Labour complains about roll move

Press, 2 August 1979, Page 4

Labour complains about roll move

PA Wellington An unsuccessful candidate in the Christchurch Central by-election might challenge the result because the centralisation of the electoral roll is not provided for in the Electoral Act, the Labour member for Mangere (Mr D .R. Lange) has suggested in Parliament

He said that everyone agreed there should be centralisation of enrolment cards but it was not provided for m the act It would be a simple matter to give it legislative sanction in the Electoral Amendment Bill now before Parliament. Mr Lange was speaking in the second reading debate on the bill which provides for a composite electoral roll for the Christchurch Central byelection and for any subsequent by-elections. The composite roll supersedes the main roll and any supplementary rolls. The Minister of Justice (Mr McLay), who introduced the bill, said he had to consider whether it should deal with the centralisation of enrolment cards procedure now or wait until the coming general review of the Electoral Act by a select committee. He had decided to wait for the review of the act because, while the Supreme decision had held that the Court in the Hunua election centralisation procedure was not a method of keeping the rolls prescribed by the Electoral Act, the compilation of the rolls was substantially in compliance with the law. “I strongly doubt that any new challenge on this ground would be any more successful!,” he said. Mr McLay said the select committee, which would be set up after the Wicks Committee on the administration of the Electoral Act had reported, should be given the opportunity to consider whether the present system of compiling rolls should continue. Mr Lange, however, argued

that the centralisation of enrolments should not be used for the by-election if it was not in accordance with the act. “Judges will not forever bail out lax Ministers of Justice,” he said. Parliament should not rely on ‘‘the presumption of judicial good will.” Mr J. L. Hunt (Lab., New Lynn) said the Opposition would support the bill, but he complained that of 136 people the Labour Party knew of who had applied for enrolment in Christchurch Central, about one-third had not been put on the roll. Mr M. J. Minogue (Nat., Hamilton West) said they were not on the roll because they had not completed their cards properly or because they were on the Maori roll, or were not entitled to be on the roll. He accused the Opposition of “a cheap, nasty piece of politicking.” The Labour member for Southern Maori (Mrs Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan) challenged Mr McLay to give a ruling on the legal status of 300 voters who were on both the Christchurch Central composite roll and the Southern Maori roll. “These electors hold a status that is at best unclear, and at worst illegal,” she said. “Are they to regard themselves as electors who can cast an ordinary vote at the by-election, or should they cast a special vote?” She said that if the status of these voters was unresolved their situation would parallel that of some voters in the disputed Hunua seat.

“They are enrolled but unqualified to vote.” Mr McLay said later that all those whose names appeared on the Christchurch Central roll would be able to cast an ordinary vote. It was possible that people whose names appeared on both the Christchurch Central roll and the Southern Maori roll had become eligible to vote in the byelection and that their enrolement on the Maori roll was out of date. Mr F. D. O’Flynn, Q.C. (Lab., Island Bay) said that although it was more than seven months since the election the Minister of Justice had done nothing to correct the “shambles” in the rolls. “Iliis is a makeshift, cranky piece of reform,” he said. Mr R. W. Prebble (Lab., Auckland Central) accused Mr McLay of “mucking around” with the electoral law. Mr McLay replied that the people of Christchurch Central knew the Government was determined they should have the best roll possible available. Mr Prebble: We’ve heard that song before. Mr McLay said it was wrong for Mr O’Flynn to say he had done nothing since the election. The Wicks Committee had been appointed and the Government was setting up a select committee to review the Electoral Act. Mr McLay said the Opposition earlier yesterday had been given the reason why some people who had applied were not on the roll but had not mentioned this. The bill was given a second reading.