Wellington has reached ‘high spring’ which mostly means high winds, but it also carries the hopeful future prospect of heat and the slowing pace of year’s end. Parliament shows no such signs.
As has become normal, this week will again include an extra morning sitting in the House. Each extra sitting provides four more hours of debate, but loses a morning of Select Committee meetings.
A lot of issues and bills will be debated this week:
Spring at Parliament, where the oak trees feel a fresh flush of growth Photo: © VNP / Phil Smith
In the House on Tuesday…
The week will begin with speeches to congratulate the Black Ferns on their awesome World Cup Victory. Whether or not this is the most important issue of the week (it might be), it will definitely be the most upbeat and collegial.
- The first bill up will be the Te Rohe o Rongokako Joint Redress Bill which deals with redress issues that are shared by the Ngati Kahungunu and Rangitane iwi. It is having a second reading.
- The Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Amendment Bill had a second reading last week, this week is the committee stage (and Third Reading on Wednesday). This bill allows Maori to swap between Maori and General electoral rolls at will (instead of five-yearly), except in the three months leading up to a general election.
- Also having a committee stage is the Security Information in Proceedings Legislation Bill. It focuses on courts having to deal with 'secret squirrel' information that the rest of us aren’t meant to know.
On Wednesday morning…
Tuesday evening will segue into Wednesday morning (which will still be Tuesday in the House). It is hard to know how far down the Order Paper MPs will be when they toddle home to bed on Tuesday evening, or how much further they will get during Wednesday' morning's extra four hours.
- The Dairy Industry Restructuring (Fonterra Capital Restructuring) Amendment Bill - gets a second reading debate (on the report back from Select Committee with suggestions). This bill allows Fonterra to create a new capital structure. Fonterra grew from a Government entity (the Dairy Board) and so was established by law, so law is required to change it.
- There is a final (third) debate on the Plant Variety Rights Bill which deals with rights over native flora. It describes itself as replacing “the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987, modernising the regime and implementing the Crown's obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi in relation to the plant variety rights regime and New Zealand's obligations under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership."
- The Natural Hazards Insurance Bill reworks the Earthquake Commission and renames it. It has a second reading this week. The new name will be Toka Tū Ake – Natural Hazards Commission, Parliament willing.
On Wednesday evening…
- The Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Amendment Bill will get a third and final reading. The Government amended the bill somewhat to gain support from The National Party (with a three month carve-out prior to general elections), so this bill will have wide support.
- The Water Services Entities Bill gets a second reading debate as it returns from Select Committee. The Committee has suggested a raft of changes to this element of the Three Waters plan which are in the new legislation. The Committee’s full report back to the House is available here. It includes the new proposed bill and the committee report, plus dissenting opinions from National, ACT and Green MPs.
On Thursday…
MPs plan to hold a special debate on the report of the Environment Committee on the Emissions Budgets published in 2022 and the first emissions reduction plan. If you want to bone up on the report first - it is available here.