Urgency

I move, That urgency be accorded the second reading of the Companies and Limited Partnerships Amendment Bill, the first reading of the Royal Succession Bill and its referral to a select committee, the introduction and first reading of the Copyright (Parallel Importing of Films) Amendment Bill and its referral to a select committee, the first reading of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2), the second reading of the Building Amendment Bill (No 4), the second reading of the Families Commission Amendment Bill, the second reading of the Financial Reporting Bill, the second reading of the Bail Amendment Bill, the second reading of the Family Court Proceedings Reform Bill, the second reading and Committee stage of the Psychoactive Substances Bill, the Committee stage of the Legal Assistance Amendment Bill, the Committee stage of the State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill, the Committee stage and third reading of the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Amendment Bill and any bills into which it may be divided, the Committee stage of the Taxation (Livestock Valuation, Assets Expenditure, and Remedial Matters Bill, the Committee stage of the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill, the Committee stage of the Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill, the Committee stage of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Covered Bonds) Amendment Bill, and the Committee stage of the Medicines Amendment Bill. It is a long list that the Government has expressed a desire to make some progress with. Urgency is a very legitimate tool for a Government to be able to claim some extra time to get business on the Order Paper further progressed. I think it would probably come as some surprise to most New Zealanders that the House sits for only 31 weeks a year. It sits for only 3 days in each of those 31 weeks, and each of those days accumulates to around about 13 hours of legislation in any given week. That adds up to twelve 40-hour weeks a year to progress the Government’s programme. That is a very, very limited amount of time. Given that members of Parliament are elected primarily to be legislators, it is not surprising that there should be strong support for more time taken on the legislative process.

I asked the Business Committee to consider using the extended hours provision for some of these bills to make progress, but there is one party, New Zealand First, that does not accept that that Standing Order should exist. The Labour Party has a view that only bills it agrees with should be progressed during those sessions, or if there is a Wednesday morning session caused by the Government, not the Thursday evening session as the Government proposed. Therefore, I think the only option we have open to us to get on with the business of the Government is to in fact have this urgency at this time.

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would just like you to confirm that as well as having a lecture on the shortness of time, we have had a specific reason for the urgency for these bills.

I am satisfied with the reasons that have been given by the Hon Gerry Brownlee.