This week is mainly one for the Parliamentary nerds with hours of debate on Budget 2019 but there’s also a bill for watching the Rugby World Cup at your local.
Budget
Photo: RNZ / Ana Tovey
Eight. Hours. Fifty. Five. Minutes. Remaining.
This is a long debate on the Government’s plan to spend the country’s money aka Budget 2019.
It’s officially called the Appropriation (2019/20 Estimates) Bill and its main debates are closer to 11 or 15 hours each than the usual two hours, earning them their own colloquial names. This debate is 11 hours in total and while it’s technically the committee stage on the Bill, its shorthand is ‘the Estimates Debate’.
This debate is very detail focused and MPs discuss reports from select committees which spent weeks grilling Ministers on their budget plans for portfolios like education and health.
The speeches will essentially be Budget-yay, or Budget-nay.
More info:
Rugby and a pint
Photo: 2017 World Rugby
Time zones are the main reason for this bill. The Rugby World Cup is being held in Japan this year but not all the game times match up with the opening hours of bars, pubs, and clubs in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Normally liquor licenses are determined by local bodies but some establishments are having trouble getting special ones to extend their opening times for the RWC.
This bill will allow bars to open anytime a match is on. A similar bill was passed in 2015 for the same reason.
More info:
See the full list of work before the House of Representatives here.
