Tax, local issues, and the last group of new MPs giving their maiden statement will take place at Parliament this week.
Wide view of Parliament's Debating Chamber Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith
MPs are required to turn up at Parliament in Wellington for scheduled sitting days to work through a list of business set out by the Government. The list is always longer than time allows just in case they get through things more quickly so below are a couple of items to keep an eye out for.
2pm - Question time
Each day in the House starts at 2pm and normally begins with question time. Up to 12 questions are asked of Ministers with follow-ups (supplementaries) allowed at the discretion of the Speaker. Questions are published here.
Taxes
Minister of Revenue David Parker is in charge of this Taxation Bill Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
Every year Parliament has to pass a bill confirming tax rates. Failure to do so would mean tax couldn’t be collected.
The Bill is a regular feature of Parliament and isn’t normally considered controversial but its stages of debate can be used by MPs to discuss the good and bad of the Government. At its first reading debate the National Party indicated they wouldn’t support it and at its second reading debate, National, the ACT Party and Te Paati Māori voted against it.
This time the Bill has had a late addition to it in the form of a Supplementary Order paper (SOP). It’s a procedural tool which allows MPs to propose changes to a bill.
The SOP will add in a housing policy announcement made by the Government this morning increasing the bright-line test from five to 10 years.
This means profits from residential investment properties (not the family home) which are bought and sold within 10 years will be taxed.
The bill is an omnibus bill meaning it will affect more than one Act and it makes quite a few changes including work on transferring New Zealanders’ Australian retirement savings, assistance for dairy and beef cattle farmers affected by mycoplasma bovis cull which began in 2017, and preventing tax mismatches arising on the sale of a business or commercial property.
There’s a deadline on the bill needing to be passed by the end of the tax year so it’s being debated under urgency to get through the remaining two stages more quickly: the Committee of the Whole House and the Third Reading.
The Committee stage is when MPs debate the details of a bill and make sure it’s worded properly to do what it says it will. It’s the last chance to make changes if something needs to be corrected or added so there’s no time limit to this stage.
This means a party that opposes the bill can try to lengthen the debate and delay its passing by giving as many speeches as possible. But ultimately the chairperson can move it along if speeches start getting repetitive or a particular part of the bill has been debated enough.
Normally a bill can only go through one stage each sitting day but urgency means the House can go straight into the third reading debate once the committee stage is over. A third reading is a chance for MPs to share their final thoughts on whether or not they support or oppose the bill. As the Government has the majority this Bill is unlikely to fail and will come into law after it receives Royal Assent (signature of approval) from the Governor General.
Maiden statements
Each new MP gives a 15 minute first-speech, called a maiden speech/statement, which outlines their political values, hopes for their time at Parliament, the community they represent and where they’ve come from.
Forty-two new MPs joined this Parliament and the last five MPs to give their maiden statement will do so this week. It may seem a long time since the election but the schedule was delayed a bit by changes in Covid-19 alert levels. The delay also means that for most MPs their maiden speech/statement isn’t actually the first time they speak in the House.
Maiden statements are often referred to throughout an MP’s career particularly when they leave and MPs take care with what they choose to say in theirs.
Five National MPs will give their speeches this week: Nicola Grigg and Simon Watts on Tuesday from 5:30pm and Joseph Mooney, Penny Simmonds, and Christopher Luxon on Wednesday from 5:15pm.
Members' Day
Members' bills are assigned a number and put into a ballot to be drawn at random for debate in the House. The tin was bought from Deka in the 1990s. Photo: Supplied / Office of the Clerk
Each second Wednesday that the House is sitting, MPs debate bills that are not from the Government. If Urgency carries on into Wednesday afternoon it will delay Members’ Day but if it doesn’t then these bills will likely be debated:
This bill from Labour MP Ginny Anderson will allow employees to be eligible for three days of bereavement leave following the unplanned end of pregnancy by miscarriage or stillbirth. It’s received support across the House and will likely pass its third and final reading this week.
National MP Chris Bishop is in charge of this Bill which will allow lawyers to do free legal work (pro bono) outside of their employment on conditions set by the New Zealand Law Society. Under the current law, there are some circumstances where an employed lawyer may be guilty of misconduct if they do legal work outside of the lawyer’s employment.
Debating local issues
Parliament changed the rules to allow for debates on topics that wouldn’t normally be allowed. On Thursday one of those debates will take place allowing MPs to talk about issues from their home electorates.
“This is not a hugely political debate, it’s a chance for members to raise concerns about their electorates, the areas they live in, about local issues,” said the MP in charge of organising what happens in the House, the Leader of the House Chris Hipkins.
“It’s a new debate. Parliament has not always given members the opportunity to speak about matters that are really important to their local communities in the past.
MPs are often involved in community issues and champion those at Parliament, said Hipkins.
“We wanted to make sure that they had the opportunity to talk about those things at Parliament.”
The Speaker will be presiding over the debate to make sure MPs stay on the topic of local issues and don’t stray into general political discussion Hipkins said.
Follow how far the House gets each day here or watch on demand here.
