As this week of Parliament was getting underway, just after the prayers, the House heard a rare message from the Governor-General.
The Speaker of Parliament informed MPs that the Governor-General, on behalf of His Majesty, consented “to the passage of the Plain Language Bill to the extent that it affects the rights and prerogatives of the Crown”. This sort of thing happens only occasionally and the best person to provide clarity on it is the Clerk of the House, David Wilson.
Dame Cindy Kiro speaks at the announcement of her as the next Governor General Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith
“There are a small number of bills that are not government bills - so they’re either a member’s bill that’s been promoted by an individual member who is not a minister, or a private bill that affects a private organisation or a local bill that affects a local authority area - if those bills affect the rights or prerogatives of the Crown then the bill needs the consent of the Crown before it can pass. And that message from the Governor-General is an indication from the Crown that they’re okay with the bill passing,” Wilson explained.
“In the case the Plain Language Bill, the bill has a clause in it which says it binds the Crown so the Crown is obliged to follow what the Act, if (the Bill) is passed, does. So in order to do that, in order to bind the Crown, the Crown has to agree to it, and that's what that message was.”
But doesn't all legislation require the consent of the Crown before being approved into law?
"Yeah they do but in the case of the vast majority of legislation, which are government bills introduced by ministers, they already have it. It's assumed the Crown is asking Parliament to pass legislation that it wants. It's just in these more unusual cases of bills that haven't been promulgated by the government in the first place that that can't be taken for granted."
As it happens, the Plain Language Bill, a Member's Bill in the name of Labour MP Rachel Boyack, is this very evening being debated at its third reading and nothing stands in its way of being passed, following which it will be ready to have the royal ascent to become law.
Previous messages from the Governor-General came four years ago in relation to a Local Bill as well as a Member's Bill in the name of former Green MP Gareth Hughes, the Consumers' Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill.
