{"id":569444,"date":"2026-08-15T03:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T03:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569444\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T03:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T03:22:11","slug":"voter-suppression-by-stealth-nz-govt-accused-of-locking-out-pasifika-vote-te-ao-maori-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569444\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Voter suppression by stealth\u2019 – NZ govt accused of locking out Pasifika vote \u2013 Te Ao M\u0101ori News"},"content":{"rendered":"

I whakaputahia t\u0113nei \u0101tikara e RNZ.<\/a> <\/p>\n

The Minister for Pacific Peoples has denied that a recent law change ruling out late enrolment<\/a> will disenfranchise Pasifika voters.<\/p>\n

However, others beg to differ, echoing a report from the government\u2019s own Attorney-General<\/a> at the time this change and other voter restictions were announced.<\/p>\n

The report said they would adversely affect Pacific people and be inconsistent with people\u2019s rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The change means that in the upcoming November general election, voters have to enrol 13 days before election day, after the government ended the ability for eligible voters to enrol and cast special votes during the voting period.<\/p>\n

In the report, former Attorney-General Judith Collins acknowledged that special votes were more likely to come from areas with larger M\u0101ori, Asian and Pasifika communities, and that younger people are more likely to cast special votes.<\/p>\n

Despite this, the Justice and Pacific Peoples\u2019 Minister Paul Goldsmith said he didn\u2019t accept that the change would disenfranchise Pacific voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is required by the legislation to get enrolled. We don\u2019t think New Zealanders are less capable than Australians, and if Australians can get it done 30 days before the election, we\u2019re confident that New Zealanders can get it done in a timely fashion as well,\u201d he told RNZ Pacific.<\/p>\n

But Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono said the government was making democracy harder to access.<\/p>\n

\u201cElection day enrolment has allowed thousands of people to participate who might otherwise have missed out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking that option away will disproportionately affect communities that already face barriers to engagement, and in particular our Pasifika communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Special votes counted during the 2023 general election included over 97,000 people who registered for the first time during the voting period.<\/p>\n

However, Goldsmith said he had \u201cevery confidence\u201d that people who are entitled to vote will have every opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo my message to them right here right now is: it\u2019s not hard,\u201d said Goldsmith.<\/p>\n

Efficiency excuse \u2018a lot of rot\u2019<\/p>\n

New Zealand has a highly trusted and transparent electoral system, yet the government is arguing the change makes the democratic system more efficient.<\/p>\n

Tuiono said special votes made up nearly a third of ballots in largely Pasifika electorates and described the government\u2019s claim about improving efficiency as an excuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a lot of rot, that actually what this is is voter suppression by stealth,\u201d he told RNZ Pacific.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery eligible New Zealander should be able to vote, regardless of how busy their lives are or how often they move. So these changes are literally locking people out of decisions that govern their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Winston Peters’ NZ First Party has a new electoral policy that could also curb the Pacific vote. Photo: RNZ \/ Baz Macdonald. Permanent residents in NZ First\u2019s crosshairs<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, other members of the governing coalition are campaigning on introducing new electoral policy that could further squeeze out the Pasifika vote.<\/p>\n

NZ First has announced a policy where only New Zealand citizens have the right to vote for central and local government elections and referenda.<\/p>\n

Paul Goldsmith said the National Party hadn\u2019t yet come out in support of it, adding that it hadn\u2019t yet had a full caucus discussion about it.<\/p>\n

But Tuiono said the policy was terrible and unfairly targets people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m mindful of the saying of \u2018no taxation without representation\u2019. They literally want to take away the rights for people to vote, permanent residents to vote, Pacific people\u2019s rights to vote,\u201d Tuiono warned.<\/p>\n

N\u0101 Atereano Mateariki n\u014d RNZ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I whakaputahia t\u0113nei \u0101tikara e RNZ. The Minister for Pacific Peoples has denied that a recent law change…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[275826,111,43,139,69,5905],"class_list":["post-569444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-general-elections-2026","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-vote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}