Business Statement

Legislation to be considered by the House next week will include the committee stages of the Abortion Legislation Bill and the Taxation (KiwiSaver, Student Loans, and Remedial Matters) Bill, and the first readings of the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill, the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill, the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill, and the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Bill. Following the conclusion of the debate on the Prime Minister’s statement today, the first members’ day of the year will take place next Wednesday, 11 March. A two-hour debate on the report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Budget Policy Statement will also take place on that day. There’ll be an extended sitting on the morning of Thursday, 12 March.

Noting that we’ve now got to a point where if there are new bills introduced to the House for first reading, there’s not sufficient time for a select committee to go through its normal phases or normal processes and return it to the House for consideration prior to the election, are we to anticipate that there’ll be no new legislation introduced by the Government between now and the election, or are we in for significant bouts of urgency or extended sittings over the next couple of months?

I think the member is labouring under a misapprehension that, in fact, the only way to send a bill to a select committee is for six months, and if you don’t do that, you have to pass it through all stages under urgency, which, of course, was the pattern when he was the Leader of the House. On this side of the House, we have gone to great lengths to ensure that bills are sent to select committee for scrutiny, even if that sometimes means that the time frame that they are at select committee is a little shorter.