Simpson Scott; Tolley AnneHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Well thank you Madam Speaker. There's something deeply ironic about the member Chlöe Swarbrick who's just resumed her seat talking about an opportunity to give New Zealanders clarity and definition about what is being proposed and then this bill does exactly the opposite. So when the father of the House stood up earlier in this debate and gave what I thought was an impassioned speech calling into clear contrast the words of the Speech from the Throne that said this was to be the most transparent and open Government in the history of the country and then pointed to the history of New Zealand Parliaments having never before never before delegated the responsibility for the wording of a referendum to an Order in Council process that is very stark. I think that that the member who has just resumed her seat Chlöe Swarbrick would need to probably take heed of the father of the House the Hon Dr Nick Smith because he's been here a long time and I know he's a person that takes the traditions and principles of this Parliament very very seriously. So it saddens me that this bill has got to where it is because what we've seen this afternoon is really the Government—the coalition members—all at sixes and sevens over how to cope with a bill that is clearly posing some difficult fraught challenges for the relationships within the coalition. If this was the only problem that the coalition Government had I guess it wouldn't be so bad but this is one of many—a myriad of problems—that the coalition Government has at the moment. But what really concerns me is that for the first time in the history of the New Zealand Parliament it won't be Parliament that is setting and defining the wording of the cannabis legalisation referendum. New Zealanders deserve to know what the wording will be and they deserve to know what that wording will be sooner rather than later. New Zealanders can be proud of our parliamentary traditions and history in New Zealand. We're one of only a handful of countries that has an unbroken democratic tradition going back more than 150 years. So for this Government that trumpeted itself and promoted itself on being open transparent principled and pure in every respect to be now involved in a piece of legislation that is slippery and conniving is I think an embarrassment and a shame to not only this Parliament but it's an indictment upon the coalition Government. This is a bill that sets in place a process that will apply only to referenda that are taking place at the next general election. Then it's time dependent—it splits and it stops. So really what this is is little more than a political convenience at the cost of our Parliament's integrity. And that saddens me as it should sadden every member of this Chamber and as it should sadden every New Zealander who takes an interest in the processes that occur in this Parliament and have done for more than 150 years. That this Government that holds itself out as being so pure so principled and so mightily engaged in what is one would have thought important to them; at the first hurdle they fall over and put aside all those principles all those high and mighty lofty ideas and speeches that we used to hear when they sat on this side of the House are suddenly forgotten—no more to be heard around this Chamber. And it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing for me as an MP as a voter and as a New Zealander to have senior Government Ministers standing in this House making apologies and dancing on the head of a pin trying to justify this slippery conniving piece of legislation that the National Party Opposition will oppose at every possible opportunity. This is not good legislation. This is not good process. This is not good parliamentary procedure. This is a piece of legislation that ill behoves the Government and it ill behoves the coalition members who now have their heads hanging low who now have their heads hanging in shame because they know how bad this piece of legislation is. They know that it is being scrutinised by the voting public of New Zealand and with only 10 months or less to go to the next general election New Zealanders will not be duped by this rag-tag mob this coalition that is spinning out of control before our very eyes. CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): It's a split call.