Member's Day

Today is a Member's Day, the first of the new Parliament (Gerry Brownlee having stolen one already by dragging out the Address in Reply debate). Unfortunately, the Order Paper is stacked with private and local bills, so there is unlikely to be any Member's business. But we are finally likely to see the end of the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill, which became collateral damage in Labour's attempts to filibuster VSM last year. We may also see the first reading of the Hutt City Council (Graffiti Removal) Bill, which would allow that council to enter private property to remove "graffiti" - a term left deliberately undefined, and therefore meaning whatever the council wants it to mean - subject to notification and an opt-out by the property owner. While graffiti is sometimes an eyesore, when we're talking about warrentless entry and seizure (with complete legal immunity if they accidentally burn your house down in the process), then I think you need a better justification (and a better legal schema) than that.