Parliament's to do list: 13 Mar - One general, many committees

Wednesdays are different at Parliament.

Yes, there’s the usual hour or so of Oral Questions - the daily inquisition. But after that the House launches into the General Debate (Taupatupatu Whānui), Parliament’s version of slam oratory (with the emphasis on slam). And then it’s time to debate wannabe laws.

Question Time    2pm

What:

• Twelve Questions are posed to ministers with inquisitorial follow-ups (supplementary questions). Roughly two thirds of them are asked by the Opposition. It’s an hour of high drama, semantic-linguistic puzzles and debates over the rules. And shouting.

Taupatupatu Whānui    - The General Debate     3pm(ish)

What:

• Twelve speeches of up to five minutes in length. Bigger parties get more speeches.

Why:

• The general debate allows MPs to bring up issues that debates on legislation don’t cover, making it a wide-ranging debate. Sometimes each party coordinates their talking points but they don’t have to. There’s fewer rules generally and it can be both raucous and entertaining.

The Legislation - wall-to-wall committees

The line-up of bills begin with a slew of committee stage debates. In Committee stages bills are effectively pulled apart and examined to make sure they will do what they promise to do. This means the duration can vary from very quick to drawn out.

So it’s very difficult to predict whether the House will get bogged down on one bill or run through the whole list of possible work. We’ve listed a lot of possibles, but it’s far from all being likely.

Voting online - Committee stage

What:

• The committee stage of the Local Electoral Matters Bill.

• This omnibus bill (alters more than one law) does a few things but one is to “support the conduct of trials of novel voting methods” like online voting.

• Committee stage (see above)

Who:

• In the name of the Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta.

Tidy up for internal affairs - committee stage

What:

• The Local Government Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill.

• This omnibus bill has lots of small changes. For example it replaces the definition of ‘disability assist dog’ in the Dog Control Act 1996, and updates the definition of income in the Rates Rebate Act 1973.

• Another committee stage (see above).

Why:

• The Bill comes out of the New Zealand Productivity Commission’s July 2014 report Regulatory institutions and practices. The Commission found that finding time in Parliament’s calendar to update legislation can be difficult so agencies often have to deal with out-of-date legislation. The Bill is an opportunity for minor and technical amendments to be implemented across the local government legislative regime.

Who:

• This bill is in the name of Nanaia Mahuta who is Minister for Local Government.

New Rules for Financial Advisers - committee stage

What:

• The Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill.

• The bill is described as seeking to “establish a new regulatory regime for financial advice and financial advisers in New Zealand, and to amend requirements for registration on the Financial Service Providers Register (the FSPR) to prevent its misuse.”

• Another committee stage (see above).

Why:

• The bill is a response to a statutory review of the regulatory regime completed in 2016.

Who:

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

Keeping doctors good - committee stage

What:

• The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Amendment Bill

• Health practitioners, employers, and the Health and Disability Commissioner can report concerns over a health practitioners ability, this bill will widen that to allow anyone, including patients and members of the public, to report poor practices with an authority.

• It will also allow for independent performance reviews of authorities, looking at how effectively and efficiently authorities perform their functions. The reviews would be conducted at least every 5 years.

• Yet another committee stage (see above).

Who:

• The Minister of Health David Clark

Tidying up ACC - third reading

What:

• The Accident Compensation Amendment Bill

• This bill aims to tidy up inconsistencies between different pieces of legislation and keep the regulations up to date and relevant.

• It will make several changes including allowing surviving spouses to receive up to five years of weekly compensation regardless of age, and disestablishing the Accident Compensation Appeal Authority, which hears cases under the 1972 and 1982 Accident Compensation legislation.

• A third stage is the final debate before a bill is approved as law.

Who:

• The Minister for ACC Iain Lees-Galloway

Planning for well-being - second reading

What:

• The Local Government (Community Well-Being) Amendment Bill

• Puts some things back into the Local Government Act 2002 that were removed by the previous government and allows local governments to consider things like social, environmental and well being in their planning process.

Who:

• And another one for Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta.

Beat that Lazarus - Select Committee report

What:

• The Insolvency Practitioners Bill

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

• This bill was last seen on the floor of the House in 2013, nearly five years ago. Kris Faafoi revivified it and sent it back to Select Committee for a second look. There isn’t really a process for two second readings (when a bill comes back from committee), so the Business Committee has designated this a debate on a report from a Select Committee.

Who:

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

So that was the plan, you can see what the House manages to get through each day on the Parliament website here.