After the clever quips and political jabs of question time MPs move on to "Government orders of the day” which is just another way of saying they work through proposed legislation.
Here’s what they plan to do this week (May 8 - 10).
Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
MPs are required to be at Parliament for scheduled sitting days, so called because MPs sit in those green chairs in the debating chamber. An agenda known as the Order Paper is published online each sitting day outlining what business the House plans to get through but there are always more items on the list than there is time for. Below is what they’ll attempt to get through.
Pacific Free Trade (Tuesday)
What:
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The first reading (without debate) of the Tariff (PACER Plus) Amendment Bill
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This bill adds Pacer Plus Partners to the list of partners for preferential tariffs in NZ’s Tariff legislation. This is one of the things required by the PACER Plus agreement.
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PACER Plus is a trade agreement with 11 Pacific countries (Australia, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.) Full text of the agreement is available here.
Why:
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This is New Zealand’s first reciprocal trade agreement with the wider Pacific, where the majority of countries are not WTO (World Trade Organisation) members and so are not restricted by the size of tariffs they can apply to trade. The agreement plans to eliminate tariffs across 25-35 years.
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Currently NZ business pay around $24 million in tariffs to these countries annually.
Marine Consent Costs (Tuesday)
What:
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The first reading of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Amendment Bill
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Allows the Minister for the Environment to recover costs from an applicant for a board of inquiry deciding on an application for marine consent.
Why:
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The change will make sure that anything that has a private benefit will result in a private cost instead of public.
Social Security Rewrite (Tuesday)
What:
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The second reading of the Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill
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The second reading of a bill is when it returns to the House after been considered by a select committee. The debate is over whether to accept it back, and whether to agree with any amendments the committee has recommended in its report back to the House.
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This legislation was introduced by the former National-led government. This week it returns from consideration before Select Committee with recommended amendments. The Select Committee report included dissenting opinions from both Labour and the Greens - so the Government will table a supplementary order paper at the Bill's second reading notifying proposed amendments to be made during the next stage of debate (the Committee of the Whole House).
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This Bill is planned to be split up at the Committee stage into, a social security bill, a residential care and disability support services bill, and an Artificial Limb Service bill.
Why:
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This bill would repeal and replace the Social Security Act 1964 and the Social Welfare (Reciprocity Agreements, and New Zealand Artificial Limb Service) Act 1990.
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The main aim of the bill is listed as: "to make New Zealand’s social security law easier to understand by modernising its language, drafting style, and structure".
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The bill sets out people’s eligibility for social security benefits, obligations and sanctions, rights to review and appeal decisions, and how assistance is delivered to beneficiaries.
Weapons Dealing (Tuesday)
What:
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The Committee Stage of the Brokering (Weapons and Related Items) Controls Bill.
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The Bill will set up a way to regulate the brokering* of weapons and related items by New Zealanders or NZ based entities overseas particularly where there is a risk of weapons being transferred to “illegitimate users or undesirable destinations” like a conflict zone.
*Brokering involves negotiating, arranging, or facilitating the transfer of weapons and related items from one foreign country to another. -
The Committee Stage (Committee of the Whole House) falls between the second and third readings of a bill and is an opportunity for MPs to dissect a bill and make changes to it section by section or theme by theme. The changes (amendments) are called supplementary order papers. And are each voted on separately.
Why:
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New Zealand ratified the Arms Trade Treaty in 2014 which regulates the international trade in conventional arms (for example rifles, sea mines or bombs) and this Bill will help New Zealand meet its treaty obligations.
Disestablishing the Families Commission (Tuesday & Thursday)
What:
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The Committee Stage of the Families Commission Act Repeal Bill. The Bill is set down to have its third reading on Thursday.
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Repeals the Families Commission Act 2003 and disestablish the Families Commission which operates as Superu.
Why:
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The Act outlines the Commission’s main functions as advocating for the interests of families and monitoring/evaluating programmes in the social sector. The previous National led Government rejigged agencies and resources to support social investment which included setting up the Social Investment Agency and disestablishing the Families Commission or Superu. Some of the Commission’s functions have already been switched to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Social Development.
Voting Online (Tuesday & Wednesday)
What:
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More of the first reading of the Local Electoral Matters Bill. They ran out of time when debating this last week.
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It’s an omnibus bill meaning it will make changes to more than one Act. One of those changes is to “support the conduct of trials of novel voting methods” like online voting.
General Debate (every Wednesday)
What:
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Twelve speeches of up to five minutes in length after question time on Wednesdays in the House. Speeches are divvied up proportionally so bigger parties get more speeches. Because Ministers aren’t counted in the proportional divvy-up, the opposition side of the House gets more speeches than the government side.
Why:
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The general debate is a chance for MPs to bring up issues that would otherwise not come up before the House, making it a wide-ranging debate. Sometimes parties take a coordinated approach and speak on the same issue but there’s no rule that they have to.
ACC Changes (Wednesday)
What:
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The first reading of the Accident Compensation Amendment Bill
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Tidy up inconsistencies between different pieces of legislation and keep the regulatory system up to date and relevant
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The Bill will make a several changes including allowing surviving spouses to receive up to 5 years of weekly compensation, regardless of age and disestablishing the Accident Compensation Appeal Authority, which hears cases under the 1972 and 1982 accident compensation legislation.
Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Bill (No 2) (Thursday)
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The first reading of the Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Bill (No 2)
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This bill gives effect to the deed of agreement between ngā hapū o Ngāti Porou and the Crown and replaces a bill of the same name signed in 2008.
Why:
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The old bill from 2008 gave effect to agreements reached under the now repealed Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou and the Crown agreed to amend the 2008 deed and align it with the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 which is what this new Bill will do.
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Settlement bills aim to resolve historical claims by Māori against the crown for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi before 1992.
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The Treaty, which was signed in 1840, gave sovereignty to the British Crown, allowed Māori to keep rangatiratanga (chieftainship) over their resources while giving the Crown first dibs on any land up for sale, and granted Māori the same rights as British citizens.
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Settlements include some redress to set things right which can be cultural, commercial, or financial. Once a settlement is reached it becomes law.
You can see how much the House gets done each sitting day by going here: Daily progress in the House
