Debate: Electoral Amendment Bill

The following contribution was made in the Committee of the Whole House.

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair. Kia ora, Minister.

Look, there are a lot of reoccurring statements and issues being raised, and they are all important because, ultimately, a Government’s job is to increase democratic participation in a country. Whilst many of these points have already been made, I want to raise them again in light of their disproportionate impact on the voters of Te Tai Tonga and on Māori.

There are around 236,000 people in this category from the last election—a disproportionately large number of them Māori—for many different reasons, Minister. These are life-condition reasons. A large proportion of the Māori population live at the poverty line, in low-income housing, in poverty—in some cases, extreme poverty—and in homelessness.

To frame this as simply a matter of people needing to get organised ignores the reality of life in Aotearoa New Zealand. We are in a cost-of-living crisis and a housing crisis. These are the conditions that many Māori and many people in Te Tai Tonga are navigating every day. To suggest that a short timeframe is sufficient without acknowledging those realities demonstrates a real disconnect from the nature of our society—the very society this Government is elected to represent.

There is also a broader concern here about the ongoing dismissal of Māori realities in our own country. Given the responsibilities associated with Te Tiriti o Waitangi, there should be a clear understanding of how these impacts fall unevenly.

We have already heard about the negative impacts evidenced in the last election. Looking ahead to 2026, official advice indicates that a population roughly the size of Invercargill will be excluded—will be excluded.

When I think about the Government’s role in increasing participation in democracy, all of this points in the opposite direction. It points to reduced participation.

We also cannot ignore the broader context of the justice system. Māori are significantly overrepresented, making up around 53 percent of the prison population, and are far more likely to be serving short sentences—often for low-level offending. In that context, changes that further restrict participation do not sit in isolation; they compound existing inequities and negative interactions with the system.

I have spoken at length about those impacts. What we see here is a continuation of them.

Far from helping to improve participation rates for Māori, this bill appears to continue diminishing them.

We also have official advice from the Electoral Commission that the bill does not solve any identified operational problem. Delays arise from integrity checks and the processing of special votes, not from late enrolment. There is no evidence that early roll closure will speed up the count.

So many of the arguments being put forward simply do not align with the evidence.

And for that reason, Te Tai Tonga objects to this bill.