Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations, and State Enterprises — Electoral Commission

I take a call on the Electoral Commission, including the functions of the Chief Electoral Officer. If one was to look at the 2012-13 financial review that was presented to the Justice and Electoral Committee, it would be pretty underwhelming—two sentences, in fact—with the emphasis being that there were no matters to bring to the attention of the House. Well, I would have thought that the fact that only 58 percent of the indigenous people of this land turned up to vote in the last general election might have been a matter of some concern to the Crown entity charged with promoting public awareness of electoral matters as part of its responsibility for preparing and conducting general elections. In stark number terms, although there are 462,000 Māori who are of voting age and are eligible to vote, fewer than 270,000 proceeded to take up that voting opportunity at the ballot box. Forty thousand Māori disappeared at the first hurdle—that is, the enrolment table. But when we get to the turnout of the vote, the statistics are deplorable.

The Electoral Commission is an independent Crown entity. It should operate strategies to increase democratic participation without being accused of a bias towards any political party. In 2012-13 its total revenue was $27 million, but here is the irony: in the 2012-13 financial review the Electoral Commission spent only $22 million, returning a surplus of close to $5 million—$5 million that could usefully have been spent in investing in the challenge of how to increase Māori electoral turnout and, in doing so, how to improve the effectiveness of our democracy. I would hasten to say that the issue of low turnout is not only a feature of Māori voting preferences. In a paper by Jack Vowles, entitled Down, Down, Down: Turnout in New Zealand from 1946 to the 2011 Election, Mr Vowles reported the views of one commentator who declared the relative absence of voters in the polling booths in 2011 as “the saddest day for democracy in New Zealand”. In fact, Mr Vowles concludes that to find a New Zealand election with a lower official turnout than in 2011, one must go back to 1887, well before women attained voting rights.

So I am sorry, I cannot fathom how the Justice and Electoral Committee found nothing to report on when looking at the financial review of the Electoral Commission. Voting is of paramount importance to the running of a healthy democracy. It is about the people being empowered to take action, to cast a vote, and to make their voice heard. We need to be out and proud. Casting our vote is our right, it is our duty, and it is our responsibility. The power of voting is the power of change. It is the power of voicing views and of making a mark in history.

The Māori Party has a couple of ideas on how we could make the change our nation needs so clearly in terms of voting participation. We have drafted legislation to enable all Māori to be automatically entered on the Māori roll with an option to transfer to the general roll, instead of the other way round. This would take the complexity out of the Māori electoral option campaign, given that the majority of Māori are enrolled on the Māori roll. It would make sense to make that roll the default roll and give other individuals a choice to opt out on to the general roll if they see fit. Another key campaign that the Māori Party recommends is encouraging a focus on education for engaged and active citizenship. We need to increase the ease of voting, make voting more exciting, increase its relevance, and make it easier to register to vote.

Last week I introduced a new curriculum priority in ensuring Māori history is known, taught, and promoted in our schools. I am hopeful that with new emphasis on knowing our stories, it may well encourage a far stronger reason why all New Zealanders understand the value of the vote and the significance of having a say. Representation in a democracy is not only a basic human right but it is also necessary if we want to make sure our nation moves forward together. I hope that the next time the Electoral Commission comes up for debate before the Committee there will indeed be something to talk about—a new energy and a commitment to making our voices heard. Thank you.

Report noted.

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