Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (Minister for Building and Construction) Link to this
I move, That, pursuant to section 4D of the Electoral Act 1993 and section 32 of the Crown Entities Act 2004, this House recommend His Excellency the Governor-General appoint Jane Christine Huria as a member and the Deputy Chair of the Electoral Commission for a term of four years. The Electoral (Administration) Amendment Act 2010, passed by this House in May of 2010, established a new Electoral Commission that took on the functions of both the former commission and the Chief Electoral Officer. The Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2), currently before this House, proposes transferring further functions to the commission, namely those of the Chief Registrar of Electors, from 2012. This will complete the amalgamation of electoral administration from three separate agencies into but one. The Electoral Commission is an independent Crown entity governed by three members. On 24 August 2010 the Governor-General appointed the Hon Justice Hugh Williams QC as the chair of the commission for 3 years, and Mr Robert Peden as the Chief Electoral Officer and the chief executive of the commission for a term of 5 years. The deputy chair position was and has remained vacant while a candidate, with the support of the House, was being identified.
Today I am pleased to move the appointment of Jane Christine Hūria as the Deputy Chair of the Electoral Commission. I am confident she will be a strong member of the commission and will bring a variety of complementary skills and experiences to the role. Mrs Hūria is a professional company director and is a director and shareholder of HSR Governance Ltd, a company that specialises in governance, strategy, and review. Her current board memberships include the Accident Compensation Corporation, the outgoing Legal Services Agency, the Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Commission, Winter Games NZ, and the Ngāi Tahu - mandated health and social services broker He Oranga Pounamu. She is also chair of the advisory board to trustees of the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust, a lay member of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, and a mentor in the New Zealand Olympic Committee women in governance programme. Mrs Hūria is Ngāi Tahu, and affiliates to Ngāi Tūahuriri. I am proposing a 4-year term of appointment for Mrs Hūria under section 32(1)(b) of the Crown Entities Act 2004. Appointments to the commission may be made for 5 years or any shorter period stated in the notice of appointment. A 4-year term is proposed in order to phase the members’ appointments term so that the review of this appointment does not occur in an election year. I commend this appointment to the House.
CHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour) Link to this
The Electoral Commission has been significantly revamped under the amendments to the Electoral Act that have been passed by Parliament during this term. The commission has already undertaken significant work, with the Botany by-election under its purview. It now has the carriage of the administrative arrangements for the Te Tai Tokerau by-election, and the general election, which is to come before the end of the year. Then it will take on further functions, including the work that is currently discharged by the Electoral Enrolment Centre, when it takes on those functions under the legislation.
The legislation provides for three commissioners, but only two are currently in office: the Hon Hugh Williams and Robert Peden, the Chief Electoral Officer. I remember when the Hon Hugh Williams was first appointed to judicial office back in 1989. I was the law clerk to the Chief Justice at the time, and I had to write the notes for the speech that the Chief Justice gave at the swearing-in of Mr Williams as a Master of the High Court, as Associate Judges of the High Court were then known. It is significant that although it is no longer a requirement of the Act that a judge act as Chair of the Electoral Commission, the House has chosen to recommend to the Governor-General that that tradition continue in this transitional period, as the new commission establishes itself.
It is also significant to note, because it will relate to a couple of comments that I am going to make in conclusion, that the Hon Hugh Williams not only has judicial experience, and therefore, as we would all hope, will bring an impartial approach to the very important position of Chair of the Electoral Commission, but also has significant governance experience in his own right. I recall that prior to his appointment as a Master of the High Court, he served as president of what was then the Manawatū District Law Society, and immediately prior to taking judicial office, he also served a term as president of the New Zealand Law Society. After he was appointed as a full judge of the High Court, he also served a 6-year term as chancellor of the Massey University Council. So in those roles he learnt at the coalface, if you like, what it is like to have to govern an organisation. What I hope we are seeing here is a transition from the tradition of having to have judges sitting as the head of the body that runs elections and matters associated with elections to recognising that although we need impartial people on the Electoral Commission, it is equally vital to have people with governance experience, particularly given the expansion of the role of the commission—the merging of the three electoral agencies—that the House has determined ought to occur.
The other current commissioner, as I mentioned, is Robert Peden, the Chief Electoral Officer. Mr Peden was formerly the chief legal adviser to the Electoral Commission, prior to taking on the role as Chief Electoral Officer. I do not think there would be anybody in the House who would question Mr Peden’s commitment to independence or to fearlessly policing the rigours of the electoral law, as it has been enacted.
I want to say one or two other things about the legislation as it now stands. It is instructive to compare section 8 of the Electoral Act 1993 with section 4D. Section 8 was the old appointments section, now repealed. Section 4D is the new one. Section 8 required, as I said, that there be a judge appointed to the Electoral Commission. It could be a judge at various levels of the system, but it was almost invariably a High Court judge. The appointment had to occur from—if a High Court judge—three candidates offered by the head of bench, the Chief Justice, for that purpose. So Parliament was very restricted in its choices as to who might head the commission. The Secretary for Justice sat, as of right, on the commission; so did a judge of the Māori Land Court. All those requirements have been swept aside, and now there is just the requirement that there be the three commissioners. I think that is an important step forward, as I say, given the expansion of the role of the electoral agency and given not only the independence but also the governance expertise that we now expect of it.
