It's official: the government is going all the way and keeping Parliament in session right to the end. Or at least, that's their intention. Winston Peters could still blow up in their faces, but they're planning to go full term.
Everyone everywhere else has already made the rather obvious point that this means a November election. However, I think it raises an interesting question: what will the government do with the extra time?
Unfortunately, I'm really not sure. Most of the bills on the Order paper are legislative makework, which will be passed anyway regardless of who is in government. But even looking at the policy bills, the government is spoiled for choice. It all depends on the message they want to send: do they want to spend the last week(s?) of Parliament showing how they're "tough on crime" (in which case they'll advance the Organised Crime (Penalties and Sentencing) Bill and try and push the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill), or that they are good friends of Maori (in which case they'll prioritise the pile of settlement legislation currently before the House)? Either way, these last weeks are potentially Labour's last chance for a while to legislate policy, so I'd hate to see them wasted. Unfortunately, given Labour's lack of vision, that's probably exactly what they'll do.
