Simon Bridges vows to reintroduce prisoner voting ban, despite court rulings

Prisoners have won some voting rights, but the Opposition isn't happy about it. Justice Minister Andrew Little has announced those sentenced to less than three years behind bars will be able to vote before next year's General Election. But National leader Simon Bridges says he'll reverse the move if he ends up in government. He says the move shows the Government's soft on crime. "You look at these parties. Labour is out of touch, and NZ First if they do this, it will be their death knell." A Colmar Brunton poll last month showed 53 per cent of the population supported the move, but Bridges disputes those figures. "I think the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders actually know that if you've gone to jail, you've gone for something serious. While your there it's proportionate and a right that you don't get to vote." Former jailhouse lawyer Arthur Taylor, who has campaigned against the ban, says Bridges' judgement is off. "Simon's a bit behind. Being a lawyer, you should know the law a bit better than this. Things have moved on since that ban was passed in 2010." Human rights lawyer Richard Francois says it might not be that simple for the ban to be overturned. He told The Weekend Collective he has a case before the UN at the moment which he believes will go in prisoners' favour. "In which case there would be quite a damning statement to any other political party that's got an idea of reverting back." Bridges says that it is a question of values for Parliament to decide, and they are not required to do what the Waitangi Tribunal rules on. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.