The House sat under urgency on Wednesday as the Government attempted to progress several pieces of key legislation. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The House sat under urgency on Wednesday as the Government attempted to progress several pieces of key legislation. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The Government is being accused of riding roughshod over normal parliamentary processes by proposing relatively short public submission periods for two of its more controversial pieces of legislation.
Labour’s Ginny Andersen went as far as to call the Government’s approach to various pieces of legislation “quite sickening” andbelieved there was a “frantic haste for each coalition partner to tick off their list of voter wishes”.
“Time and time again, we are seeing condensed periods at select committee, or no select committee; we are seeing urgency being used to ram legislation through; and we are seeing people’s democratic rights being ridden over roughshod, left, right, and centre,” she said.
Two ministers said shortened select committee periods were necessary as the changes needed to be made as soon as possible to address ongoing issues and give certainty.
However, progress was slowed down as Opposition MPs repeatedly raised alarm over the short period of time the public would have to submit on some of the bills.
Parliament sat under urgency on Wednesday. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
Select committees usually have around six months to consider pieces of legislation. This includes hearing from any member of the public who wishes to submit on the proposal and then reporting back with any suggested changes to the legislation.
But Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced MACA would be reported back on by December 5 – a little more than two months away.
He said this was necessary as applicants for customary marine titles had already faced almost a year of legal uncertainty after the Government said it would legislate in response to a Court of Appeal decision last year that “diluted” the threshold to get a title.
“We can’t afford to wait any longer and we don’t think that it’s particularly fair to all involved, which is why we are urgently progressing these amendments. I’m advocating certainty for everyone as soon as possible.”
Labour’s Arena Williams was among those to oppose the short select committee period and proposed an – ultimately unsuccessful – amendment to extend it to June next year.
“When the minister talks about the need for urgency on this to give claimants certainty, there is absolutely a need for certainty here, but the creation of uncertainty is because not only will this process not give people their day in court but they are also being denied their day in the select committee room to make their case to the parliamentarians,” she said.
Her colleague, Duncan Webb, said the select committee process was being presented as a “rubber stamp”.
“That the select committee – bump it off to the Justice Committee, listen to the naysayers, and get on with it. Well, that’s not good enough. The select committee needs to do a genuine and robust analysis of what’s going on here.”
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is in charge of the MACA Bill. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The Greens’ Lawrence Xu-Nan called it “perplexing”.
“I do not think that it gives the New Zealand public sufficient time to actually weigh in on what has been one of the most contentious issues in Aotearoa, particularly in the context of Māori-Crown relations, in history. So I really think the shortened select committee process does not actually do this topic any justice.”
His colleague, Steve Abel, proposed his own – also unsuccessful – reporting date of July 3. It was another motion that could then be debated in the House, delaying the Government’s attempt to progress legislation.
“It is antithetical indeed to good government to not allow a thorough select committee process where the amendments can be considered; where the impacts on the right of iwi to make claims to their customary waters as fully evaluated and understood,” he said.
During her contribution, Labour’s Ingrid Leary said she had identified nine pieces of legislation this year which had had shorter select committee periods. She said 21 hadn’t had select committee scrutiny (these are usually passed entirely with urgency). The Government defended its use of urgency earlier this year by saying it was delivering on the mandate given to it at the election.
There was also outrage from Opposition MPs over the short select committee period being given to the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill.
Resources Minister Shane Jones, who is responsible for the legislation, told the House it would be reported back by October 31 – just over a month away.
“The reasons for asking the House to agree to a shortened select committee process are the same as the reasons why the bill is needed at all,” Jones said.
“This is to address our current gas supply issues and high prices. Without more investment in existing and new fields, these issues will continue to plague us. It’s the view of the Government that it’s essential this bill is enacted as soon as possible. It remains desirable for it to undergo, however, a select committee scrutiny, albeit briefly.”
Similarly to the MACA Bill, Opposition MPs put up several amendments to extend the select committee period.
Labour’s Megan Woods said: “This is a large piece of legislation that is making multiple changes that are going to require more than the paltry weeks that the Minister for Resources is asking for the bill to be reported back in. It is insufficient time for stakeholders to prepare submissions.”
She noted Jones had pointed to the need to address the current electricity crisis as a reason to speed up the process.
But Woods said opening up offshore exploration for oil and gas again – as the legislation would allow – wouldn’t be a quick fix, and therefore didn’t necessitate a truncated submission period.
“Giving submitters five more months to consider the implications of this in the context of a 16-year, on average – and remember that’s on average – lag between exploration and production I think shows that the Minister hasn’t considered actually what part this legislation is going to play in any solutions.”
Woods was the minister in charge of the legislation in 2018 that banned new offshore oil and gas exploration permits. The then-Government was criticised at the time for not campaigning on the change before announcing it. It was at select committee for just over a month.
What else passed through the House?
Despite the debates over select committee periods, the Government still succeeded in getting a number of other Bills through various stages in the House. That included:
The third reading of the Education and Training Amendment Bill (restores charter schools)
The third reading of the Corrections Amendment Bill (makes changes to settings in prisons, including extending rehabilitation services to remand prisoners)
The first reading of the Sentencing (Reform) Amendment Bill (makes a number of sentencing changes, like introducing new aggravating factors and preventing repeat discounts for youth or remorse)
The first reading of the District Court (District Court Judges) Amendment Bill (increases the maximum number of District Court judges by one)
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
