Urgency

I move, That urgency be accorded the second reading of the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill, the first reading of the Māori Purposes Bill, the interrupted second reading and Committee stage of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill (No 2), the second reading and Committee stage of the Holidays Amendment Bill, the passing through their remaining stages of the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill, the Education Amendment Bill (No 2), and the Child and Family Protection Bill, and any bills into which they may be divided, the Committee stage of the Ngāti Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill, and the Whanganui Iwi (Whanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Whanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill, and the second reading of the Television New Zealand Amendment Bill.

That is an ambitious list, which the Opposition is saying could take us right through until some time on Sunday afternoon. In fact, Parliament cannot sit on a Sunday afternoon. I have given the House a previous assurance that we will be lifting at 6 o’clock on Thursday. The intention to take urgency this week was notified some months ago. Although the content of the urgency motion has a number of bills that are controversial, it is largely driven out of the fact that we have just 11 House days left until the end of the year. If we take today as being the day for the rest of the week, it gives us about 9 House days until the end of the year. There is a degree of urgency for the Government in wanting to progress bills. Some of these are widely supported; others will be more controversial. Of course, Parliament will have the time to give those bills the scrutiny required. But of course we will have no repetition at all in those Committee stages, because of the new commitment we have from the Opposition parties.