Govt eyes end to jail voting ban

Labour changes tack after tribunal says law hits Ma¯ ori

The Government will consider overturning a ban on prisoners voting in light of a scathing report that says the ban disproportionately hurt Ma¯ori and breached the Crown’s Treaty of Waitangi obligations.

But any change would need the support of New Zealand First, which has previously stymied justice reforms, blocking Justice Minister Andrew Little’s plans to repeal the three strikes legislation.

The Waitangi Tribunal report, released

today, says the 2010 law change was inconsistent with Treaty principles and led to significant prejudice against Ma¯ori.

The change meant prisoners could not vote because they were removed from the electoral roll; previously those serving sentences less than three years could be enrolled.

In 2010, Ma¯ ori were 2.1 times more likely to have been removed from the electoral roll than non-Ma¯ori. In 2018, they were 11.4 times more likely.

The tribunal said the Crown advice to the select committee for the 2010 bill failed to recognise the consequences of the legislation for Ma¯ori.

Disenfranchising Ma¯ori prisoners also continued to affect people after they were released.

“The Crown, therefore, has failed in its duty to actively protect the right of Ma¯ori to equitably participate in the electoral process and exercise their tino rangatiratanga individually and collectively.”

Claimant Carmen Hetaraka described the right to vote as one of the only ways for Ma¯ ori to exercise “even a small degree of rangatiratanga”.

“Taking away this right, especially where the offence is relatively minor, is wrong,” he told the tribunal. The tribunal recommended:

● Overturning of the ban and allowing all prisoners to vote, irrespective of sentence.

● Having a process to ensure prisoners and ex-prisoners are enrolled in time for the 2020 election.

● Ensuring Crown advice on the impact of a bill fulfils the Crown’s Treaty of Waitangi obligations.

The report follows a Supreme Court ruling that the ban on prisoner voting, while not an invalid law, breached the Bill of Rights Act.

Labour MPs strongly opposed the 2010 bill when it was passed, and the Greens last year said they wanted the prisoner voting ban overturned.

Little has previously said revisiting the law was not a priority.

But in light of the Supreme Court judgment and the tribunal report, he said, Cabinet would look at the issue in the coming weeks.

“Because most Ma¯ori in prison are on shorter sentences, they are disproportionately affected by this [law] . . . and once they’re taken off the roll, it’s a hell of a job to get them back on the roll, so it’s having a long-term impact that wasn’t intended.

“For all those reasons, there is something there for Cabinet to consider.”

Little said the select committee at the time should have heard advice from the Ministry of Justice, but the previous Government had decided that advice should come from the Corrections Department.

A process was already being looked at involving enrolling prisoners upon release, and he said he would be surprised if current advice to select committees did not honour the Crown’s obligations under the Treaty.

Little said it was unfair to assume NZ First would be against granting prisoners the right to vote, noting the party was not in Parliament in 2010 when the bill passed.

NZ First leader Winston Peters, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said he had a personal view on the issue, but did not want to divulge that until after Cabinet and the party caucus had had time to consider it.

Last year Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis favoured letting prisoners vote, while in 2010 colleagues Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins spoke out against the ban.