Member's Day

Today is a Member's Day, and first up is the first reading of Debbie Ngarewa-Packer's Prohibition on Seabed Mining Legislation Amendment Bill. The bill would ban an enormously destructive form of mining before it gets started, which is consistent with the government's international position, but for some reason chickenshit Labour doesn't want to vote for it, so they've contrived their own, separate select committee inquiry to pretend they're doing something, while really doing nothing. The bill does have problems - it immediately guillotines all existing offshore oil and gas mining permits, and while those permits need to be cancelled quickly, I'm not sure that an overnight guillotine rather than a five-year sunset is the best way to do it. But that is the sort of thing which can be resolved by a select committee. Sadly, chickenshit Labour isn't going to give them the chance.

Once that's out of the way, there's the second reading of the New Plymouth District Council (Perpetual Investment Fund) Bill, and the first reading of the Annie Oxborough Birth Parents Registration Bill. They should go quickly, which means the House should get on to the third reading of Marja Lubeck's Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill, and probably Ian McKelvie's Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Exemption for Race Meetings) Amendment Bill. If it moves really fast, it might even make a start on the second reading of Camilla Belich's Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill, but I don't think it will get any further. There will be a ballot for one bill tomorrow.