Today is a Member's Day. First is the committee stage of Andrew Bayly's racist, anti-immigrant New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income (Fair Residency) Amendment Bill. Labour has sadly decided to back it - apparently they value the votes of dying, racist NZ First voters more than those of their own supporters - so it should pass. After that ugly display, its on to first readings. How many get done will depend on how long the House spends being racist, but they should at least finish the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers (Electronic Records) Amendment Bill (also from Bayly), and probably move on to Simon Bridges' Income Tax (Adjustment of Taxable Income Ranges) Amendment Bill and David Seymour's Regulatory Standards Bill. Which means there should be a ballot for two new bills tomorrow.
Speaking of new bills, there's a new one from Labour's Barbara Edmonds, the Oaths and Declarations (Realm of New Zealand Languages) Amendment Bill, which would allow affirmations to be made in any NZ language (meaning Gagana Tokelau, Vagahau Niue, and Te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani). This ought to be completely uncontroversial, and an excellent candidate for the new short-cut mechanism which allows bills to be bumped to the top of the order paper with the support of 61 non-executive MPs. But so far it has only attracted the support of Labour MPs, and not even the Greens are supporting it yet. Which is I guess a nice example of the toxic dynamics of our Parliament...
