8 Mar 2024

Clock stops on coalition's urgency-filled 100-day plan

From Focus on Politics, 6:30 pm on 8 March 2024
Focus on Politics: Winston Peters, David Seymour with Christopher Luxon in front of the Beehive.

Photo: RNZ

"We told you what we're gonna do, we've done it, and now we're telling you what we've done" - Christopher Luxon

The House has been in full swing for four weeks, with MPs sitting long hours as the government pushes through legislation under urgency to complete its 100-day plan. 

What's in it? Did the government achieve it all? And how will the plan hold in six, 12 or even 18 months?  

Christopher Luxon is clearly confident all 49 points have been ticked off, but some of the achievements - 15 of the 49 items on the list - are tenuous at best. 

Questions have also been raised over the use of urgency to pass 61 stages of 21 bills. 

Using data from the Parliamentary Library, Newsroom found the government passed more bills under urgency in its first 100 days in power than any of the past five terms of Parliament. 

Some 13 of the bills were passed through all stages - meaning the public had no opportunity to provide feedback at select committees. 

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Government ministers have been backing their progress, unapologetic about the pace and scope of lawmaking. 

After a four-week sitting block full of late nights and early mornings, some ministers will be looking for a reprieve - a week long recess could not have come at a better time. 

In this week's Focus on Politics, Political Reporter Anneke Smith examines the 100-day plan and the fanfare for it by the coalition government. 

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