Points of Order — Parliamentary Accountability—Ministerial Statements

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I believe that this is a very serious matter regarding the standing of this House and the principle of parliamentary democracy—that the Government should be held accountable by Parliament.

I also raise the question of ministerial statements under Standing Order 341, and I draw it to your attention that our Standing Orders are based on the Standing Orders of Westminster. Indeed, we used to acknowledge that fact in the Standing Orders when I was first a member. Standing Order 3, I think it was, used to state that when there was any doubt, then the precedents followed by Westminster should be followed.

There has been no change in the Standing Orders of Westminster; there is just the matter of interpretation. But the Speaker in Westminster, the Mother of Parliaments of our type, has now ruled consistently in Britain that the Government, when Parliament is in session, should make major statements in the House.

We have today an example of a Minister making a release—a release on race-based funding—that he put out this morning, embargoed to the media. I think it has to be noted that we are not fools; we know what is going on. When I came into the House today I was surprised to see that the press gallery was half empty, and I wondered what was happening. The reason was that the Minister had decided that at 2.15 p.m. that release would become public.

I think you should note, Madam Speaker, that a report on race-based funding is highly controversial; it can make quite substantial recommendations for change. If that report had been released earlier today I do not have any doubt that you, as Speaker, would have allowed an urgent debate. I have no doubt that over half the questions presented to the Government today would have been about that report. But, instead, here we have Parliament looking at an odd sight—that is, because of the Government telling the media not to tell MPs what is going on, what we are doing is not being seen to be relevant.

I say to you, Madam Speaker, that the way in which the British Parliament overcame that behaviour required some courage, but it was a decision by the Speaker. The Speaker had been extremely critical of Ministers behaving as Mr Mallard has behaved, and had said it was actually unparliamentary for a Government, when Parliament was in session, not to make announcements in the House.

I draw it to your attention that under Standing Order 341, “Ministerial statements”, which states how these things should be done, the Minister had, and still has, the ability to come to this House to make a statement to us on what is a major report on race-based funding, so that the matter can be debated and be subject to accountability. For the Speakership in New Zealand to say we do not have the ability to advise the Government that to do as the Minister has done today is unparliamentary and not in accordance with our Westminster system, just invites the Government to manipulate Parliament to lower the standing of this House. I think that that is deplorable, and I really do ask that you make some statement.

This is the worst case I have seen for a long time. The House is shortly to adjourn for a month. We, the elected members of Parliament, are to be excluded from discussing this report, and we are excluded fundamentally because the Speakership up until now has refused—I am not just criticising yourself, because previous Speakers have also refused—to stand up for the rights and privileges of members of Parliament.

One of those rights and privileges is that Ministers ought to be accountable, and if they can—and they could at this time—they ought to make a statement. I think you should invite Mr Mallard right now to make a ministerial statement under Standing Order 341 so that we can discuss that report—a report that the Minister thinks is so important that he put it out to coincide with the meeting of the House this afternoon.

I thank the member for that and draw his attention to Speaker’s ruling 115/4: “While it is eminently good practice for Ministers to make important policy statements in the House, it is not by any means a convention in New Zealand.” I also understand from recent reading that that convention has been weakened in the United Kingdom, as well. So I follow that Speaker’s ruling.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I ask you whether you would take time to review that ruling. Simply noting that it is weakened and relying on what is now a 4-year-old convention may be something that you would care to revisit as a new Speaker, bearing in mind the fact that when things start to weaken, what might have been unfortunate and infrequent can become normal. I invite you to come back to us on that in 4 weeks’ time, having considered it in detail.

May I invite the member to write to me on this matter, so that I can consider it then.

I seek leave for the House to set aside time now for an extended debate on the release from the Government of the report relating to race-based programmes, put out by the Hon Trevor Mallard today.

💬 Madam SPEAKER: Leave is sought. Is there any objection? There is objection.