5 Mar 2019

Parliament's to do list: Tuesday 5 March 2019

From The House , 9:00 am on 5 March 2019

MPs are back in Wellington following a week's recess from Parliament's corridors, and first up on the agenda in the House is question time. Government legislation will follow afterwards.

The plan for what they'll work on today is below.

Question time - 2pm

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Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox

Twelve oral questions to ministers from either opposition or government party MPs.

Questions from the Opposition will try to expose a failing of the Government while patsy questions from MPs on the Government side will give ministers a chance to speak positively about their achievements.

Supplementary (follow-up) questions are allocated to parties but are ultimately at the discretion of the Speaker. The first supplementary is normally given to the initial question-asker but after that any MP can jump up for the chance to question.

Tax rates for 2019 - committee stage continued

What:

  • Official title: Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018/19, Modernising Tax Administration, and Remedial Matters) Bill

  • Committee stages are where the bits of a bill are pulled apart and examined to make sure the bill will do what it says it will. The length of this stage can be unpredictable with some bills progressing quickly while other more controversial bills take much longer.

  • This bill sets the income tax rate for the year and makes some other changes to the tax system including: introducing a “short process ruling” to allow small businesses to apply for a binding ruling from the Inland Revenue Department on how a taxation law would apply; allow people over 65 years to join KiwiSaver, although employers would not be obliged to make contributions for them; and add new KiwiSaver employee contribution rates of 6% and 10% to the existing rates of 3%, 4%, and 8%.

Who:

  • Minister of Revenue Stuart Nash is the sponsor of this bill.

Police conference in Wellington.Police Minister Stuart Nash.

Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

Why:

  • This is one of the ways the Government collects revenue to pay for things like health, transport, housing, and education.

  • It’s also a confidence motion like the debate on the Prime Minister’s Statement. No Government can operate without money so if the House doesn’t approve this bill then the Government couldn’t afford to do what it wants.

Legalising blasphemy, (sort of) - third reading

What:

  • Official title: the Crimes Amendment Bill.

  • This bill repeals the law of “blasphemous libel” which is listed as an offence under the Crimes Act 1961, under the heading 'Crime against religion'.

  • Repeals the ‘year and a day’ law or Section 162 of the Crimes Act.

  • Repeals Section 71(2) of the Act which deals with spouses or civil union partners being charged as an accessory after the fact.

  • Adds this punishment for livestock rustlers: “A person commits theft and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years if they steal any livestock or any other animal that is the property of any other person”. This is from National MP Ian McKelvie’s member’s bill and was added at the committee stage.

Who:

Labour MP Andrew Little, Minister of Treaty Negotiations speaks to Iwi in the Gallery during an iwi bill debate

Photo: VNP / Phil Smith

Why:

  • Imprisonment for up to a year remains possible under current law for anyone who publishes any ‘blasphemous libel’ which can include worshiping Satan, or saying that God is cruel or unkind. While the clause is widely seen as anachronistic, removing it was the subject of most of the submissions on this bill. Yes you can read the written submissions on a bill online.

  • The ‘year and a day’ law prevents people being charged for causing someone's death if they died more than 'one year and a day' after the criminal act. The law has prevented charges in recent years including in relation to the collapse of the CTV building in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake which killed 115 people.

  • If someone helps a person who has committed a crime they can be charged with being an 'accessory after the fact' unless they are that person’s spouse or civil union partner. This bill will get rid of that protection for spouses or partners.

To market to market - first reading

What:

  • The Financial Markets (Derivatives Margin and Benchmarking) Reform Amendment Bill  

  • An omnibus bill, it will amend more than one other piece of legislation related to banking and markets. This bill is deep in the grass of the financial market workings and will have little interest (and make even less sense) to many people.

  • It aims to make changes to market rules (especially regarding derivatives) that would bring New Zealand into line with international regulations easing compliance and trading internationally. It also plans to create a licensing regime for financial bench-markers. 

Who:

  • Chris Faafoi is the minister in charge of this bill, with his Commerce and Consumer Affairs hat on. One of his five ministerial portfolios.   
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Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Chris Faafoi Photo: VNP / Phil Smith

Tidy up internal affairs - second reading

What:

Who:

This Bill is in the name of Nanaia Mahuta who is Minister for Local Government.

Labour MP and Minister for Maori Development Nanaia Mahuta

Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox

Why:

  • The Bill responds to the New Zealand Productivity Commission’s July 2014 report Regulatory institutions and practices. The Commission found that finding time in Parliament’s calendar to update legislation can be difficult, and regulatory agencies often have to deal with out of date legislation. The Bill is an opportunity for minor and technical amendments to be implemented across the local government legislative regime.

See what the House manages to get through each day on the Parliament website here.