Parliament will return for the year as scheduled next week, but with fewer MPs present than usual.
It has been decided that only 60 out of the 120 members of parliament will be allowed in the chamber at any given time. (file image) Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Yesterday, the Business Select Committee met to discuss the running of Parliament in response to Omicron.
It has been decided that only 60 out of the 120 members of parliament will be allowed in the chamber at any given time.
Speaker Trevor Mallard said if a large number of MPs needed to isolate, there were other options in place to ensure Parliament could continue.
"We can switch to either semi-virtual with some people partaking from outside the building, or we can go more or less entirely virtual, where there will be me, the Clerk, and one minister in the building, and everyone else doing it from home."
Changes to proxy voting also meant that one member could vote on the rest of the party's behalf, without those MPs needing to be in the building, Mallard said.
So far, the sitting schedule for the year is unchanged.
Mallard said the settings at Parliament would be reviewed on a weekly basis.