It's 12:40 or so, and Parliament is still at it trying to pass validating legislation, so it looks likely there will be no Wednesday this week. As far as the House is concerned, its still Tuesday (this happens when they go into Urgency), and if they overrun the start of the next day, it disappears. So, no Wednesday this week, which means that next week's Wednesday, which was expected to be a Member's Day, is in fact a Govenment Wednesday, and the next Member's Day is pushed back to November 8th.
I now expect a press release from Don Brash accusing the government of "stealing Wendesday" (along with taxpayer's money, the election, the TV remote from his office, and his hair) and demanding that the Auditor-General force them to "give Wednesday back".
If Sun Microsystems can erase 11 days from 1752 I can't see why parliament can't drop the odd Wednesday.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.csd.uwo.ca/staff/magi/personal/humour/Computer_Audience/'cal%209%201752'%20explained.html
Ha ha! Excellent. Notwithstanding the justifiable outrage on kiwiblog (etc, etc) this is definitely the best comment today. Attaboy.
ReplyDeleteNope, that was the result of an Act of Parliament.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.adsb.co.uk/date_and_time/calendar_reform_1752/
Which I suppose is even better! Constitutional precedent...
hmm parliment as a whole is stealing our wednessday.
ReplyDeleteWe should just fix the system. (ie rules on how these things are handled that would stop debates just going on and on and not going anywhere
Anon: debate is the very lifeblood of democracy, and while the opposition engaged in filibustering and petty points of order, I would rather have that than any system where debate was foreclosed.
ReplyDeleteThe reason it ran over and ate Wednesday is not because of any "failure in the system", but because a bill requires a First Reading, Second Reading, Committee Stage, and Third Reading in order to pass. This takes a minimum of six hours (120 minutes for each stage), plus at least an hour per Part in the Committee stage, and more if it is as hotly contested as this bill was. Parliament normally sits for six hours a day (2pm - 10pm, less breaks). You do the maths.