I believe amongst the parties that we have to get with the times particularly with taxpayers' money. This replacing of Part 6 of the Broadcasting Act comes from the review of the 2014 election. If only the Government would actually pick up on some of the other electoral recommendations we have heard very clearly such as the coat-tailing clause and there are a whole bunch of other things that are not in the Government's electoral interest so it is not doing them.In this case there are two reasons why I think it is in the Government's interest. The first is it gets a great big wad of cash to go spend on digital ads which we know it is very keen to do. The second is—and I was mulling you know that it must have been such a problem for the National Party. In the last opening and closing broadcast it had 31 minutes to fill—how do you fill 31 minutes when you are not acting on housing when you are not acting on climate change and when your key message is: I'm relaxed about the state of the country there's nothing to see here."? How did you fill 31 minutes? So I sympathise with the National Party with the conundrum it faces. Poor old ACT only had 3 minutes. National had to fill 31 minutes with not acting so I can understand the challenge it was in.We also know we have got a problem which the select committee report identifies around the wider rules when it comes to broadcasts. I think it was pretty tragic what happened when it came to that "Planet Key" video. I believe in freedom of speech for New Zealanders. I think elections are an important time for people to get involved and have a say and it is disappointing that some parts of electoral law seem to be shutting that down. I note that in the report there is going to be action post the 2017 election. But I hope that again in the interests of working together in unanimity we can actually address this. Ultimately what we want to see is a public debate on issues not using the law to stop it.All in all we support this and look forward to it. At the last election it was the choice of either the All Blacks or the opening broadcast. I know which I would choose even though I am a political tragic—of course I would choose the All Blacks. New Zealanders will not face that choice any more but I think they will still be searching and using online tools. I want to congratulate the work of the likes of RockEnrol and other people doing civic advocacy so that people can access that information. The information is going to be there. People are going to have to do a little digging and it is incumbent on parties and politicians to provide good transparent information on their policies and platform and vision and that is exactly what the Green Party will be doing. Kia ora."