Business Statement

Next week, the committee stage of the Appropriation (2019/20 Estimates) Bill, the Estimates debate, will continue. It has eight hours and 55 minutes remaining. Other legislation to be considered will include the first readings of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill (No 3) and the Venture Capital Fund Bill. The Government will introduce legislation to allow some premises to extend their opening hours during the Rugby World Cup.

I wonder: will the Leader of the House be making the bill that extends opening hours for Rugby World Cup purposes available to all parties to have a look at before it comes into the House? Secondly, can he tell us when item number 10 on the Order Paper—that’s been available for three months now—might make some progress in the House?

I don’t have a copy of the Order Paper in front of me, so I can’t say. Unfortunately, they don’t put them on our desks any longer, so I can’t answer that. Which one is it?

💬 SPEAKER: Equal pay.

In the fullness of time we will get to the Equal Pay Amendment Bill. There are a couple of issues that are still being resolved around the Equal Pay Amendment Bill that weren’t able to be resolved at the Education and Workforce Committee. With regard to the first part of the bill, I’ve asked that a draft copy of the bill for next week be distributed as soon as it’s available, including with a proposed timetable for passing it through the House. I envisage that we’ll discuss that at the Business Committee on Tuesday.

One question that relates to that might truncate discussions considerably. Can the Leader of the House indicate if that bill will consider all licensed premises or just a narrow band of licensed premises?

I’m advised by the Minister in charge of it that it will cover all licensed premises.