Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ statement on our electoral system show his Government is being deceitful in its constitutional changes, National’s Justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

Mr Hipkins told RNZ’s Morning Report: “There’s absolutely no change to the principle of one person one vote. Our elections are still going to be one person, one vote for councils, for general elections.”

“This is demonstrably not the case,” Mr Goldsmith says.

“Last year Labour passed the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Act, which clearly moves away from the principle of one person, one vote.

“Under the Canterbury Act, the people of Canterbury elect 14 councillors. Everyone gets a vote – Māori, Pakeha and everyone else. And then something extraordinary happens: Ngāi Tahu appoints two more councillors, with no voting and no election.

“One person, one vote has been abandoned in Canterbury.

“Labour MPs made it clear during the passage of the Canterbury Bill that it was intended to be the first of many across our local government sector.

“Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern never justified or even spoke about the Bill. The current Prime Minister now pretends it doesn’t even exist.

“The Prime Minister needs to correct the record, and then he needs to explain why he thinks ‘one person, one vote’ is no longer appropriate for Canterbury.

“National has promised to repeal the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Act and will restore equal voting rights for all New Zealanders.”

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