Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Justice Committee chair James Meager has left the role, replaced on the committee by Andrew Bayly.
Bayly resigned as a minister in February after gripping a staffer's arm during an animated discussion. He remains an MP.
Meager was appointed a Minister outside Cabinet for Youth, Hunting and Fishing, and the South Island, and Associate Minister of Transport in January. Ministers do not typically chair select committees, so his exit had been expected for some time.
Media statements at the time said Meager, the MP for Rangitata, would remain in the role until the end of the Treaty Principles Bill select committee process.
The change comes a day ahead of the Treaty Principles Bill second reading debate in Parliament. The committee last week reported its findings from the submissions process, with 90 percent of submissions opposing it, and recommended the bill not proceed.
Majority-led by coalition parties, the Justice Committee will be expected to elect a new chair.
Other than Bayly, current members include deputy chair Jamie Arbuckle, from NZ First; National MPs Carl Bates, Rima Nakhle and Tom Rutherford; Labour MPs Duncan Webb, Ginny Andersen and Tracey McLellan; Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan; ACT MP Todd Stephenson, and Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris.
