Wednesdays are a bit different at Parliament. Question time happens as usual, followed by a General Debate. Then MPs can discuss legislation, but every other Wednesday (including this week) the bills being debated are from MPs not in the Government (Member’s Bills).
The foyer of the library building at Parliament Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
Question time - 2pm
Twelve questions to Ministers crafted to catch them out or support their achievements.
Supplementary (follow-up) questions follow at the discretion of the Speaker.
The questions have to be lodged with the Clerk’s office in the morning so they can be checked and are then published a couple hours before the House sits on Parliament’s website here.
Taupatupatu Whānui - The General Debate 3pm(ish)
What
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Twelve speeches of up to five minutes in length. Bigger parties get more speeches.
Why
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The general debate exists so MPs can bring up issues that debates on legislation don’t allow them to cover, so it can range widely. Sometimes each party coordinates their talking points but that’s optional. There’s fewer rules generally and it can be both raucous and entertaining.
The Brown Trout sculpture that welcomes travelers into Gore. Photo: RNZ / YouTube
Gore Water (Wednesday)
What:
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The first reading of the Gore District Council (Otama Water Supply) Bill
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This is a local bill and allows the Gore District Council to transfer ownership/responsibility of a water scheme to those who use the scheme. The Bill is needed because the Local Government Act 2002 says local governments are not allowed to transfer water schemes to non-local government organisations.
Why:
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When a council wants to do something outside of the legislative framework that they operate in or change an historical arrangement that’s affected by an Act of Parliament. Local bills are usually supported through their first reading by all parties to allow feedback from the public at the select committee stage. They have a slightly different process through Parliament because of their local nature.
Member’s Bills from approx. 5pm
Member’s days happen on alternate Wednesdays in the House (unless there is other government business that has to happen first like the debate on the Prime Minister’s Statement which took up the first couple weeks of this Parliamentary sitting year.)
Member’s bills are from MPs who are not Ministers and today the following bills are up for some time in the House:
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
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The committee stage of the Arbitration Amendment Bill, in the name of National MP Andrew Bayly. It seeks to: reverse the current rebuttable presumption of open proceedings (in line with overseas practice); resolve uncertainty regarding whether an arbitration clause in a trust deed would be binding. Every party but New Zealand First agreed to its first reading.
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The second reading (continued) of the Health and Safety at Work (Volunteer Associations) Amendment Bill from National MP Harete Hipango. The Bill seeks to reduce the requirements on volunteer based organisations under the Health and Safety Act. The debate on this bill began two weeks ago and you can read the debate so far here, but the indication last sitting was that the Bill would not progress.
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The second reading of the Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Bill in the name of Labour MP Kieran McAnulty. The Bill aims to further protect the rights of employees that are employed by one company but managed by another (for example temporary labour contractees). The Bill is returning from review by Select Committee with recommended amendments.
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Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill (in the name of New Zealand First MP, Darroch Ball) will have its first reading (continued). This Bill will create a new offence of injuring a prison officer or first responder (i.e. staff from police, emergency health and fire services) with intent with a mandatory sentence of six months imprisonment. Also it would add emergency health and fire service staff to the the offence of ‘assault on police, prison, or traffic officers’ currently provided for in the Summary Offences Act 1981.
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Broadcasting (New Zealand on Air and Te Māngai Pāho Reporting Requirements) Amendment Bill (in the name of National MP, Melissa Lee), which would require New Zealand on Air and Te Māngai Pāho to publish quarterly the viewership figures of every project they fund.
See what the House manages to get through each day on the Parliament website here.
