Official Information (Parliamentary Under-Secretaries) Amendment Bill

I seek leave for all clauses to be debated as one.

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): So you want clauses 1 to 4 and Mr Seymour’s amendments—soon to be ruled out of order—to be debated as one question. Is there any objection to that? There is objection.

E Te Kaiwhakahaere, I apologise for my tardy erection in the House. [Interruption] In speaking on this first clause of the—[Interruption] I am sorry. I apologise if I have embarrassed the member Mrs Martin, but—[Interruption] Yes. In speaking on this first clause of the member—

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! [Interruption] Order! I think if members could get a grip, we will just—[Interruption] Just get on with it.

In speaking to this first clause of the Official Information (Parliamentary Under-Secretaries) Amendment Bill in the name of the honourable member Adrian Rurawhe, during this Committee of the whole House debate, I first want to say—

💬 Richard Prosser: The upstanding member.

Yes, a very upstanding member—thank you, Mr Prosser. The bill has a number of concerns for people on this side of the House, but from the outset I want to indicate that the Government will be supporting it. That is because this is a Government that is concerned with transparency. We are believers in open government. We think it is good that the public of New Zealand can have scrutiny over what the Government does with its money, and how it uses the resources granted to the executive by Parliament, and for those reasons in particular this part of the bill does meet with favour from this side of the House. So I want to congratulate the member Mr Rurawhe on actually convincing Government members with the power of his debate, particularly in the select committee stage—

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! The Committee was invited, and declined the opportunity, to have a broad-ranging debate across the clauses. I now ask the member to address clause 1.

💬 Kris Faafoi: I seek leave for all clauses to be taken as one debate, again.

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I am just going to get a little bit of advice, because my understanding is that you cannot seek leave for the same thing twice. I am advised—which is slightly different from the way that Sir Gerry Wall used to rule, well back—that the House is its own master, and I will put the question. Is there any objection? There appears to be none. The member gets to start again.

Clauses 1 to 4