The other significant matter in the legislation is the enhancement of the independence of the commission by the very words of the Act. I noted the careful words that were in the Minister’s speech. He correctly pointed out that no one other than the Governor-General appoints the members of the commission. It is also important to point out that these appointments are not made in the usual way on the recommendation or advice of a Minister; they are made on the recommendation of this House. In that regard it is of concern to see the Government House website describing the Chair of the Electoral Commission as having been nominated by the Minister of Justice. Of course, that is not the procedure. The procedure is that the Minister circulates names around the House to various parties, and the names that win unanimous approval are the ones that go forward under a communication from the Minister, but on behalf of this House. That is a very important point, I think, just to reiterate.
We come to the business of the motion: the proposal to finally appoint a third member of the Electoral Commission and to bring it to full strength, which is not something that could happen too soon, given the workload that I have mentioned and given the functions and tasks that the agency will have to fulfil over the coming months.
I am aware that there was another candidate who met the approval of parties around the House, and who might have been appointed to fill the deputy chair’s position and thereby bring the commission to full strength, but that person, although eminently qualified, has elected to perform paid work for the commission in its education campaign on the referendum, which is to occur at the end of the year. So that person’s skills are being utilised by the commission, but not in a governance role.
It is clear from Ms Hūria’s curriculum vitae that she has significant governance skills, so to that extent her appointment as deputy chair is to be welcomed. The only note of caution that I would sound on behalf of the Opposition is that although Ms Hūria has a very impressive CV, with respect to her, the danger, as often occurs with people who are busy directors, is that she may have too much on. Given the recitation of the appointments she holds that we heard from the Minister, and also given the busy workload that the commission will have over the next year or so, it will be very important that she and the other commissioners ensure that they have appropriate time to devote to the important work of the commission.
Having said that, I am glad to see that the commission is now at full strength. It is appropriate, given the tasks that lie ahead. I wish Ms Hūria and the other members of the commission well in the tasks that lie ahead of them, and I am delighted to confirm that the Labour Opposition will support this appointment.
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) Link to this
I likewise state that the Green Party very much welcomes the appointment of Ms Hūria as a member and the Deputy Chair of the Electoral Commission. As the previous speaker, Charles Chauvel, has indicated, there is a huge task for the Electoral Commission over the next few years overseeing the referendum and a second referendum. We too are relieved that we now have full membership on the Electoral Commission.
We are impressed by the curriculum vitae of Ms Hūria. We agree that it looks as though she is extremely productive. We hope that she is not stretched in too many directions, because the Electoral Commission will need a great deal of focus, effort, and attention to steer successfully through the next period of referendums on MMP, etc. We affirm our support for this appointment.
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki) Link to this
Tēnā koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to have a say about the appointment of Jane Hūria as deputy chair of the Electoral Commission. The Māori Party stands to support Jane’s appointment to that position. In doing so, we firstly mihi to Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tūahuriri on the honour of this appointment—an appointment that we believe is absolutely warranted.
It is a particularly interesting day for this appointment to come before the House. Jane is a member of the Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Commission, which has been set up to provide charitable relief to the Christchurch community from the effects of the recent earthquakes and aftershocks. As Christchurch is no doubt still reeling from the announcements made earlier this afternoon about properties and houses no longer able to be lived in, we are pleased that there is something special at least for Ngāi Tahu to consider in terms of the appointment of this very strong nominee.
As I understand it, and as has been expressed in this House, Jane comes to this position with a wealth of experience in governance and organisation. She has broad-based commercial experience, including in law, insurance, market research, and financial markets. In addition to that experience she has directorships in the electricity, technology, business development, education, insurance, property development, agribusiness, seafood marketing, and sport and recreation sectors.
As other speakers have said, she serves on a number of boards, and she is a lay member of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and a member of the management advisory group for the Secretary to the Treasury. If all of that is not enough, she is also patron of the University of Canterbury Foundation, a supporter of the Christchurch Arts Festival, and a board member of the Court Theatre. Not only does she sit on many of those boards but also she develops and teaches public and in-house governance courses for the Institute of Directors in New Zealand, for the Tertiary Education Commission for university, polytechnic, and wānanga councils, and for Sport and Recreation New Zealand. All of these qualifications make her an ideal applicant for the position.
There is one more reason that I think it is particularly pleasing that tangata whenua has been appointed to this particular role. In the recent process of broadcasting allocations, we believe that decisions were made that in effect devalue the role of the Treaty and of te reo Māori as the official language of Aotearoa. The Māori Party allocation was dramatically reduced between 2008 and 2011 to the effect of a loss of some $90,000. We could not help but wonder whether confusion has arisen over the differing legislative responsibilities that govern the broadcasting allocation process—namely, between the Broadcasting Act 1989 and the Electoral Act 1993. Although the Broadcasting Act has clear requirements on promoting Māori language and Māori culture, the Electoral Act refers only to Māori representation. We were astounded that the only party that exclusively represents the Māori electorates was allocated less than 5 percent of the funding for a population that represents 17 percent of the New Zealand population.
