Suffrage, limbs, and oral fluid

Universal suffrage giving women the right to vote was introduced to Aotearoa New Zealand 125 years ago, so MPs will put aside time on Wednesday to commemorate that part of the country’s history.

They’ll also work through bills like the Government’s Artificial Limb Service Bill and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s Random Oral Fluid Testing Bill.

The order in which the House debates legislation is decided by the Leader of The House, Chris Hipkins (except members’ bills, which are debated in order with the newest ones going last).

An outline for this week (18 - 20 September) is below.

MPs are required to be at Parliament on 'sitting days', so called because MPs sit in those green leather chairs when they’re in the debating chamber. An agenda known as the Order Paper is published online each sitting day outlining what business the House plans to get through. But things change and time is limited so below is what they’ll try their best to do.

Splitting social security

What:

• Three third readings of the Social Security Bill, the Residential Care and Disability Support Services Bill and the Artificial Limb Service Bill.

• These bills were part of the Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill but have been split off into their own bills. This happened at the previous stage of the bill (the committee stage) and often takes place if a bill is rewriting a lot of legislation. Essentially it keeps things more organised.

Teachers choose their own masters (Tuesday)

What:

• The third reading of the  The Education (Teaching Council of Aotearoa) Amendment Bill

• Like many professions, teachers have a professional body called the Education Council. This bill began life as a members bill (from now Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins). The Bill increases the council's  size and includes on it teachers selected by teachers. The government-appointees would become a minority of the council. This week should see the committee stage (where the house debates and can suggest changes to details). When it came back from select committee the opposition members of the Select Committee included a minority report opposing the Bill as expensive and unnecessary.

Why:

• The basic argument is to allow teachers to choose from amongst themselves for their professional leadership. Teachers elected to be on the council would require a current practicing certificate.

The Law of the Sea (Tuesday)

What:

• The second reading of the Maritime Powers Extension Bill

• The Bill will give greater powers to New Zealand Customs to stop trafficking of illegal substances and clarify where NZ customs has the power to do so.

• Customs would be able to stop, board, and search a ship both in New Zealand waters or on the high seas, even if the ship is flying a foreign flag (so long as that country is a party to the UN Conventions). NZ could also charge those involved in smuggling to or from New Zealand, even on the high seas.

Why:

• New Zealand has obligations under United Nations Conventions including the Law of the Sea and Drug Trafficking

More Education Change-ups (Tuesday)

What:

• The first reading of the Education Amendment Bill (No 2).

• A Bill of reasonably minor education adjustments including: adding student safety to the registration requirement for private schools; preventing the Education Council from unilaterally changing the qualification requirements for teachers; expanding the provision of distance education through communities of online learning; and ensuring that the option of ‘cohort entry’ (beginning in groups, not one by one on their birthday) for new-entrants doesn’t mean children start school before they turn 5.

Why:

• That cohort change will mean that schools will now be able to choose to bring in new entrants at term-beginning and mid-term. But all new entrants must already be 5. This is because previously some children were starting school up to two months before they turned five (to be in the cohort closest to their birthday).

The Fibre Aftermath

What:

• The second reading of the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill. The bill was brought to Parliament under the previous government and picked up by the current one.

• It introduces a new outline for the regulation of fibre services from 2020, while retaining copper regulations where no fibre alternatives are available.

• It also extends consumer safeguards, streamlines response to competition problems (especially in the cellular market), and provides more oversight of retail service quality.

Why:

• The Bill describes itself as regulatory changes “needed in view of the major growth in fibre network services and the relative decline in copper fixed line services.”

Celebrating Women’s Suffrage (Wednesday)  

What:

• A 'debate' on the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Aotearoa.

Why:

• On 19 September 1893 a new electoral act was signed into law giving women over 21 the right to vote. Bills introduced in 1891 and 1892 had failed to pass the Legislative Council (the Upper House which was abolished in 1950.) The third bill passed when two council members unexpectedly changed their minds just before its third reading, and women turned up to vote in the election later that year.

Taupatupatu Whānui - General Debate (every Wednesday, this week it’ll be at about 4pm).

What:

• Twelve speeches of up to five minutes in length after question time on Wednesdays in the House. Speeches are divvied up proportionally so bigger parties get more speeches. Because Ministers aren’t counted in the proportional divvy-up, the opposition side of the House gets more speeches than the government side.

Why:

• The general debate is a chance for MPs to bring up issues that would other   wise not come up before the House, making it a wide-ranging debate. Sometimes parties take a coordinated approach and speak on the same issue but there’s no rule that they have to.

Member’s Day (Wednesday)

Every alternate Wednesday in the House at about 4pm, time is devoted to bills by members who are not ministers (like Opposition MPs and backbenchers). They’re called member’s bills and have slightly less time spent on their debates than other legislation.

Up this week:

• The second reading of the Education (National Education and Learning Priorities) Amendment Bill in the name of Labour MP Jan Tinetti, which makes adjustments to educational objectives.

• The second reading of the Consumers’ Right to Know (Country of Origin) Food Bill in the name of Green MP Gareth Hughes. This bill will require single component food (like fruit or meat) to have its country of origin on it so people can make informed purchases.

• Land Transport (Random Oral Fluid Testing) Amendment Bill will continue its first reading. This will let enforcement officers to do random oral fluid tests on drivers for THC, MDMA, and Methamphetamine.

• Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill in the name of Darroch Ball will have its first reading. This Bill will create a new offence for injuring a first responder (emergency health and fire service staff for example).

Updating Military Justice (Wednesday, Thursday morning)

What:

• The third reading of the Military Justice Legislation Amendment Bill.

• It will enhance victims’ rights by updating the military justice system and aligning it with the criminal justice system.

• It’s an omnibus bill (so it amends more than one Act): the Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971, the Court Martial Act 2007, and the Court Martial Appeals Act 1953 will be amended.

 

The best laid plans of mice and men...  You can see a running list of how much the House gets done each sitting day by going here: Daily progress in the House