It’s budget week this week at Parliament, but plenty of other things are happening as well.
Budget day isn’t until Thursday though usually that flows into Friday (and sometimes Saturday), with related urgent legislation.
But before the House gets to discuss planned finance there are two whole days of business, including an intriguing array of members bills. Here are some things to look out for.
Tuesday is a normal day so government bills are debated. After a debate over whether to approve the latest batch of nine Covid Orders to come back from the Regulations Review Committee, there is one third reading and a batch of bills returned from various select committees.
Photo: 123RF
Tuesday A: Prepare for boarding
The Maritime Powers Bill is getting a third and final reading. It “provides powers to enforcement officers to respond to a range of criminal offending in international waters including offences that take place on board a New Zealand-flagged vessel in international waters, …on board a foreign-flagged vessel or stateless vessel in international waters for which New Zealand has extraterritorial jurisdiction, and situations where an alleged offender or evidence of criminal offending is located on a New Zealand, foreign, or stateless vessel in international waters.”
In short it provides a lot more power for New Zealand to properly manage the enormous area of ocean that is our responsibility, as well as the ocean beyond where necessary.
This is the final debate for this bill, which is expected to become law.
Tuesday B: Back from committee
Four government bills that have completed the first (but longest) part of their journeys to legislation.
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The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Hazardous Substances Assessments) Amendment Bill is an update of law around the assessment and control of hazardous goops and mucks of a thousand varieties. The law that is being updated dates back to 1996. It was pretty ground-breaking at the time but needs updating.
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The Electricity Industry Amendment Bill is an update to try and provide an “effective regulatory framework for the electricity industry in view of rapidly evolving technologies and business models.”
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The Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill aims to create a new legal framework for more secure digital identities, both for identities and organisations.
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And if they get to it, the Data and Statistics Bill replaces the statistics Act 1975, which (as you can imagine) was from an era of paper and slide rules. It’s about the collection and use of official statistics.
Labour MP Duncan Webb has a member's bill that would change the legal requirements for company directors. Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith
Wednesday: A feast of non-government issues
This Wednesday is a Members’ Day - when bills that are not part of the Government’s agenda are debated.
It has been a few weeks since fresh new member's bills were debated, but after almost completed bill this week has an array of new issues to consider.
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The Local Government (Pecuniary Interests Register) Amendment Bill is due to end its third and final reading. It creates a requirement for local council politicians to declare potential conflicts of interest (e.g. what they own, have been gifted, invest in or control). This bill is the name of Labour MP and former Palmerston North Deputy Mayor Tangi Utikere. Parliament and a number of councils including Palmerston North already have registers of pecuniary interests.
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The Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill aims to get rid of a few of the weird barriers that exist around some surrogacy arrangements. For some details read this great article by Johnny Blades. This Bill is from Labour MP Tāmati Coffey.
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Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill is from National MP for Southland Joseph Mooney. It is a pretty ambitious rewrite of the law around Maori land ownership. Whether the Government side of the House will agree with or reject this bill is yet to be discovered.
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The Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill is from Labour MP Duncan Webb. It broadens the legal requirements for how company directors make decisions, allowing them to take new things into account, like the environment, ethics, or their employees. The current rules are pretty tightly aligned around the bottom line. It will be fascinating to see how the parties fall on this idea.
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The Education and Training (Freedom of Expression) Amendment Bill is from ACT MP James McDowell. The Bill seeks to codify a more absolute freedom of expression requirement within tertiary education providers. The main objective appears to be preventing institutions from refusing to allow platforms to speakers they consider extremist or harmful. It seems unlikely that this bill will progress to committee.
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If they get this far… the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill is from Labour MP Deborah Russell. It extends the time limit for bringing personal grievance employment complaints in circumstances of sexual harassment. This bill is likely to be successful at the first reading.
