Committees — Select Committees

I move, That the House establish a committee, to be called the Parliament Bill Committee, to consider, and report on, the Parliament Bill and any associated business that may be referred to it; that the committee consist of eight members to be nominated by parties to the Speaker as follows: New Zealand National two, New Zealand Labour two, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand one, ACT New Zealand one, New Zealand First one, and Te Pāti Māori one; and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions), during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House, on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House, and outside the Wellington area, despite Standing Orders 193, 195, and 196.

This motion establishes a special select committee called the Parliament Bill Committee to consider and report on the Parliament Bill. It consists of eight members to be nominated by parties to the Speaker. National has two, the Labour Party has two, Greens one, ACT one, New Zealand First one, and Te Pāti Māori one, as well.

Look, this reflects the fact that the Parliament Bill is something that is a very important constitutional bill and it speaks to the importance of having a degree of bipartisanship and consensus around making sure the bill is well supported across the Parliament. It’s been discussed with the Business Committee and other parties in advance of this motion, reflecting the fact that it would be appropriate to have a special select committee with equal membership from the Government and the Opposition to make sure that we can work in a bipartisan way.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just, really, speaking in support of the motion. I’m excited to be meeting on Fridays in a week in which the House has been sitting. It is a standard carve-out, but it’s good to see that we’ll have the flexibility to meet where appropriate. I just want to recognise the cross-party work that’s been done at the Business Committee and elsewhere in respect of this bill and this committee. I’m looking forward to it being chaired by the Rt Hon Adrian Rurawhe, who I think will do an able job. Kia ora.

I’m rising to take a short call on behalf of the Green Party to support this motion. We believe that an ad hoc committee to consider the Parliament Bill makes a lot of sense. We acknowledge that, because of the constitutional nature of this bill, we do need a committee with members that are able to also amply communicate with their caucuses, as this has an impact on, basically, how all MPs’ work is carried out. We acknowledge that we were consulted about this piece of legislation about three years ago, and we also just want to acknowledge that this is a bill that is really significant.

Because of the nature of the bill, we would have liked more than eight months to actually consider this bill, just to make sure that, actually, whatever comes out of the select committee is enduring, because, at the end of the day, issues that relate to, for example, entitlements of MPs can be really controversial, and we do want to make sure that we have the public’s backing and that we iron out any political tensions, because what we do in that select committee will have an impact not just on this Parliament but on future Parliaments to come.

Motion agreed to.