Source: Radio New Zealand
Parliament House and the Beehive wreathed in heavy mist during winter 2019 © VNP / Phil Smith
MPs are back in rainy Wellington for a two-week sitting block after a fortnight in their electorates during the Easter school holidays.
This week’s parliamentary business centres on the Annual Review Debate, with the addition of Treaty settlement bills, and bills returning from select committee, with an extra sitting on Thursday morning (9am rather than 2pm) in order to fit everything in.
Arguing about past spending
A part of Parliament’s odyssey of financial scrutiny, the Annual Review Debate takes place every year as one of the final stages in the retrospective review of government performance against budget allocations made over a year ago.
MPs have ten hours of debate in which to interrogate government ministers sector by sector, following earlier scrutiny at select committee hearings, another cog in the financial scrutiny cycle.
Parliament’s financial scrutiny cycle, which this year for the first time includes two scrutiny weeks. Parliament
All of Tuesday and Wednesday’s sitting hours (other than Question Time and Wednesday’s General Debate) are dedicated to the Annual Review debate.
The debate acts as the committee stage of the Appropriation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill, so the process largely mirrors a standard committee stage format.
Across Tuesday’s sitting, MPs will scrutinise relevant ministers in the heavyweight sectors of finance, transport, and housing, followed by health, education, and workplace relations and safety after the dinner break.
On Wednesday, the House begins with a general debate, when MPs can take a lash at issues not tied to any particular piece of parliamentary business or legislation.
After an hour, the House returns to the Annual Review debate, covering energy, social development and employment, the environment (each roughly an hour), then climate change, Pacific peoples, and Māori development (about half an hour each).
Treaty Settlement Bills
Aside from the Annual Review, the other notable business this week includes two claims settlement bills concerning Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu (second reading and committee stage) and Ngāti Tara Tokanui (committee stage).
Treaty Claim settlement bills take years to come to fruition beginning with lengthy negotiations between iwi and the Crown. The legislation forms the statutory leg of settlements addressing historical breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown.
These bills include accounts of the Crown’s actions and resulting grievances, along with an official apology and details of redress. When debating Treaty bills, MPs typically put aside the usual political approach to debating, and acknowledge these histories and speak to the specifics of financial and cultural redress as set out in the legislation.
MPs debate many bills to relatively sparse public gallery, but the importance of claims settlement bills means iwi, hapū, and whānau travel to Wellington to witness the passage of their bill in person – especially the final third reading. To mark the moment, the Speaker grants permission for waiata when the bill passes.
The Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu Claims Settlement Bill will receive its second reading on Thursday morning and its committee stage later in the day. The Ngāti Tara Tokanui Claims Settlement Bill will then move to its committee stage.
Other odds and ends bills
Thursday will also see a range of stages across a hodgepodge of bills, most returning to the House from select committee.
The Building and Construction Sector (Self-certification by Plumbers and Drainlayers) Amendment Bill returns from the Transport and Infrastructure Committee this week. It aims to remove some of the bureaucratic hurdles involved in plumbing and drainlaying work.
The Regulatory Systems (Transport) Amendment Bill is a technical piece of legislation that updates regulatory systems across the transport, maritime, and aviation sectors. Given its nature, it is relatively uncontroversial and should move smoothly through the House.
The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (Supervisor, Levy, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, aside from being a mouthful, is in the name of ACT’s Nicole McKee. It strengthens some of the regulatory systems used by government agencies enforcing anti-money laundering and financial crime laws. All three opposition parties supported this Bill at first reading, but both Labour and the Greens signalled that their continued support was not guaranteed, so the second reading will reveal whether this remains the case.
The Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill is one of the government’s legislative attempts to curb rising council rates. To do so, it lays out purposes for local government and prioritises the provision of core services (water, rubbish collection etc). This bill is likely to be contentious as it would restricts what a council can and should do to quite specific and practical functions.
Finally, the Online Casino Gambling Amendment Bill receives its third reading this week and will likely become law by next Monday. It introduces a licensing regime for gambling platforms wanting to operate in New Zealand.
*RNZ’s The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament’s Office of the Clerk. Enjoy our articles or podcast at RNZ.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
