On Newshub Nation: Simon Shepherd interviews Justice Minister Andrew Little

Normally after each election, the Justice Select Committee releases a report on how to strengthen our electoral systems for the following election.

It's usually completed within a year. But this time around, it's been nearly two years - and still no report.

The Green Party is warning that time is now running out for any genuine electoral reform before election 2020.

Justice Minister Andrew Little responds to these concerns.

Simon Shepherd: Listening to that interview is Justice Minister Andrew Little who is on the phone now. We gave him a copy of the letter that the Greens sent. Minister, what did you think of it?

Andrew Little: I think that Marama Davidson raises some issues that I agree with her on, and that is that the Justice Committee is taking a long time to complete its inquiry into the general election. It decided to inquire both the 2016 local body elections and the 2017 general election at the same time. They’ve had a big workload anyway, and it has got very slow. I’ve already introduced some legislation for some changes for next year’s election, so you can do election day enrolments — those sorts of things. But I specifically asked the committee to look into foreign interference and foreign donations. That was nearly a year ago, and we still don’t have a report. So, I am getting concerned about that too, which is why I foreshadowed this week that if I don’t see something soon, then I’ll be talking to my colleagues in Cabinet about the Government simply just taking the next step and taking some action.

All right. When is the deadline for the committee to come back with something or you actually override them and go to Cabinet?

Look, if I don’t see something in the next couple of months then it’s going to be difficult to introduce legislation dealing with the foreign donations issue that allows the public to have a good say on it and a good public debate about it, to pass legislation in time for next year’s general election. The regulator period will start sometime between June and September, depending on when the election is called for. You want to have a period of time before that that that the law applies from. You’ve got to have a law passed by early-ish next year if it’s going to have a meaningful impact on next year’s general election.

In April, the head of the GCSB warned the committee about the hacking of MPs systems, threats to core electoral systems, pressure on control of the diaspora communities by foreign governments months ago. Why isn’t there a sense of urgency from the committee?

The committee is what we call a ‘split committee’, so the numbers on each side are even — opposition members and government members. There is no majority that allows to cut through and make majority decisions. Everything has to be done by agreement. One member on the committee can effectively veto a decision to progress things or hurry things up. I think that’s part of the challenge that they’ve got. But in any event they’ve got the issue. I’ve got to be careful as a minister that I don’t look like I’m interfering in or are trying to boss around the committee. They’ve got a job to do as representatives of the whole of Parliament. I want them to do that. I want them to have a good examination of it because most of the committee reports come up with good recommendations. But I have to say in the interest of New Zealanders, given what’s happening around the rest of the world, people want to know that our general election processes have integrity, and if we can’t do the things that provide that level of assurance fairly soon, then the government of the day is just going to have to act.

All right. So you’ve seen the letters, but have you spoken to chair Meka Whaitiri since you’ve read it?

I’ve had a discussion with Meka — just about how things are going, what progress they’re making. She says they are making progress. Meka, in fairness, has only chaired the committee for a few weeks. She’s getting to grips with the totality of their workload. Look, she says they are making progress. I’ve said, ‘Look, I’ll just keep an eye on how things are going.’ But subject to talking to colleagues, we can’t wait forever. And I doubt whether being about to report by the end of the year is going to be enough time to get meaningful change so that we can provide a level of assurance about the integrity of our democratic systems that New Zealanders expect.

Okay. Minister, I’ve just got one other quick question for you. You revealed this week that you had a burner phone in China. I just want to know whether you’re talking on a legitimate parliamentary phone today or a burner phone.

I’m talking on my standard phone that I’ve had for a long, long time.

Okay, all right. Andrew Minister— Justice Minister, Andrew Little. Justice Minister, thank you very much for your time.

© Scoop Media