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The first piece of business in Parliament on Tuesday was the Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, announcing that former Green MP Darlene Tana's seat in Parliament had been declared vacant.
"I wish to advise the House that the seat of Darleen Tana became vacant by application of section 55(1)(fa) and 55A of the Electoral Act 1993 on 22 October 2024."
It wasn't Brownlee stating it that made it so. That had happened earlier when it was gazetted - by being published in the Crown's official public newspaper and noticeboard, The New Zealand Gazette.
"Under section 134(1) of the Electoral Act 1993, I, Gerard Anthony Brownlee, Speaker of the House of Representatives, give notice that the seat of Darleen Tana has become vacant by reason of her ceasing to be a parliamentary member of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, the parliamentary leaders of that party having delivered to me in accordance with section 55A(3)(b) of the Act a written notice that complies with section 55C of the Act. Dated at Wellington this 22nd day of October 2024."
This is not yet the end of the road. The next step is informing the New Zealand Electoral Commission of a Parliamentary vacancy. The Commission, once instructed by the Governor-General, consults the official Green Party list (from the last election), checks with the party secretary that the next candidate on the list is still a party member, and contacts the next in line to be an MP.
Presuming Benjamin Doyle (who is next), says 'yes' to the opportunity, Doyle's selection will be gazetted by the Commission (this has now happened), who will also inform the Clerk.
Doyle can then be sworn in at Parliament by the Clerk of the House, who was empowered by the Governor-General's Commissioners at the 2023 Commission Opening of Parliament, to continue swearing in MPs as necessary during this parliamentary term.
If it all goes smoothly this swearing-in could happen later this week. If not, Parliament sits again on 5 November. Given the headline of this article, being sworn in on Guy Fawke's Day seems appropriate.
One other thing of note: this first use of the waka-jumping amendment is just one of a number of ways an MP's seat can become vacant. The usual ways are resignation and electoral loss, and departure in these fashions eases an MP out, with a continued wage for three months.
The other ways include things like being found guilty of a serious crime, swearing allegiance to a foreign power, or (horror of horrors) becoming a civil servant. In those cases (and the current waka-jumping case), the MP's role and their pay both cease immediately.
Also in the Gazette - banning fireworks
One of the legislated tasks of The Clerk of the House of Representatives is to look after aspects of citizen initiated indicative referendums - whereby if a person agrees a petition wording with the Clerk and is gazetted, that indicative referendum petition has a chance of becoming a non-binding national referendum question at the next election. There is a high bar though. The petition has a year to gain valid signatures equal to 10 percent of registered voters.
When a new hopeful referendum question is approved by the Clerk it is gazetted.
A parliamentary Gazette entry occurred this week with this wording: "Do you support banning the sale and private use of fireworks?"
The wording was approved after consultation and is simpler and less confusing than the original proposal, which included which specific law this ban would affect.
Having been gazetted, the question now has to gain (by my estimation) 365,717 signatures by this time next year. That is even harder than it seems.
Oddly, when the law was changed to allow electronic signatures for almost everything, the Electoral Act was specifically excluded, and so those signatures will need to be garnered the old-fashioned way, with actual ink.
It is not hard to imagine a petition like this gaining sufficient buy-in online, but achieving it in person is an organisational feat that is much harder to imagine. Maybe this calls for another referendum.
RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk.
