Annual Review Debate — In Committee

The House is in committee on the Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill. This is the debate on the financial position of the Government and the annual reviews of departments, Offices of Parliament, Crown entities, public organisations, and State enterprises, as reported on by select committees. The time allocated for this debate is 10 hours.

In accordance with a determination of the Business Committee, Standing Order 356(2) and (3) have been set aside, so there will be no sector-specific debates. All annual reviews are available for debate but only specific Ministers will be available each day to respond. The Government has indicated that the Minister of Finance and Minister for Infrastructure; the Minister of Agriculture and Minister for Land Information; the Minister for the Environment and Minister for Oceans and Fisheries; the Minister of Health; the Speaker; and the Minister of Education will be available today.

The time this debate has been allocated to parties is on a proportional basis. New Zealand Labour has five hours 25 minutes, New Zealand National has two hours 45 minutes, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has 50 minutes, ACT New Zealand has 50 minutes, and Te Paati Māori has 10 minutes.

As determined by the Business Committee, each debate will be led off by the chairperson or another member of the committee that considered annual reviews most closely related to the Minister’s portfolios.

A motion to report progress on a bill must be moved on a call not a point of order. When a member moves to report progress in this annual review debate, the presiding officer will call on that member first when the debate resumes. This is a similar process to that followed in other debates when they are adjourned.

At the conclusion of the debate, questions will be put noting the committee reports on annual reviews and on the provisions of the Appropriation (2019/20 Confirmation and Validation) Bill. There is no amendment or debate on these questions.

The question is that the report of the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the annual financial statements of the Government for 2019/2020 financial year be noted.

Finance