A couple of times recently I've commented on the thinness of the government's legislative agenda. How thin is it? Take a look at today's Order Paper. There are sixteen government bills listed - but the government only seems interested in progressing eight of them. The rest is an assortment of stalled or dead bills which have been hanging around at the bottom of the list for the past few years. For example, the Oaths Modernisation Bill has been waiting for its second reading for the last two years - something the government doesn't want to do as it will involve inevitable flak about "creeping republicanism" and "political correctness". The Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill is on hold pending the outcome of the inquiry into police misconduct and the various police rape cases. The Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill is dead and does not have the numbers to pass, but no-one wants to admit it. And the Conservation (Protection of Trout as a Non-commercial Species) Amendment Bill has been waiting for its committee stage since 1998. Surely its time they admitted it was dead?
The government also has bills in select committee - 15 of them, of which a couple (such as the Arms Amendment Bill (No 3)) are clearly stalled and going nowhere fast. Its not a lot - barely enough to keep Parliament ticking over.
Worse, most of the bills on the agenda are makework, the usual legislative tinkering of reviewing and updating the law. The government has no real agenda. Their reliance on New Zealand First and United Future has reduced them to being effectively a caretaker government.
There are two points out of this. Firstly, the only excitement in Parliament - the only area we're seeing real legislation rather than makework - is through Member's Bills. If the government won't govern, it would be nice if they'd allow Parliament to by allowing an extra Member's Day. Secondly, given the dearth of real legislation on the Order Paper, and the expected timing for bills to emerge from select committee, there's a real danger over the next few weeks of the government exhausting its agenda and overflowing into the dead zone. I'm not sure what happens then - do they collapse the House and declare a holiday, or do they suddenly grant leave to go on to member's business? Unless the government gets a legislative agenda soon, we may be about to find out...
2 comments:
This might interest you a NZPA story from last Sunday
IMAGINE -- A PARLIAMENT WITH NO BILLS TO DEBATE
POLITICS-BUSINESS-CORRECTION 770 words
Feb 25th 2007 6:01pm Politics/Politics
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(Repeating H1891, correcting category P)
By Ian Llewellyn of NZPA
Wellington, Feb 25 NZPA - National's shadow leader of the house Gerry Brownlee has been taking great glee lately in mocking the Government for its light legislative agenda.
On Thursday he pointed out to his counterpart on the Government benches, Michael Cullen, that he was running out of bills on the order paper and what was there was dull and non-controversial stuff.
Mr Brownlee wondered whether the Government had anything coming before it ran out of business for Parliament to debate.
His point was highlighted later on in that day when, due to a stuff up and perhaps Labour's more experienced team taking advantage of National's less hardened whips, the Government managed to rattle through business that should have taken hours of time in just a few seconds.
On Thursday, the Government was getting through business faster than expected on the dull but worthy Customs and Excise Amendment Bill (No 2).
National was apparently taken by surprise when Labour went to the committee stage of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Bill. It had no speakers ready so it was completed without debate.
Then the same happened with the second reading of the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill, which had not been on the whips' agenda for the day.
Labour then relented and, after completing what should have been hours of debate in a matter of minutes, raised the House, still an hour earlier than scheduled.
If Parliament managed to sustain that pace, it would not be long before MPs ran out of legislation available on the Order Paper to debate. The Order Paper represents the business before Parliament.
Dr Cullen sets the Government's order of priorities and other rules set out what happens and when.
Bills shuffle on and off the Order Paper as they are introduced, sent on to select committees and either discharged or passed into law.
Currently there are 22 Government bills waiting to make progress in Parliament and two more waiting to get on the Order Paper.
On the surface it looks like plenty of business but appearances are deceiving.
Six of those bills are just the proposal to lift the judicial retirement age split into amending legislation and all will be dealt with in one short, uncontroversial debate.
Further down the Order Paper is a bunch of bills which the Government has no interest in putting before the House -- some because it would lose, such as the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill which has little support.
Others will not make it because there is little interest for bills such as the Conservation (Protection of Trout as a Noncommercial Species) Amendment Bill.
The order paper should be refilled by select committees completing consideration of bills and sending them back to Parliament but there is little on the immediate horizon.
The Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) is due back shortly but most bills are not due back for months.
Ministers will no doubt be dusting off pet projects which had little chance of getting on the Order Paper in busier and more controversial legislative years; amongst these will be a long-awaited reform of public health laws.
Even if the Government did run out of bills, Mr Brownlee's jibe that Parliament may run out of business is still unlikely to come to pass.
Besides bills, there are a raft of reports that sit on the Order Paper and rarely get debated before they fall off the agenda.
Debate on Judith Tizard's notice of motion congratulating someone for winning a prize for a film script is bound to be scintillating and everyone will be waiting with bated breath for MPs to clash over the select committee report on the treaty of trademark laws.
Posted by Anonymous : 3/01/2007 08:46:00 PM
Of course there are some of us who prefer a 'thin' legislative agenda.
The thinner the better. :-)
Posted by Peter Cresswell : 3/03/2007 05:57:00 PM
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