Drawn

The usual ballot for Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn:

• Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill (Sue Bradford)
• Resource Management (Restricted Coastal Activities) Amendment Bill (Nick Smith)
• Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill (Metiria Turei)
• Human Rights (One Law for All) Amendment Bill (Rodney Hide)

All of these bills have previously been covered in an "In the ballot" post.

So, the Green Ballot Mojo strikes again - as does ACT's (two out of three ain't bad). I expect there'll be a real shitfight over medicinal cannabis (because its bad to take drugs for medical purposes, except for the really hard stuff like morphine of course), and that both Nick Smith and Rodney Hide's bills will be swiftly voted down by a Labour-Progressive-Green-Maori Party coalition.

There were four new bills today. Two of them, from United Future's Judy Turner, and National's Simon Power, were substantially the same (both would have repealed the ban on private prisons), and so under the Standing Orders a preliminary ballot had to be held. Turner's version was selected and went forward, but was not ultimately drawn. The other new bills were Don Brash's Broadcasting (2005 Election Broadcasting Reimbursement) Amendment Bill, and Barbara Stewart's Teen Health Check Bill, which I'm currently trying to find out about. Hopefully I'll have enough information to do another edition of In the ballot in the next day or two.