Urgency

I move, That urgency be accorded the committee stage of the Water Services Entities Bill; the passing through all stages of the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Amendment Bill, the Land Transport (Clean Vehicles) Amendment Bill (No 2), the Social Security (Accommodation Supplement) Amendment Bill, and the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Extension of Act and Reduction of Powers) Amendment Bill; the passing through of the remaining stages of the Dairy Industry Restructuring (Fonterra Capital Restructuring) Amendment Bill, the Climate Change Response (Extension of Penalty Transition for Forestry Activities with Low Volume Emissions Liabilities) Amendment Bill, the Arms (Licence Holders’ Applications for New Licences) Amendment Bill, and the Companies (Levies) Amendment Bill; the first readings and referral to select committee of the Grocery Industry Competition Bill and the Fuel Industry Amendment Bill; the introduction, first readings, and referral to select committee of the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Amendment Bill; the first reading and referral to select committee of the Legal Services Amendment Bill; the introduction, first reading, and referral to select committee of the Accident Compensation (Access Reporting and Other Matters) Amendment Bill; the first reading and referral to select committee of the Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill; the third readings of the Security Information in Proceedings Bill, the Security Information in Proceedings (Repeals and Amendments) Bill, the Māori Purposes Bill, the Remuneration Authority Legislation Bill, and the Statutes Amendment Bill; and the passing through of the remaining stages of the Organic Products and Production Bill, the Natural Hazards Insurance Bill, the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill, and the Civil Aviation Bill.

The passing of the Queen in September meant that Parliament lost a week of parliamentary sitting time and the granting of this urgency motion will allow some of that time to be made up.

There are a number of bills that address issues that do need rapid attention of the House. An example is the Social Security (Accommodation Supplement) Amendment Bill, which will ensure no disruption or change to the accommodation supplement benefit individuals currently receive. Both the Dairy Industry Restructuring (Fonterra Capital Restructuring) Amendment Bill and the Climate Change Response (Extension of Penalty Transition for Forestry Activities with Low Volume Emissions Liabilities) Amendment Bill must be enacted by the end of the year. Seven first readings are including in the motion. Without them, it would not be possible to get these bills off to select committee before Christmas, and some of them, including the Grocery Industry Competition Bill, we do expect will attract a large number of submitters. Other bills will have a significant impact in their own areas and they would have considerable delay coming into effect were we not to use urgency in order to progress them further.

So I thank the House in advance for what could be a lengthy sitting and thank all of the parliamentary staff for the support they will provide us in the coming days.

I declare the House in committee for consideration of the Water Services Entities Bill.