Spring at Parliament, where the oak trees feel a fresh flush of growth Photo: © VNP / Phil Smith
Urgency has been lifted in Parliament ahead of the weekend.
The House was put into urgency earlier this week to progress more than 20 bills, some through all stages, to make up for time lost after the death of the Queen.
There was time allowed for Parliament to sit until midnight tonight and then possibly into tomorrow, but Leader of the House Chris Hipkins called time late this afternoon, saying "it is now time to pull up stumps".
He thanked the House and parliamentary staff for what had been a "big week for the Parliament".
Brooke van Velden Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The move had been roundly criticised by other political parties, as cramming a significant amount of legislation in the urgency motion - far more than would have been progressed in the week Parliament was suspended to the mark the Queen's death.
ACT is now accusing National and Labour MPs of rushing through and not taking enough time to debate the legislation that's been going through the House.
As urgency went into Friday some MPs took extremely brief calls, which ACT said was not enough to provide the proper scrutiny.
Its deputy leader Brooke van Velden said the laws being debated had "real impact on people's lives".
"Members of Parliament have a duty to scrutinise legislation," she said. "New Zealanders were badly let down today.
"These are people who are paid six-figure salaries with taxpayers' money. They took the piss so they could have the weekend off."
