Urgency

I move, That urgency be accorded the passing through all stages of the Social Security (COVID-19 Income Relief Payment to be Income) Amendment Bill; the passing through remaining stages of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Amendment Bill; the first readings of the Gas (Information Disclosure and Penalties) Amendment Bill, the Building (Building Products and Methods, Modular Components, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, the Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill (No 2), the New Zealand Bill of Rights (Declarations of Inconsistency) Amendment Bill, and the Food (Continuation of Dietary Supplements Regulations) Amendment Bill; the second readings of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill, the Resource Management Amendment Bill, the Public Finance (Wellbeing) Amendment Bill, the Land Transport (Rail) Legislation Bill; and the committee stage of the Privacy Bill.

This urgency motion does two things. First, and importantly, it allows us to progress two pieces of legislation that are directly related to COVID-19. And, secondly, it allows us to extend Parliament’s sitting hours in order to try and catch up some of the business that the Government would have progressed whilst the country was in lockdown.

The first two bills are a direct response to the COVID emergency. The Social Security (COVID-19 Income Relief Payment to be Income) Amendment Bill will allow temporary income relief to people who have lost their jobs as a result of the impact of COVID-19, and it needs to be put in place immediately in order to allow this to happen. The Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Amendment Bill responds to the rapidly changing global economic circumstances, and it strengthens the Government’s ability to manage temporarily heightened risks that arise from those, and we want those protections to be in place as soon as possible.

The recent suspension of normal House business took away up to 60 hours that would normally have been devoted to Government business. The loss of this time has meant that many of the bills in the motion that I’ve just moved have not been enacted in the time frame that had been expected and the benefits of those law changes have been delayed. On the first readings, only the Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill (No 2) will go through an accelerated select committee process, which will enable the ways in which the bill will help veterans and their families to be put into effect without delay. The other four first readings will go through a regular select committee process, and putting them through the House now will allow select committees to hear submissions before the election.

The motion includes four second readings and a committee stage. I will make it clear that these bills will only be progressing by one stage during this urgency motion. So the effect of this is not to in any way truncate the process these bills would regularly pass through in Parliament. This simply extends the time available to debate them. They’ll return to the House for their next stage at a later date. The subjects that these bills cover include mental health provision, reform of the resource management and public finance structures—all matters that have a renewed focus as a result of COVID-19.

Urgency will not continue. The Government does not intend to continue urgency beyond midnight on Thursday evening so members can make travel arrangements for Friday with a degree of certainty.