This week is the twentieth of thirty scheduled sitting weeks at Parliament in 2022.
The government’s busy legislative agenda continues. But first up the House looks at the remaining portfolios to be scrutinised in the Appropriation (2022/23 Estimates) Bill debate.
Megan Woods answers MPs Estimates questions from the Table while ministry officials line up (top right) available to provide further information Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith
This is Parliament’s detailed examination of the Government’s budget, as the Government’s Leader of the House, Chris Hipkins, explained.
“So every year after the budget’s been delivered it goes off to select committee for a detailed consideration. They scrutinise what the money’s being spent for, and what the performance measures for that expenditure are,” he explained.
“They then report back to the house and the House then goes through the estimates in detail. So ministers appear before the House to answer questions on their estimates. That’s the process that the House has been engaged in over the last week or two. It’s an opportunity for people to debate what’s in the budget, but also to ask detailed questions and really hold ministers and the Government to account for how taxpayer money is being spent.”
Hipkins said the Government is expecting the Estimates debate to finish this week. Ministers of Immigration, Health, Housing, Workplace Relations & Safety, and Education (Hipkins himself) are scheduled to appear in the House to answer questions and debate the Estimates in their particular portfolio areas. Once that’s complete, the House can proceed to the final stage of the Budget which is its third reading.
This week also has an extra sitting on Thursday to catch up on some Local and Member’s Bills, including a second reading for Rachel Boyack’s Plain Language Bill, and a first reading for Damien Smith’s Overseas Investment (Exempt Investment from OECD Countries) Amendment Bill.
It’s also the first full week in the job for Parliament’s new speaker, Adrian Rurawhe, who is likely to have a testing week in the House.
