Local Electoral Matters Bill

I move, That it be an instruction to the committee of the whole House on the Local Electoral Matters Bill that it have the power to consider and, if it thinks fit, adopt amendments relating to donation provisions in the Local Electoral Act 2001.

I move this motion because I think this bill provides an opportunity for the House to consider some amendments which may be ruled out of scope at the committee stage, and this instruction would enable the committee to consider Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs) that I’ve drafted but also, if any other further SOPs wish to be drafted around those donation provisions, it would allow for the committee to adequately consider those particular matters. The bill as it’s currently drafted does have some narrow scope. It’s an omnibus bill and it does deal with Local Electoral Act matters, but there will be some question, I’m sure, in the committee of the whole House as to whether the scope of that bill is broad enough to enable the committee to consider donation matters. I’m of the view that the committee should consider donation matters, and if the House is willing to pass this motion, it would properly enable the committee to consider those matters.

The reason why I think the House should vote in favour of this motion and allow that type of debate to happen in the committee stage is because when, as a country, we consider donation matters at the local government level—and I’m referring pointedly to the Minister’s comments in question time today—there are some legitimate questions that should be considered and debated in relation to local government electoral law. The Minister himself pointed out in question time that there’s an inquiry under way into this particular issue, and, actually, that inquiry’s broader around foreign influence in elections. The Minister made it sound as though there was some opportunity in the future to consider those matters by way of another bill. The problem is that the time frame available for the Parliament to consider amendments to the Local Electoral Act is such that it would be almost impossible for the Government to receive that inquiry back from the select committee and then progress a bill in the normal fashion to have changes made to the Local Electoral Act in time for the 2019 election.

The 2019 local government elections are in October this year. If we consider the three-month campaign period, which is, effectively, the campaign period and the time in which candidates would be considering what donations they might receive, that period starts in just a few short months. So I think that where we have an opportunity through our Local Electoral Matters Bill to consider issues around local government electoral law, we should absolutely be doing it. So this instruction would enable the committee to do that.

I’m sure there will be questions that some members might have in their minds about whether this is an appropriate mechanism to use—this instruction. You, Mr Speaker, yourself, have moved these motions in the past. But I point to just a couple of weeks ago, when the House used exactly this mechanism—an instruction to the committee—when it came to another issue. In fact, the Minister of Justice used it in relation to livestock rustling. This isn’t an unusual mechanism and, in fact, it was used only a couple of weeks ago. I’m asking the House to consider using this mechanism again so that we can broaden the scope of the Local Electoral Matters Bill to consider these issues.

It’s not as if these types of issues don’t enjoy any support across the House. In fact, spokespersons for parties that represent a majority in this House—or leaders of those parties and spokespersons—have made comments publicly that they would like to see changes made to the donation regime in the country. That was particularly around parliamentary elections, but the problem with local government elections, which operate under a different Act of Parliament, is that the donation provisions in local government elections are even broader than what they are for parliamentary elections. So I suggest to members in the House that if spokespersons and leaders representing parties that represent a majority in this House have said publicly that we should give consideration to donation matters for parliamentary elections, we should absolutely be doing that with regards to local government elections.

In the SOPs that I’ve already drafted, whilst I know I can’t go into great detail around them, there are a number of options that I’ve suggested by way of those SOPs, one of which is just to bring local government election donation laws in line with the Electoral Act. I think it should go further, but that’s a very simple issue. Where, in question time, the Minister observed that it’s important, with relation to changes in law around elections, that proper consideration be given to those changes, I don’t necessarily disagree with what the Minister was saying in question time. But if the question for us is have these types of measures been given consideration properly and been debated properly, the answer, in terms of bringing the Local Electoral Act in line with the Electoral Act 1993, is they have been canvassed over many, many years. A suggestion in one of those SOPs is simply that we adopt at the local government level what we already do at the parliamentary level. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the House to give the committee the power and the scope to be able to debate that.

Given there is strong support from parties in this House for tightening donation regimes, and given that currently the Local Electoral Act does not provide the same sort of protections for New Zealanders and protections for our democracy that exist in the parliamentary Electoral Act, I say the House should give the committee the power to consider these matters properly. It’s not unusual. It was done only a couple of weeks ago. There is support for changes in this area. There is support for clamping down in this area.

We just don’t have the time to wait until that inquiry from the select committee is progressed. If we sit back and say “Well, let’s wait for the inquiry. Let’s not do this now. Let’s not bother with changes to the Local Electoral Act right now.”, the problem we’ll have is that by the time that inquiry comes back, a Government would have to take urgency to ensure changes are made before the 2019 local government elections. I say that’s not good enough. We have an opportunity to make changes here. We have a chance for New Zealanders at the local government level to ensure democratic matters are protected, and so I ask that members consider this instruction.

To vote against this instruction is, effectively, to say parties are happy with the current regime around local government elections and that they’re not prepared to at least debate later on this afternoon, in the committee, whether the measures and the protections in place right now are sufficient. They are not sufficient. We do have lax laws, and we do have an opportunity to change it.

I move this instruction so that we can debate it later this afternoon in the committee. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable mechanism to use given the Government did so not that long ago and given there is support for this very issue in the Chamber from parties that have publicly expressed their concerns around donations. It’s too big an issue as well just to let go and let the local government elections in 2019 pass without an opportunity to make these changes.