Parliament's 2020 finale

Rather than take it easy for their final week, Parliament’s agenda is crammed with goodies. Or at least debates (the calorie-free Christmas treat).

In just two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) MPs will traverse the rough outline of a terrifyingly legislative version of the 12 days of Christmas.

Here's a rough list:

• One Sessional Order
• Two committee fillings  
• Three covid debates
• Four hours of extended sitting
• Five first readings
• Eight maiden speeches
• A ten call Adjournment Debate 
• Twelve Questions to Ministers (twice for good measure)
• And fifteen Covid Orders

Also, but less numerically useful for a Christmas ditty:

• One approved Sitting Calendar 
• One Subordinate Legislation Confirmation and Validation Bill
• One Covid powers extension motion
• And a debate on the Royal Commission on the Christchurch Mosque Attacks

That’s a heady Christmas potpourri of parliamentary business. 

Some of it may need explaining, so here goes; in the order that things will occur.

Tuesday

A debate on the Royal Commission on the Christchurch Mosque Attacks

The report of the Royal Commissions of Inquiry is reported back to Parliament on the command of the Governor General. This debate is the House’s chance to consider the findings.

Maiden Speeches

There are 42 new MPs in Parliament. More than a third of its entire membership. Every new MP gets a chance to give a 15 minute speech of introduction, called a maiden speech. Mostly these occur during the long wide-ranging debate that the House holds in response to The Speech from the Throne (the one that outlined the Government’s intentions for the new Parliamentary term). The Debate is called the Address in Reply Debate. 

On Tuesday eight more new MPs will get a first chance to speak. They are expected to be Chris Baillie (ACT), Nicole McKee (ACT), Ricardo Menendez-March (Green), Teanau Tuiono (Green), Dr  Tracey McLellan (Labour), Anna Lorck (Labour), Dr Ayesha Verrall (Labour), Ingrid Leary (Labour).

The Covid Trio

The Covid response led  to a few interesting and different things. Among them, legislation that needs recurrent approval and extension from the House of Representatives to remain in force. 

The Extension Motion is for the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act. It gives the Government broad powers that are deemed to only be appropriate while necessary.

Covid also led to legislation that enables Covid Orders to be made, a form of delegated legislation (a rule enabled by a law) e.g. the Minister or Director General of Health can require people to isolate or meet specific criteria before being allowed into New Zealand. These orders also have to be approved by the House in order not to expire. Both of these will be dealt with by debates.

The Sessional Order motion is to set rules for how these kinds of Covid things should be debated. Sessional Orders are changes to Parliament’s rules that only last until the end of the current Parliamentary session (until the next election). 

Committee Memberships & Rules

The MPs that fill roles on the 13 subject select committees at Parliament are agreed among the parties and approved by the cross-party Business Committee. How that works is determined according to Standing Orders (Parliament’s rules).

But not all committees are like that. The two committees with motions to debate are instead created by statute and so have specific requirements (for both membership choice and operation). 

The Parliamentary Services Committee is a cross-party group of MPs that advise their chairperson (the Speaker) on the services that Parliament provides to MPs (including travel, accommodation, and staffing). The nominated membership is being agreed by the House and is typically made up of party whips. The members being nominated are: Kieran McAnulty, Matt Doocey, Brooke van Velden, Jan Logie, and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. 

The Intelligence and Security Committee is an oversight and review committee for New Zealand’s intelligence departments (the GCSB and the SIS). Its membership consists of the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, two MPs nominated by the Prime Minister and one nominated by the Leader of the Opposition (all after consultation with governing or non-governing parties). The motion being debated is to do with the committee’s rules (scroll to page 11 of the Order Paper).. 

Five First Readings

The following five bills are slated for first readings (if the House is efficient). This first time out of the box is when the House decides whether or not to accept them and forward them to a Select Committee for a public hearing. So expect a call for public submissions presently. 

• Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bill 
• Social Security (Financial Assistance for Caregivers) Amendment Bill 
• Water Services Bill 
• Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Amendment Bill 
• Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill

Wednesday 

An Extended Sitting 

Parliament’s rules allow the government to add a Wednesday morning sitting to the debate schedule without needing to invoke urgency. The Government does this in order to get more business dealt with as it adds four hours of debate (9am-1pm).

This extended sitting will allow the Government to get traction on the rest of the first readings above.

Sitting Calendar Approval

Parliament has a calendar of when it will meet. It is created by the Leader of the House, recommended by the Business Committee and approved by the House. You can read the proposed 2021 Sitting Calendar already. 

This may not sound useful for anyone but MPs, but a lot of people want to know things like when local MPs will be back home in their electorates to be able to be invited to events. 

Adjournment Debate

In theory an adjournment debate is about whether or not Parliament should pause for a period and return at a specific time. 

In reality the debates are recaps on the year, an opportunity for carpet thank-bombing, a chance for vindictive and/or gloating, often humorous, and sometimes include singing. 

In truth the summer adjournment is because if MPs stayed in Wellington for summer they wouldn’t get one.

Oddly, this will be the fourth debated adjournment in 2021. Unless we’ve lost count.

There is usually only one, and in an election year two. But four!

Parliament adjourned for the lockdown, adjourned for the original election date, and again for the election after it was delayed, and finally now it adjourns for summer.

All of that in just two days. It's no wonder they are having a break.