Every other Wednesday at Parliament is a Members’ Day and the legislation debated is proposed by MPs not in government. The bills are chosen by lottery and debated in strict order, with the ones which have made the most progress going first.
The End of Life Choice Bill created a bottleneck this year, taking up all of the available member's bill time since July as opponents filibustered it. With that finally complete normal service has now resumed and member’s bills are once again flowing freely.
The logjam caused by determined opposition to David Seymour’s member’s bill has finally broken and the bills are flowing again. Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith
After four months of inching through two stages on a single bill, this Wednesday four bills were debated, three got through a stage, the fourth just run out of time. And rather than contention there was a cooperation and agreement. The House was in general agreement on three of the four bills debated.
The Election Access Fund Bill got a second reading. It seeks to create a fund available to disabled political candidates to assist them in seeking elected office. The bill is the brainchild of former Green MP Mojo Mathers who as a profoundly deaf MP discovered numerous barriers on her political path.
The Election Access Fund Bill’s sponsor is Green MP Chloe Swarbrick.
Chloe Swarbrick listens to a submission in Parliament's Transport Select Committee Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
“It's important to make clear that increasing accessibility to our democracy is not just the basic, human, decent thing to do, nor just a part of the social contract; it's also part of our international obligations. In 2008, New Zealand joined dozens of other countries around the world in ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Article 29 of the convention guarantees signatory countries will, and I quote, "ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others, directly or through freely chosen representatives, including the right and opportunity for persons with disabilities to vote and be elected,...".
The Crimes (Definition of Female Genital Mutilation) Amendment Bill got a first outing and was referred to the Health Committee for consideration. The committee will ask for submissions shortly.
This Bill enlarges the legal definition of FGM to include the WHO’s fourth type of FGM that isn’t currently included in the definition in the Crimes Act 1961. The omission was discovered when a prosecution failed. The new definition will also ensure that other non-FGM procedures such as elective cosmetic piercings are not included in the law.
Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
The FGM Bill is noteworthy for a different reason - it has four mothers. Under Parliament’s rules a bill must have a single MP in charge of it. But the House agreed to allow four parents - and from four different political parties.
Jo Hayes began the debate with that historical first.
“For the first time, we—the women members of Parliament from across four parties—bring the first multi-member bill in the name of myself for National, Priyanca Radhakrishnan for Labour, Golriz Ghahraman for the Greens, and Jenny Marcroft for New Zealand First.”
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman on the Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Trade select committee. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
Golriz Ghahraman noted that “this bill is a signal that no level of abuse, no level of harm, is going to be tolerated in our law against any woman and especially against young girls.”
She and other MPs acknowledged the leadership of migrant women on the issue.
“I want to acknowledge, as others have, the FGM education trust and the community leaders that have come together, as Louisa has just listed: the Somali community, the Eritrean community, the Indonesian community, the Ethiopian community, and the Kurdish community. They have come together to support us bringing this law change through, and I do want to stop and acknowledge that, because often when we talk about things like FGM, the debate does degrade into an attack on certain cultures over others, and this isn't how this bill will go because it is being led by affected communities.”
The third and final bill debated was the Dog Control (Category 1 Offences) Amendment Bill which easies the processes for some canine offences so that dogs have to spend less time ‘in the pound’ waiting for court processes. It was reported back from the Committee Stage without amendment.
Labour MP Rino Tirikatene chairing the Maori Affairs Committee Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
The fourth debate didn’t quite finish but was also quite convivial, especially considering it did not have majority support. The Electoral (Entrenchment of Māori Seats) Amendment Bill in the name of Rino Tirikatene seeks to entrench the Maori seats so that they are more difficult to eliminate.
