12 Jun 2019

The House today - Wednesday 12 June 2019

From The House , 9:00 am on 12 June 2019

Wednesdays typically include a General Debate and every other week is saved for non-government legislation but that’s all on hold until the 15 hour long Budget Debate is completed.

The House will get through about three more hours of it today.

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The Speaker's chair in the debating chamber. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox

Question time - 2pm

The fastest moving part of a sitting day with 12 questions to Ministers, plus follow-ups.

Opposition MPs will try to catch the government out while government party MPs will throw softer questions to give a Minister the chance to boast.

Follow-up questions (supplementaries) are usual, but at the discretion of the Speaker, Trevor Mallard, who has been known to award and remove supplementaries when MPs misbehave.

Budget budget budget (second reading continued)

Copies of the Budget 2019 documents on the table in the middle of the debating chamber.

Copies of the Budget 2019 documents on the table in the middle of the debating chamber. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox

What       

Why

  • Approving a government’s spending is one of the core functions of the Parliament.

  • The budget is the underpinning of a government’s plans. As such, there is much to discuss.

Who

  • The Bill is in the name of the Minister of Finance, but everyone has a stake in this one.

Confirming 17-year-olds are youths - committee stage

Inside the Youth Justice Residence, Te Au rere a te Tonga, in Palmerston North.

Inside the Youth Justice Residence, Te Au rere a te Tonga, in Palmerston North. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

What:

  • Oranga Tamariki Legislation Bill

  • The bill will tweak legislation to make sure 17 year olds are included in Youth Justice policy.

  • It will also correct some drafting errors like “ broad provisions relating to interim court orders.”

  • It’s an omnibus bill which means it affects more than one Act. This bill will amend 12 pieces of legislation

  • A committee stage allows suggestions for changes to the wording, and is about making sure the bill is well written and does what it says it will do.

Who:

  • Minister for Children Tracey Martin

Building Bill - third reading cont’d

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Photo: 123rf

What:

  • The Building Amendment Bill

  • The Bill proposes two new sets of powers for the government manage buildings after a disaster, and to investigate buildings that ‘fail’.

  • A bill at its third reading has been checked, reviewed and amended. At this point it’s all about “do we still like it in its final form?”

Why:

  • The Christchurch and Kaikoura Earthquakes highlighted gaps in government’s powers to deal with the aftermath of when the earth goes bang. This bill seeks to remedy that, including: giving the government more power to investigate buildings that ‘fail’ (like the CTV building in Christchurch for example); to inspect, notify, evacuate, demolish, etc. The powers have time limits.

Who:

  • Minister of Building and Construction Jenny Salesa

All in favour?

  • So far this bill has had unanimous support in the House.

Insolvency practitioners bills (plural) - third readings (taken together)

Labour MP Kris Faafoi answering a question in the House

Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affair Kris Faafoi is in charge of these bills Photo: VNP / Phil Smith

What:

  • The Insolvency Practitioners Bill has now become the Insolvency Practitioners Regulation (Amendments) Bill & Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Bill

  • Sometimes a bill that has different aspects to it gets split apart at the committee stage and turned into multiple bills. This ensures that bills objectives don’t get messy (bills aren’t allowed to include wildly unrelated things in them and everyone agrees that their purposes should be specific). But they are debated together all the way through anyway to save Parliament from having similar debates multiple times. So efficient it hurts.

  • This bill “creates powers to restrict or prohibit individuals from providing insolvency services, and strengthens measures to automatically disqualify insolvency practitioners.”

  • This bill began it’s life in 2013. Kris Faafoi revivified it and sent it back to Select Committee for a second look. Now it’s nearly confirmed.

Who:

  • In the name of Kris Faafoi as Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

House adjourns - 10pm

The House sits from 2pm on scheduled sitting days with a dinner break at 6pm till 7:30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It then resumes sitting until 10pm.

You can see how much the House gets done each sitting day by going here: Daily progress in the House

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Photo: New Zealand Parliament