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Speaker 1: Sorry, how with us at sixteen to five Zaria, Good afternoon,

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Speaker 1: Good afternoon. So we got a parliamentary watchdog now investigating

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Speaker 1: col Bates. This is the Pongui MP over the rentals.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so Parliament is investigating national MP Calbates, as you say,

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Speaker 2: over whether or not he complied with requirements to declare investments.

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Speaker 2: So Carl Bates listed properties he owned and also trust

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Speaker 2: he was a beneficiary of, and through those trusts, the

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Speaker 2: MP four Wonganui was linked to twenty five homes, most

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Speaker 2: of which rental properties in the local area. So trust

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Speaker 2: linked to the MP and his family owned twenty five

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Speaker 2: properties which are not disclosed on Parliament's list of MP's

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Speaker 2: property and financial interests, and that was first reported two

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Speaker 2: weeks ago. Well at the time the story broke, Bates

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Speaker 2: told The Herald that when he moved into politics, he

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Speaker 2: left his business to focus on being an MP, which

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Speaker 2: included selling businesses and moving away from involvement in the

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Speaker 2: family property portfolio. And he said, quote, as a discretionary

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Speaker 2: beneficiary of a family trust which has an interest in

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Speaker 2: a property portfolio, I have no involvement in it or

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Speaker 2: its interests, as is common for family trusts, and he's

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Speaker 2: also said at the time that he met with the

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Speaker 2: Registrar of Pecuniary Interests in advance of filing his return

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Speaker 2: to make sure that he would be declaring everything that

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Speaker 2: was required of him. Since that story has broke, however,

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Speaker 2: Labor MP Glenn Bennett wrote to the Registrar asking them

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Speaker 2: to determine whether an inquiry was warranted, and that answer

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Speaker 2: is yes, the Registrar has determined that an inquiry is

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Speaker 2: warranted and will be undertaken. I mean this comes after

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Speaker 2: a preliminary review from the Registrar which took into account

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Speaker 2: the degree of importance and whether or not it could

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Speaker 2: be seen as a breach of the obligations. At the

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Speaker 2: time the story first came out, Bates said that the

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Speaker 2: Registrar had actually advised him that property held in a

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Speaker 2: company whose shares are held by a trust was in

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Speaker 2: fact not required to be declared. Also, looking at the

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Speaker 2: standing orders, the Registrar must invite the member who's subject

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Speaker 2: of the inquiry to respond within ten working days. Standing

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Speaker 2: orders though, also do mean that Kyle Bates is unable

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Speaker 2: to comment on this inquiry to the media.

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Speaker 3: Do you know?

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Speaker 1: Does anyone know yet? Because he said he met with

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Speaker 1: the registrar to fill out and find out what he

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Speaker 1: needed to declare. Did he tell them at that point

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Speaker 1: that he had this interest in the twenty five rental properties?

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Speaker 1: Do we know that fact?

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Speaker 2: I don't think we know for a fact, but I

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Speaker 2: mean it is worth noting that at the time, Cayl

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Speaker 2: Bates said, the registrar advised him that property held in

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Speaker 2: a company who shares a help by trust was not

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Speaker 2: required to be declared. So it's not one hundred percent

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Speaker 2: clear in terms of that situation.

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Speaker 1: That would seem to imply he did. But anyway, we

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Speaker 1: will move on to the electoral law changes. As a

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Speaker 1: four year term. We got submissions being heard. What are

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Speaker 1: they saying?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So in terms of this bill, we'll just go

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Speaker 2: into what those changes are. Enrollment were close thirteen days

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Speaker 2: before election day, twelve days of advanced voting, the prisoner

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Speaker 2: voting ban set to come back, and a new offense

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Speaker 2: as well for prohibiting free food, drink or entertainment within

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Speaker 2: one hundred meters of a polling place. So Chief Human

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Speaker 2: Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow, who was actually appointed by the

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Speaker 2: Justice Minister who's in charge of this bill, Paul Goldsmith

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Speaker 2: told the Justice Select Committee the agency opposes both the

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Speaker 2: end to same day enrollment and the ban on prisoner voting,

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Speaker 2: so he suggested that the changes around same day enrollment

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Speaker 2: would make it more difficult for younger voters.

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Speaker 3: The changes that are proposed reverse a long term trend

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Speaker 3: of making it more easy for people to vote.

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Speaker 2: And he's also saying there will be broader implications and

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Speaker 2: says there are really wider societal concerns.

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Speaker 3: Measures that restrict access to voting, particularly for young people,

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Speaker 3: risk deepening the distrust in our democracy. And I want

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Speaker 3: to be quite explicit at this point, Committee members, this

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Speaker 3: is not just about democracy for democracy sake. Democracy is

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Speaker 3: the best safeguard for human rights.

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Speaker 2: So some quite strong words on this one from a

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Speaker 2: senior official, and also the Law Society has spoken a

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Speaker 2: bit about the changes to prisoner voting. Have a listen

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Speaker 2: to this one.

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Speaker 1: The band would also place New Zealand out of step

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Speaker 1: with Australia, Canada, Scotland, South Africa and nearly all EU

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Speaker 1: member states which allow at least some people in prison

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Speaker 1: to vote, if not all.

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Speaker 2: And we've also been hearing from the Electoral Commission which

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Speaker 2: has confirmed it does not expect the changes to make

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Speaker 2: vote counting any faster, So while it doesn't look like

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Speaker 2: it will materially reduce the time it takes to count

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Speaker 2: those votes, it does, though, mean the time doesn't blow

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Speaker 2: out significantly or will get much worse. So there'll be

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Speaker 2: a select Committee report and further votes on the bill.

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Speaker 2: It does seem quite contentious at the.

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Speaker 1: Moment, absolutely, Zari, Thank you for that. Zara Howse, senior

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Speaker 1: political reporter at Newstalk CBS.

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