PARLIAMENTARY REPORT
NEW ZEALAND
INTRODUCING PROVISIONS TO IMPROVE USE OF HOUSE TIME
Extended sitting hours
Parliament wound up its business for 2012 on 12 December. In the adjournment debate, Hon. Gerry Brownlee, MP, the Leader of the House, acknowledged the effectiveness of new provisions introduced in 2012 to improve the use of the House’s time. One such measure had
allowed for an increase in the number of sitting hours without the House needing to resort to sitting under urgency. Under a new Standing Order, the government can move to extend sitting hours by a motion without notice, subject to safeguards and restrictions including giving formal notice to the Business Committee a week beforehand. A second mechanism allows extended sitting hours to be negotiated through the Business Committee. Mr Brownlee told the House
that the Business Committee had agreed to extend 12 sittings in 2012, and an additional sitting had been held by a government motion. He said: “The Business Committee is a group convened by the Speaker. It has representatives from all parties, and it works on near unanimity. In other words, if the representatives of the greatest number of Parliamentarians agree on something, it can happen.” He paid tribute to all members of the Business Committee, acknowledged Hon. Trevor Mallard, MP, (Labour) “the shadow Leader of the House for his contribution in changing…the
76 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue One Hon. Gerry Brownlee, MP
way in which we sensibly look at business that we are not divided on”, and cited Treaty settlement legislation as “a splendid example of the way in which Parliament can work when these provisions are used appropriately”. The Speaker, Dr The Rt Hon.
Lockwood Smith, MP, noted that the House had effectively sat for 35½ weeks in 2012 and that the number of hours that Parliament had sat under urgency in 2012 had decreased. He described the provision for extended sittings as a “much more measured way of advancing the legislative programme. It meant that legislation with wide support across the House could be facilitated, enabling much more focus on areas of difference and areas of controversy”.
Members’ Bills Other changes to Standing Orders have improved the passage of Members’ Bills through the House in 2012. The Speaker described the innovation as “pretty successful” when
speaking in the adjournment debate. “In 2011 we had no Members’ Bills introduced into the House; this year there have been 34. That is a huge improvement in the opportunity for Members to have their proposals considered by the House.” Under Standing Orders any
Member other than a Minister may propose a Bill, but there are restrictions on the number of such Bills that the House may consider. Members’ Bills are drawn from a ballot. Previously, Members whose Bills were drawn needed time to promote their Bill ahead of the first reading, which led to postponements and delays. Proposed Members’ Bills may now be lodged at any time. They are then uploaded to Parliament’s website, so that they are available to the public before the ballot takes place and can proceed through the House without undue delay. Three Members’ Bills
passed into law in 2012: the Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill, the Military Manoeuvres Act Repeal Bill, and the Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill. Moving the third reading of the Employment Relations (Secret Ballot for Strikes) Amendment Bill on 9 May 2012, Hon. Tau Henare, MP, (National) said the Bill was “not a debate about whether or not the union organization is right or wrong. This is not a debate about whether the Labour Party, the
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