The end of the silly season

Parliament resumes today after the christmas break, so there will finally be an end to the local political news drought. Unfortunately, its likely to be a little dull at first, with the unedifying spectacle of the annual debate on the Prime Minister's statement (a set piece in which government and opposition slag one another off for fourteen hours) taking up the first week and most of next Tuesday as well. After that, it should get more interesting.

The government doesn't have much of an agenda at the moment, with a mere 15 bills on the Order Paper and another 20 in select committee. And most of those bills are legislative makework, part of the ongoing process of updating the law, rather than enacting any policy agenda. So it will be interesting to see whether the PM highlights any agenda in her statement, and what legislation is introduced to the House over the next few weeks.

The first Member's Day is likely to be next Wednesday, and they have a lot to get through. There's an unprecedented 31 member's bills before the House (compared to 35 pieces of government legislation), and both the (gutted) anti-smacking bill and Easter trading bills will be up for their second readings. There's plenty on the Order Paper, and more coming back from select committee, so there likely won't be a ballot for a while. However, I'm planning to continue my In the Ballot series as bills come up.