I'm pleased but not surprised to hear that so many New Zealanders supported this change. They know that it's an idea whose time has come and a marker for what Aotearoa could and should be in the future. Importantly, those views speak to the unique aspect of our democracy that recognises our founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi—the Treaty of Waitangi. But I acknowledge that this support is not unanimous. Some submitters stated that urgency and the short select committee process is not warranted since the next local elections are 18 months away. Respectfully, I disagree. After a council decides that it will have Māori wards, it needs to go through a process to review its overall representation, where it considers where the boundaries of both general and Māori wards will be and the total number of councillors. This process starts on 1 March, and initial decisions must be made by 8 September. The legislation must be progressed quickly in order to give councils time to consider Māori wards through the transition period and then start their representation reviews.