Govt rushing through prisoner voting during the pandemic

Nick Smith facebooked:

Today blowing whistle on Govt rushing law change to give prisoners vote while country in lockdown.

I do not like being critical at a time when we need national unity to fight Covid-19 but this is wrong.

The Electoral ( Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill got its first reading on 18th March and Justice Select Committee process of six months reduced by Govt to less than three months.

Justice Minister Little last week insisted bill be progressed during lockdown and refused to support any extension. He has told committee that officials would not be able to provide normal quality of departmental report nor fully respond to committee questions, but still wants it done fast.

Justice Committee Chair, Labour MP, Meka Whaitiri, has used powers to set closure date for submissions and advised committee she intends hearing submissions by video conference week of 13 April while nation still in lockdown and MPs confined to their homes. Committee is 4Lab/4Nat. She has overridden our objections at 3 video conf of Chair and Deputy(me).

How is this rushed law making while nation is in lockdown and Parliament adjourned, consistent with PMs assurance that only urgent matters would be progressed ?

How is it consistent for Justice Select Committee to be continuing such work when all courts are suspended except for most urgent of cases ?

Why is Justice Select Committee looking to defer other two bills on sexual voilence and protection of emergency responders, but rush prisoner voting ? Labour is saying ensuring fairer trials for rape victims and protecting emergency workers is not a priority but prisoners voting is !

If prisoner voting was such an urgent issue, why did govt not include it in its three other electoral amendment bills passed this term of parliament ?

When the rights of 4 million plus law abiding NZers are being curtailed by being confined to home, thousands of businesses banned from trading and community papers prohibited from publishing, why is the most important human rights issue prisoners’ voting rights rather than getting covid-19 under control so we can wind back lockdown ?

How can NZers and interested organisations who object to this law change (84% opposed it in Newshub poll last August) express this in lockdown when they can’t meet and when protests are a prohibited activity ?

Why, when in an unprecedented crisis in which MPs are buried in serious constituency issues like:
-ensuring people get Covid-19 tests when needed, -getting workers access to PPE,
-finding specialist food for children,
-getting shopping of essentials for seniors,
-sorting out what are essential businesses,
-getting access to public funding for families and businesses to survive,
should we be focused on prisoners voting rights ?
(I have never been as busy in 30 years of working as a constituency MP)

Labour is putting their narrow political interests of trying to get a few thousand more votes at next election ahead of the right priorities for NZ at this time. It follows a unfortunate pattern of partisan electoral law changes and rushed changes. Electoral Bills passed this term include giving party leaders power to dismiss MPs, shifting power to write ref qs at elections from parl to cab and 24 hr rushed foreign donations change that was full of holes.

I do not support this bill that gives vote to prisoners sentenced to less than 3 years – others would still not be allowed to vote. You have to do something pretty bad in NZ to be sent to prison. It is one of liberties you lose when you break society’s agreed rules. Prisoners do not vote in similar democracies like UK & Australia. In many US states you lose right to vote if sent to prison for ever, which I disagree with. Nats position is when you have done time, your rights should be fully restored. But issue here is rushing law through under emergency.

The law in NZ has for most of our history not allowed prisoners to vote but has toed and froed over last few decades. Law has switched around most recently in 2010 from a members bill by Paul Quinn. This bill went through full process of six months select committee and no urgency/extended hours. Imagine the uproar if Nats had rushed law to remove prisoners voting, let alone doing so during a national emergency and lockdown.

My bigger worry is that if this is how Govt is going to play this relatively minor electoral issue in these extraordinary circumstances, how can we have confidence they will be fair over really big issues over timing, campaigning, public gatherings and free press of Election scheduled for Sept 17.

Minister Little needs to reconsider rush.

They are desperate to push it through before the public notice.