Member's Day

Today is a Member's Day, probably the last for the year if there's end-of-year urgency. First up is National's Muldoonist dam bill, the Tasman District Council (Waimea Water Augmentation Scheme) Bill, designed to bypass normal processes and steal part of a conservation area for a dam to enrich farmers. Sadly, it looks like it now has government support and will pass (though not until March). If you're in the Tasman District and unhappy about this, the way to change it is to vote your council at at the local body elections in October. It killed Ruataniwha, and it can kill this too.

Once that's done, its on to the third reading of Gareth Hughes' Consumers’ Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill, followed by the rest of the committee stage of Simeon Brown's Psychoactive Substances (Increasing Penalty for Supply and Distribution) Amendment Bill. If they finish that, then they should start the second reading of Andrew Bayly's Arbitration Amendment Bill. I don't think they're likely to get further, but even if they do the next bill up is another second reading, so there will be no ballot tomorrow.