Electoral (Equal Protection of Māori Seats) Amendment Bill

Electoral (Equal Protection of Māori Seats) Amendment Bill EXPLANATORY NOTE GENERAL POLICY STATEMENT The purpose of the Electoral (Equal Protection of Māori Seats) Amendment Bill is to amend provisions of the Electoral Act 1993 to provide Māori electorates with the same protections as General electorates. The provisions relating to the General electorates are currently entrenched but provisions relating to the Māori electorates are not. This Bill corrects that constitutional imbalance by adding the provisions that relate to the Māori electorates to the list of entrenched provisions so Māori electorates have the same protection as General electorates. CLAUSE BY CLAUSE ANALYSIS Clause 1 states the Bill’s title. Clause 2 is the commencement clause and provides for the Bill to come into force on the day after it receives the Royal assent. Clause 3 identifies the Electoral Act 1993 (the principal Act ) as the Act being amended by the Bill. Clause 4 amends section 268(1) of the principal Act to add provisions to the list of entrenched provisions. The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows: 1 Title This Act is the Electoral (Equal Protection of Māori Seats) Amendment Act 2023 . 2 Commencement This Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent. 3 Principal Act This Act amends the Electoral Act 1993. 4 Section 268 amended (Restriction on amendment or repeal of certain provisions) After section 268(1)(d), insert: da Section 45, and the definition of the term Maori electoral population in section 3(1), relating to the division of New Zealand into Maori electoral districts after each census: