The Government is weakening our democracy by restricting voting rights and making it easier for the wealthy to donate to political campaigns under the cover of anonymity.

“These changes represent a dark day for our democracy,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Democracy and Electoral Reform, Celia Wade Brown.

“What we do with our democracy matters; who we shut out and who we afford special privileges shapes the decisions made in Parliament and the direction this country is taken in.

“Requiring enrolments before voting starts will see even more people miss out from expressing their democratic right. In the last General Election, over 200,000 people enrolled to vote or updated their details in the last 12 days. These changes would see all of these people miss out on having their say.

“We are deeply concerned to see the prisoner voting ban brought back. The Supreme Court and the Waitangi Tribunal have both been clear that blocking people from prison from voting is a breach of their fundamental rights.

“While the Government has taken away votes from people in prison and made it harder to vote in general, it has made it easier for wealthy people to donate to political parties from the shadows by raising the disclosure threshold to $6,000.

“Big money in politics is a problem for our democracy, but something that benefits the coalition, which might explain the decision to allow the wealthy to donate more money anonymously.

“A Green Government will restore the right to vote for all New Zealanders, restore same-day enrolment, and keep big money out of politics by reforming election funding in line with the recommendations of the Independent Electoral Review.

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