Business Statement

As members will know, when the House resumes on Tuesday, 24 November it is the Government’s intention to take urgency to pass the Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill and other bills on the Order Paper. As has been the practice this year, the Government is open to holding question time each day, notwithstanding the House being in urgency.

As members of the House may be aware, a Defence Force serviceman was killed while clearing an unexploded shell on a range at Waiōuru this morning. This tragic accident highlights the dangers our servicemen and servicewomen face at home and abroad while carrying out their duties. The Government intends to allow the House to formally extend its condolences to the family and the Defence Force next Tuesday.

The Opposition certainly associates itself with the comments of the Deputy Leader of the House, and next Tuesday we will join the Government more formally in that particular regard.

I wonder whether the Deputy Leader of the House could give us an indication as to whether we can expect to debate the third bill relating to Auckland governance in the 3 sitting weeks remaining before the end of the year, and also whether the Government will make available the suggested or indicative House sitting timetable so that members can begin their planning for the next year. We are grateful for the notice of urgency next week. We are grateful that it was not this week, as it would have been the eighth sitting week in a row under urgency, and we are concerned that a third of Parliament’s business since the election has been conducted under urgency.

The shadow Leader of the House will be pleased to know that the House sitting timetable will be made available in plenty of time for plans to be made. In regard to any other bills that will be considered between now and when the House rises at the end of the year, a range of other bills will be made available, some of which will be required to be passed by the end of the year. Those matters will be described in a fuller and more specific way at the Business Committee in coming days.