10 Mar 2020

Something for (and from) everyone: the week in Parliament

From The House , 6:55 pm on 10 March 2020

It’s going to be an incredibly varied week in parliament. It includes members’ bills, a local bill, an extra sitting, tax and election legislation, abortion reform. It’s a heady mix.

The first action of the week will also be the most contested. 

Tuesday begins with the Abortion Legislation Bill. It’s up to the committee stage so (despite the pleas from campaigners to MPs this week), it cannot fail, but it can be changed. Quite a few amendments have been suggested. Because it is a conscience issue where MPs vote as individuals, rather than as party blocs the voting on each amendment will be glacial.

Parliament as seen from the Press gallery

Parliament as seen from the Press gallery Photo: VNP / Phil Smith

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If the House manages to get through that debate on Tuesday evening it will move on to minor changes to tax rules, mostly related to student loans and correcting PIE rates.

‘You call this a plan?’

Wednesday is the first Members’ Day of the year, set aside for considering bills suggested by MPs that are not ministers. Before it begins though the House will spend two hours debating the government’s plans for the upcoming budget (the Budget Policy Statement, which the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee has been reviewing).

Wait for it, wait for it...

Because the House can change its own rules the next thing on Wednesday is a member’s bill being debated out of order. Chloe Swarbrick’s Election Access Fund Bill intends to make elections more accessible, especially for prospective disabled MPs. It’s being debated first both so it can apply to the 2020 election (if the House agrees), and also because the debate will be translated into NZ sign (so predictable debate times are useful). 

The local bill up for debate is about accountancy rules for councils with sub-businesses and will be of interest only to those councils.

The other members’ bills up for Wednesday have been waiting to be debated since 2018, having spent a year and a half stuck in a log-jam behind the End of Life Choice Bill. The opponents of that bill employed quite effective filibustering tactics and slowed its progress considerably (and with it also the bills waiting behind it).

Vaping and voting

Thursday morning is an extra session at Parliament and the plan includes a bill to regulate vaping (and other smokeless products), and one to revert to allowing prisoners to vote if they will be released within the term of the Parliament being voted on. That last change has been prompted by a finding that the current law contravenes the New Zealand bill of Rights - which is a part of our ‘constitution’.