The Parliamentary Week – May 2

The Parliamentary Week – May 2

The week ahead in Parliament will be dominated by a 10-hour set-piece debate around select committees annual reviews of departments and agencies.

Officially known as the Committee stage of the Appropriation (2015/16 Confirmation and Validation), the debate is divided into separate themes.
• Economic Development and Infrastructure Sector
• Education and Science Sector
• Environment Sector
• External Sector
• Finance and Government Administration Sector
• Health Sector
• Justice Sector
• Māori, other Populations and Cultural Sector
• Primary Sector
• Social Development and Housing Sector

Once the debate is completed, or the Government interrupts the debate, MPs will return to the Committee stage of the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Bill.

This debate is coming to near its conclusion. The Bill has not featured heavily on the public radar. It reorganises fire emergency services in a single organisation. It has caused consternation in some quarters as it will raise insurance levies, though the Government is still finalising the details of this impact in regulations being drawn up alongside the Bill.

So far only NZ First has voted against the Bill.

If this business is completed MPs will then return to the Māori Purposes Bill’s committee stage. This is largely uncontroversial though it was put on hold while the Minister responsible, Te Ururoa Flavell, reconsidered some aspects after objections from some MPs about certain clauses of the Bill.

Ends

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