Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill

I move, That the Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill be now read a second time. The background to this bill is well known to members of the House now. It has been the practice for as long as I can remember—which is a fair amount of time, now—that between election night and the return of the writs, services continue to be provided to members and to new members apparently elected on election night; that is, things such as travel costs, accommodation costs, and out-of-Parliament expenses. But doubt has now arisen—indeed, it is more than that; it is now clear that legislative authority does not exist for those entitlements to continue. In other words, without this legislation no such payments can be paid between election night this year and the return of the writs. That does not affect Ministers, because Ministers’ entitlements are paid separately under Ministerial Services, and Ministers continue in office until any changes have occurred.

The bill was introduced not very long ago and was sent to the Standing Orders Committee for consideration. At the time of the first reading I explained to the House that I had quite strong reservations personally about one aspect of the bill, and that the select committee would need to look carefully at that aspect. That aspect involved determining who indeed was, if one likes, elected on election night, even though the writs had not yet been returned. The bill, as introduced, made provision for that to be determined by the general manager of the Parliamentary Service, who could form an opinion based on the results as known on election night. The select committee came to the view unanimously—and quite properly, in my view—that that was not a satisfactory position to place the general manager in, and that it was not a satisfactory position for Parliament to be in, in that regard.

The select committee came to the view that the results to be published by the Chief Electoral Office on election night and subsequently give a clear indication of who the member for a particular constituency is, and therefore—on the basis of the party vote—who the list MPs elected for each party to be represented in Parliament are. Of course, as we have seen, those results can change quite significantly under MMP—much more so than under first past the post. At previous elections we have already had a situation where a party did not exist after the election night, but where it reappeared on the return of the writs as it passed the 5 percent threshold. Nevertheless, the functioning of the political system needs to be such that members are able to receive entitlements to enable business to continue, such as discussion about the formation of a Government and any coalition arrangements, and all those matters that necessarily cannot wait until the final return of the writs.

So the select committee has amended the bill in that particular respect, and with that one change of significance I am very happy now to support the bill and to move the second reading.

National supports the Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill at its second reading this evening. It is important legislation. It is good that we had a very good look at this legislation in the Standing Orders Committee. In the past we did not realise that we had no law that members may be paid over the approximately 2-week period—and that can vary—between polling day and declaration day. So this bill will tidy up that anomaly in order to allow members to be paid over that 2-week period. The examples I would like to raise for the House this evening are those whereby a member will be required by his or her caucus to fly to Wellington after polling day, presuming that that member will be declared a member of Parliament. Therefore, some accommodation contribution will need to be paid by Parliamentary Service.

The other important point to make to the House and to those listening is that current sitting MPs have leases on their offices and also phone-rental expenses. That was an important aspect that the select committee looked at, in order to ensure that those two very important components were funded over that 2-week period, on average.

We received no submissions when this legislation went out into the public arena, but I need to acknowledge the good work of the Standing Orders Committee. I also endorse the comments that Dr Cullen made about the general manager making those decisions, and I think it is important that the Chief Electoral Officer can declare those results as quickly as possible on the night of, or certainly on the Sunday after, election day. We are looking forward to the contributions at the Committee stage of this bill as it traverses through the House.

Bill read a second time.