Alcohol Reform Bill

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Before you put the House into Committee on the Alcohol Reform Bill can I seek from you a clear statement about which votes you have decided are to be personal votes and which are not; also an indication as to where some parties are having conscience votes and others are not, and you have decided that they will be party votes and not personal votes, whether or not a bell will ring, because I know that some members are going to be listening to the debate in Committee before committing themselves to a particular position; and the third leg of the treble, if you like, is an indication that although in some cases there will be a split party vote, individual members are still able, notwithstanding the fact that the party has voted on a split basis, to vote as individuals under the category “any other votes”?

I thank the member for the point of order, because we do need some clarification around these points. All members will have received from the Speaker a list of those amendments that will be deemed personal votes. There are five of them. I will just run through them now.

The sinking lid on off-licences—and that is the amendment on the Te Ururoa Flavell Supplementary Order Paper 81 to clause 35B—is one; a ban on off-licences within 1 kilometre of schools is on Supplementary Order Paper 107; reduced trading hours is on Te Ururoa Flavell’s Supplementary Order Paper 81; reduced trading hours is on Andrew Little’s Supplementary Order Paper 110; and there is the amendment requiring regulations to ban the sale of ready-to-drink beverages when they contain more than 5 percent of alcohol. Those are the five.

I will expect that those chairing each session in the Chamber will make very clear, as we approach those, what the procedures will be in relation to the ringing of the bell and the various procedures that will take place in relation to the votes at the time. I think we want to have a very clear understanding of what the outcomes will be, and that will be made clear from the Chair, because some of these are some time ahead, and there may even be some developments, but I expect members will have a very clear understanding at the time. I hope that answers the member’s question.

Not quite, Mr Speaker. There were two further matters, and the first is that on votes that you have indicated you are not going to allow a personal vote on, but which some parties in the Chamber have a conscience vote on, whether or not a bell will be rung for those. And then the next question is, for those votes, although I understand that members have given proxies to other members for the party votes as you have indicated, whether there was provision for members who want to wait and listen to the debate to then vote in the category of “any other votes”?

There can be only a party or personal vote. The bell is rung only for a personal vote. Party or collective voting has not been removed from the ultimate right of a member to vote on any question he or she sees fit. Where a party vote is held, all members will be able to vote, but it will be a member’s responsibility to be present and have a party vote issued. So it is up to the individuals.

In Committee

Debate resumed from 30 August.