We hope, therefore, that this appointment will give special capacity to speak to tangata whenua as the Treaty partner, to focus on voting constituencies that have been historically under-represented with low turn-out, particularly of young Māori, and to our unique capacity to express our message through te reo rangatira, te reo Māori. We strongly support the appointment of Jane Hūria.
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) Link to this
I rise to support the appointment of the third Electoral Commissioner. The reason this comes to this House is that we in New Zealand have a long tradition of well-run elections. I think we can be very, very proud of the fact that we run non-corrupt elections in New Zealand. We have public confidence in our election processes, which is one of the reasons why New Zealand has relatively high rates of voter participation in our democratic elections. People know that if they cast their vote, it will be counted properly, and that there will not have been corrupt practices in the electoral process, that political parties do their utmost to comply with the laws, and that we have independent bodies like the Electoral Commission overseeing elections to make sure that the laws that this country has built up over the years are adhered to.
One of the ways we maintain the confidence of political parties across the political divide in the process is that when we make appointments to the Electoral Commission, which oversees elections, we make sure that that process is not politicised. We do not see the former president of the Labour Party being appointed to the Electoral Commission, and we do not see the former president of the National Party being appointed to the Electoral Commission; we see independent people who are of standing in the community who political parties across the House can agree are appropriate people to oversee elections and maintain our confidence in those processes and also, more important, maintain broader public confidence in those processes so that we maintain confidence in our democratic institutions.
There is a saying that the only thing worse than democracy is the alternative. That is a backhanded way of saying that democracy is very, very important. We in this House all understand that democracy—for all its flaws, for all its frustrations at times, and for all its niggles and our sometimes immature behaviour in this House—overall delivers better outcomes than Saddam Hussein managed to in Iraq despite a wealth of oil money. Despite various other despots in other parts of the world, democracy delivers good outcomes.
In New Zealand we have one of the longest unbroken democracies in the world, and we can be very proud of that. We have strong traditions, and those traditions are, in my opinion, almost more important than the written rules of law. But those traditions are reinforced and upheld through good rules of law. We in New Zealand have good electoral law, and we try across this Parliament to agree on the structure of it. We do not always agree. There is always disagreement at the margins. The Labour Party does not think we do as well as we could on the transparency of donations, which can be made in a way that undermines public confidence in our electoral processes, but we have some pretty strict rules around what is spent on elections and where the funding for that spending comes from, even if in some situations we do not have clarity as to who donated the money.
The people we rely upon to oversee our rules around elections are at the Electoral Commission. That is the body that we have formed in recent years to take over the functions that were previously split between two bodies. The Electoral Commission is already quite busy; it has had a by-election recently—the Botany by-election—since its formation, and of course we have another this weekend, in Te Tai Tokerau. I wish the candidates well in that election, and I thank them for their efforts. We rely upon the Electoral Commission to oversee the rules to make sure that we are all playing by the same ground rules, so that we do not descend into the sort of nonsense—and I think it is nonsense—that we have in places like the United States of America. Enormous amounts of money are spent on elections, enormous amounts of money are spent on lobbyists, and the outcomes are no more just or good for their country. In fact, I would suggest that they are less just than the outcomes we generally achieve in New Zealand.
We rely upon the members of the Electoral Commission to oversee those rules. We already have two of those officers. The first is the Hon Hugh Williams, a former High Court judge, who is in charge of this body; I understand he is the chair. Is that right, Mr Chauvel? He is the chair. We also have had Robert Peden, the Chief Electoral Officer, appointed to a role on the Electoral Commission. Today’s appointment of Ms Hūria is the third of the three appointees that are provided for under the law.
We are, of course, coming up to an election within 6 months. The Electoral Commission already has the workload in respect of those by-elections I have referred to. We are dealing with a new law, so the Electoral Commission will be required to make a few rulings that will be slightly different from earlier rulings, because the rules have changed. There are some issues that relate to the dual sign-off that we will now need between the Parliamentary Service and the Electoral Commission in respect of some spending that is of proper parliamentary purpose but also falls within the definition of an election advertisement. In respect of those perfectly legal transactions, we as parliamentarians will have to negotiate both the rules relating to the Parliamentary Service and the rules relating to the Electoral Commission. We look forward to some sensible rulings from both of those bodies as we parliamentarians try our best to adhere to the rules of the law.
The attributes of Ms Hūria have been well canvassed by other speakers, and I do not propose to repeat them. Suffice it to say that her experience is wide ranging, and has included public roles as well as roles for private companies. We on the Labour Party side of the House have confidence that she is a suitable appointee to this role. I will not say anything more than that. The Labour Party supports the appointment of Ms Hūria as the third member of the Electoral Commission.