109 urgent hours in 100 days: Government’s rush to complete plan

Parliament spent 109 hours and 23 minutes in urgency in its first 100 days, as the Government pushed through its 100-day plan agenda.

About half of that was spent during ordinary meetings of the House, and the rest in Committee of the Whole, when the entire chamber meets as a committee to discuss and amend bits of legislation, according to data kept by the Parliamentary Library.

The last time there was a change in Government, in 2017, the House spent just 16 hours and 37 minutes in urgency. In 2020, Parliament spent just 15 hours 34 minutes in urgency in its first hundred days.

There are some mediating factors. The current Parliament has sat less because it formed only a few days before the summer recess.

It also lost two sitting days following a decision to adjourn for the week following the death of Fa’anānā Efeso Collins. The current Parliament has sat for 22 calendar days (which equates to 16 official sitting days - sometimes a sitting day carries over multiple calendar days in extended sitting).

During the first 100 days of the former Labour Government, Parliament sat for 21 calendar days, which equated to 20 sitting days, a recognition of there being less extended sitting.

Leader of the House Chris Bishop told the Herald: “We campaigned on real delivery, and delivering is exactly what we’ve been doing. I’m proud to be part of a coalition Government that’s getting on with the job New Zealanders elected us to do”.

Other MPs have begun to voice their concern about the level of urgency.

When Bishop read out his Business Statement on Thursday, as the Leader of the House does every Thursday, the Shadow Leader of the House Kieran McAnulty got to his feet and asked, whether Bishop’s statement meant “we will finally have a sitting week without the use of urgency?”.

Bishop replied; “that depends on the decisions that the House makes at the time. There’s plenty of business to get on with”.

Green co-leader James Shaw also raised concerns, the week prior.

“By my count, the Government has put 16 bills through urgency and one item of Government business not through urgency ... there has to be a point at which we’re able to debate whether it’s appropriate for a ratio of 16 urgent items to one to go through the House, because the Government has the majority and is essentially railroading the House.

“We’re at the point now where they can’t argue that, just because there was an election, means that they can overturn parliamentary democracy,” he said.

The long hours of extended sitting are starting to wear on MPs from both sides of the House.

The Government is keen to look energised and ready to progress its agenda. The Opposition wants to show it’s ready to put up a fight and defend the former Government’s record from being repealed.

In reality, MPs from both sides are exhausted.

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.