Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill

I move, That the Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill be now read a third time. This is a small bill but it is an important one for the operation of this Parliament in the period immediately after the election. It has received the consideration of the Standing Orders Committee, chaired by the Speaker, and has had further consideration in the Committee of the whole House. I would like to thank the select committee members for the work they did on this short piece of legislation, and to thank the other political parties for all the work, effort, and support that they have given to this bill in order for its third reading to progress today. Thank you.

National is happy to support the Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill. It is important that we get the process right—

💬 Peter Brown: Two in a row!

Certainly, and I look forward to Mr Dunne’s contribution on this very important legislation—

💬 Hon Members: That is Mr Brown!

Oh, it is too! I beg Mr Brown’s pardon—both members are of a similar vintage.

This is very important legislation because it tidies up the period—on average about 2 weeks—between polling day and declaration day. It ensures that members can travel to Parliament, and stay the night if they need to, if a caucus meeting is called over that particular period of time. It also allows existing members, who no doubt have a lease on a parliamentary office, to carry on those payments over that period of time. Some telecommunications might need to progress over that time, as well. So we are supporting this bill.

The Standing Orders Committee had no public submissions on the bill. It will tidy up the legalities that need to be tidied up. I thank the other committee members, Mr Brown being one, for their support during the select committee process. National supports this bill in its third reading.

New Zealand First also supports the Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill, which I think will go through unanimously. This bill simply corrects a flaw. It gives the Parliamentary Service the authority to pay an MP elected on election night until he or she is confirmed or otherwise dispensed with. I think most New Zealanders would see this as common sense. Any reasonable, freethinking New Zealander would think it is reasonable to pay—not every entitlement, but the relevant entitlements—a person who has seemingly been elected on election night until that election is confirmed, as has been outlined by the member who has just resumed his seat, Nathan Guy.

We think the bill is very simple, straightforward, honest, and fair. Its provisions have been the past practice. New Zealand First supports the bill.

Kia ora, Madam Assistant Speaker. Tēnā tātou katoa e te Whare. I suspect that nobody is bothering to speak on the Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill because it is a petty little nothingness on the global stage of free-trade agreements, emissions trading, drug-fuelled Olympics, smog-filled stadiums, and rising fuel costs. But there are a couple of little points that I would like to raise, if I could—[Interruption] What did Mr Dunne say?

💬 Peter Brown: Food costs!

I was just thinking about what Paris Hilton said about wrinkly old white dudes—they must all look the same to Nathan over there!

The first point is how foolish the Electoral Finance Act looks now, with the Electoral Commission thinking of taking Tui beer to court for its excellent billboard: “When Winston says no, he means no.”, and “New Zealand First does not accept donations from big business interests.” I have no doubt that many, if not most, of those who voted for that idiotic piece of legislation had no idea how dull, boring, petty, vindictive, and nasty it was going to be. The relevance to this debate is that that bill came about as a direct result of another one of these parliamentary “fix it up” bills. The House saw fit to pass one of those “Yes, we spent the money when we weren’t supposed to. Yes, we took the money from people we probably shouldn’t have. Yes, we took money from business interests and we ain’t going to declare it.” pieces of validating legislation.

It reminds me of another piece of validating legislation that many Māori know about. Back in the 1800s, after stealing, robbing, embezzling, purloining, thieving, pinching, and plain old ripping off millions and millions of acres of Māori land, the robber barons—masquerading as the New Zealand Government of the day—passed legislation that we now know as the Validation of Invalid Land Sales Act, which is how one steals till one is a fat bloated pig, then passes a law to make what one did right. When one thinks about it, the Government of the 1800s actually ain’t much different to the current mob, which just stole millions of acres of Māori foreshore and seabed.

Anyway, that is what “validating legislation” did back in the 1800s, and that is what “validating legislation” still does in the new millennium. Both of them seem to slip under this legislative overcoat that is the Parliamentary Service, which is what the bill before the House today relates to. So I have brought my speech back to the bill under debate!

This bill, however, is supposed to be a little different. It allows the Parliamentary Service to provide candidates who are likely to be elected with certain travel and accommodation entitlements between polling day and the day when the election results are formally announced. But the most obvious point about this bill, for us, is how quickly MPs rush bills such as this through the House to make sure members’ pay goes through without a hitch, yet they dither, dally, dawdle, and delay over dealing with the rampant poverty affecting great swaths of our communities throughout our nation. I take this opportunity to commend both Sue Bradford and Tariana Turia for again raising the desperate plight of beneficiaries, whose needs we should be paying a hell of a lot more attention to.

I recognise this Government for, and congratulate it on, its efforts to encourage people back into work through the Working for Families package, but I also see the destructive effects of the loss of that tax credit when good, hard-working people are dismissed from employment as a direct result of businesses heading overseas. Families come under the immediate stress caused by loss of income and constantly rising prices, children start getting scared of their dad because he has got a lot more grumpy all of a sudden, there is less kai on the table, and both parents are worried about how they will pay the mortgage.

So as we look to rubber-stamp this bill to ensure our money keeps flowing, let us not forget the 230,000 children in this country denied benefits because their parents cannot get a job, let us not forget the 75,000 old people living in poverty, and let us not also forget that Māori make up a disproportionately high number of those suffering the effects of poverty. So, fine, there is no reason why we should not jump up and down about the obscenely high wages we get and how we expect to get them every week, but let us spare a thought for those at the bottom end of the food chain—those in genuine need—and let us see whether we can help feed them first before feeding ourselves.

The Māori Party will be supporting this bill, but, believe me, when it comes to the Māori seats there will not be any gnashing of teeth or hair pulling by the bean counters on polling night. We are looking to make it seven to the Māori Party, and to bring on board Angeline Greensill, Māori Party member of the House for Hauraki-Waikato; Derek Fox, Māori Party member of the House for Ikaroa Rāwhiti; and Rāhui Kātene, Maori Party member of the House for Te Tai Tonga, so that the nation wakes up to a bright new day in politics in Aotearoa the very next morning—a sunny day, a positive day, a Māori Party day. Kia ora tātou.

Bill read a third time.