Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We have bigger concerns than prisoners not voting

Now, I've done a bit of an exercise today.

I started reading the news this morning, and I was really quickly struck by how many opinion pieces and comments of outrage there were over the Government removing the voting rights from prisoners.

There was, just by my account, two full opinion pieces by academics, a newsletter that landed in my inbox, a left-wing blog post, outrage from Labour, and outrage from the Greens.

Bob Edlin: Yet more discrimination from the Waitangi Tribunal

We are wondering – here at Point of Order – which politician will go out to bat for the idea that all citizens of this country be accorded exactly the same voting rights they were given at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. 

To ensure nobody was denied those rights, all prisoners of all races in our prisons should be included in this entitlement.

We would like to think the Waitangi Tribunal might consider endorsing this idea because today it has released He Aha i Pērā Ai? The Māori Prisoners’ Voting Rights Report in pre-publication format.