Urgent Debates Declined — Health and Safety, Workplace—Forestry Industry

I have received a letter from the Hon Shane Jones seeking to debate under Standing Order 386 the response of the Minister of Labour to the nine forestry deaths so far this year. For there to be an urgent debate, there must be a particular case of recent occurrence that involves the administrative or ministerial responsibility of the Government. With a death on 29 November, although it is another tragic occurrence, there is no ministerial responsibility for the actual ownership and running of most forestry operations. An urgent debate is a way of holding the Government to account. There must be distinct governmental responsibility for the particular case that is sought to be debated. Furthermore, the Government is halfway through a proactive programme of assessing cable logging and contracting operations. On this basis, I am not convinced that the Government’s response to the forestry deaths has reached the stage where an urgent debate is warranted. There will be other opportunities to debate this matter. The application is therefore declined.