Waititi Rawiri; O'Connor GregELECTORAL (RIGHT TO SWITCH ROLLS FREELY) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): I move That the Electoral (Right to Switch Rolls Freely) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider this bill.Tēnā tātou i te Whare. Tēnā tātou e hui tahi nei. Tuatahi Megan kei te tangi atu ki te āhuatanga i te rirotanga o tō māmā o tō kōkā nō reira tika tonu kia mihi rā atu ki a koe i te wehetanga o tō māmā i tēnei pō.[Greetings to everyone in the House. Thank you for gathering together. Firstly to Megan I grieve for the passing of your mother and so it is appropriate to acknowledge you in that loss tonight.]It's a pleasure to rise and introduce my first member's bill as an MP in Te Paati Māori the Electoral (Right to Switch Rolls Freely) Amendment Bill—well you can see it's quite a popular bill because just about every party—Labour Greens and ourselves—have all seen this is an issue for us all. Our electoral law—and I've said it in the past and this is not going to be a shocking fright for everybody—is the most racist law in this country. It was designed purposefully to prevent Māori from participating fully in the democratic process. If we look back to 1867 when the four Māori electorates were established they were set up as only four seats. This was designed to severely limit the representation we had in this place; given at the time we would have held a great number of seats—based on the population at least 48 to 50 percent. Even then it was only Māori men over the age of 21 who could vote. It wasn't until 1893 that Māori women were able to vote. Racism dominated the system from then until now.Until 1975 the so-called half-caste Māori with one Māori and one European parent were allowed to choose which seat they wished to vote on; blood quantuming which was a tool used before 1975 to control Māori and first-nations people all over the world. The New Zealand Government did this through a very cruel and ghastly tool like I said: blood quantuming. The racist tool was used to question one's whakapapa. This is where the label Māori elitism" was born. This is a tool that amplifies the colonisers' favourite tool which is to divide and conquer. The title "Māori elitism" as a divide and conquer tool is still being used by MPs and parties today. As members of Parliament we have responsibility to ensure that Aotearoa has free and fair elections and does not lock anyone out or a group from participating. We have an obligation to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and repeal any racist and discriminatory provisions on our law books. Today with this bill I'm giving each and every one of you the opportunity—every one of "us"; sorry Mr Speaker—to do just that: electoral participation and a basic right for Māori to exercise in Aoteroa guaranteed in article 3 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and within international law. There should be no barriers put up for tangata whenua to participate in the electoral process. However our current electoral system does just that: it puts up barriers for our people to freely engage in politics and elections. Currently there are only two opportunities for Māori to choose electoral rolls either at the time of initial enrolment or during the Māori electoral option. The electoral option period only takes place over a four-month period every five to six years; the last one was in 2018 it's an eight-year lockout e hika mā. The last electoral option was 2018. People that wanted to change before the 2020 election couldn't because the next electoral option is 2024 which means they will miss the 2023 election. So the election of their choice on the roll of their choice won't happen until 2026. What this does in effect is lock out the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa from fully participating in our democracy for up to an eight-year period.Thousands of Māori request to change electoral rolls every year. This has likely led to thousands of Māori disengaged from the electoral process altogether. This is a disgrace and highlights what tangata whenua have to deal with when engaging in this democratic system.The bill before the House today would once and for all make the simple changes that are needed for Māori to freely participate in the decision making that affects them at every level. It would amend the Electoral Act 1993 to enable Māori voters to switch between the Māori and non-Māori electoral rolls at any time. We acknowledge that the Government followed our lead and introduced a bill to enable Māori to switch rolls more freely; this bill is before the select committee before it enters into the second reading and which we support. However I'm calling on this House today to also support my bill through to select committee to enable the debate because there are other things in my bill that allow us to really hone in on the discrepancies and also the discrimination that Māori face within our electoral law.We also think there should be legislative requirements that if somebody stipulates that they are Māori when enrolling but doesn't choose an electoral roll that they are placed on the Māori roll. Our research shows that many of our people are being put on the non-Māori roll the general roll in this manner if they sign a paper-based form.My bill will also change the name of the general electoral district to the non-Māori electoral district—and the voting all electorates take place during a general election: so you've got the general roll and the general election. That must change also. We're open to the debate as the best way to at least—confusing the name might be but however we are clear that our people are sick and tired of being marginalised. We are the first-nations people of this land; the status quo cannot continue.I lay down a wero to all these parties today to support this particular bill. It will allow Māori to freely move in the electoral process of this country and participate in our democracy in a lot fairer and a more inclusive manner in regards to voting not just at local level but at central level. It allows us to participate without being locked out.Much of the criticism for this proposed law change reveals a shocking level of hypocrisy and double standards. Like I said yesterday I see that there is an issue around Māori being able to change a few months or a few weeks before a by-election. The thing is that that is already happening with house owners and homeowners all over the country. We know that. Everybody else knows that. If you have an address in another town you can enrol in that town and vote in that town and you can do that at any time. There's no such thing as a month or a week or a few weeks out where you can't do that; people are doing it all the time. All this is about is about enabling Māori to choose which roll they vote on; no one will get an extra vote. Any party who fails to support these changes will have made it obvious that they are actively hostile to the fundamental rights and interests of tangata whenua. However my hope is that we can put aside political differences and partisan strategising and just get this done. It's the right thing to do. It is time. I am open to debating all the ins and outs of my bill as drafted at the select committee—noting the issue around the timing of when our people could change rolls especially before a by-election and before the general election. I'm not bound to all of the wording but I am bound to get this across the line on behalf of our people. I look forward to the kōrero from our colleagues across the House this evening and working together to end racism and discrimination in our electoral system once and for all.So my plea to everybody in the House tonight e hika mā: tautoko mai i tēnei pire. Tautoko mai i tēnei pire hei oranga mō tangata whenua mō Māori kia tarea anō hoki e tātou te whakatutuki.[support this bill. Support this bill for the wellbeing of the people of the land for Māori so that this can be accomplished by all of us.]The districts also are a lockout because if we have got 50 percent of Māori on the Māori roll 50 percent on the general roll—let's just say in fact that before the general election they all change; the 50 percent from the general roll or vice versa change—and you get 100 percent on one of those rolls we can't change the electoral districts for a five-year period. It's another five-year lockout. So that should be reviewed before every election—that should be reviewed before every election—to allow Māori a fairer shot not just in the voting process but also our representation in this House because we know that every five years there is a census and every five years they determine how many people are on the Māori roll and on the general roll which will determine how many seats Māori get in this House.So these are some of the things that we really need to look at in terms of the electoral roll. We're getting one shot. The last time is 1993 e hika mā. We're getting one shot at this and I want us to be able to do justice to the changes within the electoral law to allow Māori to be able to vote to allow Māori a fairer representation in this House and not only in this House but also councils around this country because their elections are usually the year before the general elections—or the national elections.So my plea to this House: support at least to first reading at least to select committee so we can have the debate and let's nut it out there. Let's give a fairer shot for tangata whenua and Māori in our electoral law. Kia ora tatou.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."