Parliament's year is winding down but the government's agenda marches on, with the House sitting extra mornings to manage the workload.
The bills being debated vary widely in both topic and support, and this week illustrate the way the House can flick from amity to antagony in moments.
There have been a number of examples of relative harmony, including a bill to create a statutory framework for Police-run background checks, another related to independent monitoring of Oranga Tamariki, and a third to defer deadlines for the remediation of earthquake-prone buildings.
The support is often cautious or conditional but it is a long way from the table-thumping oppose-at-all-costs picture of politics.
The House For Weds 6 Nov 2024
The weekly sheep sale at Gisborne's Matawhero Stockyards Photo: Phil Smith
Change the topic though and it's all on. Two other bills being debated this week relate to anthropogenic climate change and are highly contentious. Regardless, both successfully passed a second reading.
One bill would reopen new oil and gas exploration. It was vociferously opposed by Labour, the Greens and Māori and acclaimed by National and especially by ACT and New Zealand First.
The second bill removes any agricultural obligations under the Emissions Trading Scheme (a market which puts a price on climate-affecting pollution).
Agricultural processors were due to begin paying a fee for fertiliser and livestock emissions from 1 January 2025. Animal farmers would have become liable from 2027.
The agricultural obligations included a 95% discount, so were pretty generous, but regardless, their removal was described by Mark Patterson (NZ First) as taking "the sword of Damocles off the rural sector."
The frustration from the opposition was palpable and given some context by Labour's Damien O'Connor, who gave a weary potted history. A National government signed up to the Kyoto Protocol way back in 1992, so the country has known its obligations and their price tag for a very long time.
Taking steps to include our largest polluting sector is always an excellent idea for later though. The minister in charge of this bill, Simon Watts reiterated "the Government's commitment to establishing a fair and sustainable pricing system for agriculture outside of the New Zealand ETS by 2030."
National's coalition partners, however, did not publicly add this further deferment to their own calendars.
Mark Cameron from ACT poo-pooed the science instead. "Carbon dioxide is 0.04 percent. Gracious me, Mr O'Connor. Methane is two parts per million, and we're having this hyperbolic runaway conversation--end of days. …that side of the House is willing to impoverish a nation."
Green's Steve Abel interjected to point out that 0.04% cyanide is also too much. The riposte was shaken off like a summer shower.
This is the House, where the topic can change like the weather, and the mood can get chilly along with it.