This morning I posted about National's attempts to limit hearing oral submissions on the Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill. National had planned to hear all oral submissions today, restricting the number heard to 27 (out of 160 who had asked to make an oral submission). Submitters were to be given just ten minutes each on what is the most significant change to the economy since the introduction of GST, and those contacted had been given the impression that if they did not take the opportunity to speak today, they would never be heard at all.
The good news is that National lost. First, the opposition pushed for everyone who had asked to be heard to be given a slot, then for the committee to sit next week to hear them. Both motions passed with the support of Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party and ACT, with National voting against. It is still a pathetic amount of time to hear submissions on legislation this complex, but it is far better than the fake process National was proposing.
