Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National): Thank you Mr Chair. This is one of the last clauses in the bill. Just to summarise some of the arguments that have come before during the day one of the things that really is something that has shown through to me is that this bill actually goes against the very nature of democracy in this country. The founding document of this country the Treaty of Waitangi is based on the premise that—CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): This is not a second reading speech and you really—Hon DAVID BENNETT: No no it's not a second reading. I'm just—CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): —need to focus on the amendment that clause 8 makes.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Yes and clause 8 has a numerous number of changes. They're reflecting some differences of how the bill will be structured and I'm just giving the context for my introduction around one of the major issues that I think has come out of this debate and that's around that democracy angle. You've heard previous speakers speak about their feeling of the lack of democracy in New Zealand with this bill going through. But I actually want to go back to the roots of democracy because they are so important because—I know Mr Chair you may be wanting to think that that is against the context of this clause. But it's not because—CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): If the member makes that point and makes it relevant to clause 8—which I look forward to—Hon DAVID BENNETT: Yeah and I'm going to explain that now. CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): —then it will be in order. If he doesn't it won't. Hon DAVID BENNETT: Yes yes. So I'm going to explain that now. The relevance of that of what the whole democracy that we are part of here today is that every vote counts every vote is equal and the paramountcy of democracy is what the Treaty enshrines. The Treaty does not enshrine what some modern legal law professors may think. It actually enshrines the ability for governance to be held in entities such as parliaments or regional local bodies and this bill is a direct affront to that. These clauses enable this bill to take away that very essence of democracy and that is the problem in this bill because it actually is an attack on the Treaty of Waitangi. In effect it is attacking the fundamental part of the Treaty which is that governance will be held by all people through the vote that they make to either part of the parliamentary or the local or regional government. So these three changes that you see in this clause that relate to different sections of the bill also are important because without them this bill doesn't have the ability to take away that democratic right that we are seeing taken away. That is the essence of what I think today is actually a breach of the Treaty because in essence what we are doing is we are taking away the ability of New Zealanders to get a free and open vote to—Hon Simon Bridges: That's clause 19ZF.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Clause 19ZF my good friend Simon Bridges exposes is the clause that would do that. But in essence that is the problem that we face today. I wish the Minister to answer that question as to whether this is a direct attack on the fundamental basis of our democracy which is that every vote is equal and that the governance will be done by voting in and out Governments or mayors or councillors. It won't be done by parliamentary override or parliamentary determination of what the voting system is so that there isn't an equal vote for every person which is the fundamental essence of what the Treaty is about. So I'd like the Minister to explain how she can do this legislation against the Treaty of Waitangi. CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): That might be so but that's not what the clause is about.