Gerry Brownlee MP
National Party Shadow Leader Of The House

26 March 2007

Greens urged to ‘rediscover’ views on urgency

“The Green Party is doing the memory of Rod Donald a disservice if it entertains a Labour plan that would see the smacking ban become law before the end of the week,” says National Party Shadow House Leader Gerry Brownlee.

Mr Brownlee is referring to the views of the late Green Party co-leader, who said during 2001 that ‘urgency should only be used for matters which are genuinely urgent … The only exception is that from time to time we have considered - and will continue to consider - approaches for extra sitting hours, and then only for one stage of a bill at a time’.

“The suggestion that the current group of Greens are considering supporting an urgency motion to railroad the smacking ban into place would appear to fly in the face of Mr Donald’s deeply held view.

“It would appear that the Greens were once very sceptical about the use of urgency to clear the decks of a controversial issue. I’d invite them to rediscover their roots on urgency and the democratic process.”

Mr Brownlee is also urging other parties to “firm up their views” against the urgency which Labour is seeking to secure.

“The public see this as an arrogant abuse of the parliamentary and democratic process. Any party that agrees to steamroll the process should expect the full force of a public backlash.

“This is now much bigger than the anti-smacking legislation. This is about a Labour Government that is so out of touch with New Zealanders that it will ride roughshod over their wishes because it is hurting politically.”

ENDS

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