Parliamentary Service Commission — Membership

I move, That pursuant to section 15(1)(d) of the Parliamentary Service Act 2000, the following be appointed as members of the Parliamentary Service Commission: Tim Barnett, Peter Brown, Rodney Hide, Keith Locke, Tariana Turia, Judy Turner, and Lindsay Tisch.

For those members not familiar with the Parliamentary Service Act, it defines the membership as the Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the House, or their nominees. Not everybody knows those important facts. These are statutory positions so I or my nominee, who is Mr Burton, do not have to be listed; nor does Dr Brash, whose nominee is, I think, Mr Power or Mr Brownlee—I cannot remember.

💬 Lindsay Tisch: John Carter.

John Carter—that is correct. But the other members then have to be nominated, one for each party within Parliament. Those members are, of course, nominated by their own parties. By convention, obviously, Parliament does not interfere with each party’s own nomination. Theoretically one could, but that, in my view, would be a gross misuse of any temporary passing majority within the House. The Parliamentary Service Commission does extremely important work. It is, therefore, crucial that the parties are all represented on it.

Motion agreed to.