Thursday, November 03, 2016



So much for spam bills

The National Party became a subject of ridicule over the last few months when Nuk Koroko's Airport Authorities (Lost Property) Amendment Bill was drawn from the ballot. The bill did nothing, and apparently existed solely to take up space in the ballot and prevent Parliament from debating a more worthy bill. It was swiftly followed by Matt Doocey's Companies (Annual Report Notice Requirements) Amendment Bill, which isn't quite as pointless, but existed for a similar purpose. Both bills could easily have been incorporated into the Statutes Amendment Bill currently progressing through Parliament, and obvious questions were raised about why they weren't.

The good news is that now they have been, thanks to SOPs from Labour and ACT. And as a result, the House will be free to debate more substantive bills. Unless of course National comes up with a new load of spam to stuff into the biscuit tin...