Thursdays in the House are always shorter finishing up at dinner time (6pm) so there are three bills on the list to tick off today.
See the full plan below.
The Maori Affairs Select Committee room where the committee considers many of the bills relating to treaty settlement claims. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
Question time - 2pm
The third and final question time for the week which, as usual, includes 12 oral questions to Ministers.
The Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition aren’t normally in the House on a Thursday so the first questions often fall to their deputies.
Opposition MPs will ask questions with the potential to embarrass the Government and backbench MPs from the Government side will ask patsy questions for Ministers to boast about an achievement.
The first supplementary (follow-up) question is usually given to the primary question asker but after that it’s open for any MP to jump up with a question.
The Speaker has ultimate say over supplementary questions so it’s best not to anger them.
BILLS BILLS BILLS
From 3pm-ish till 6pm MPs will work on progressing the following pieces of legislation.
Ngāti Rangi treaty settlement - Second reading
What:
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In technical speak the bill will: “give effect to matters contained in the deed of settlement signed between the Crown and Ngāti Rangi on 10 March 2018.”
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The deed will be the final settlement of historical Treaty of Waitangi claims from Ngāti Rangi which includes a Crown apology.
Who:
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The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little is in charge of this bill.
Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Why:
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Settlement bills aim to resolve historical claims by Māori against the crown for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi before 1992.
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The Treaty, which was signed in 1840, gave sovereignty to the British Crown, allowed Māori to keep rangatiratanga (chieftainship) over their resources while giving the Crown first dibs on any land up for sale, and granted Māori the same rights as British citizens.
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Settlements include some redress to set things right which can be cultural, commercial, or financial. Once a settlement is reached it becomes law.
Tidying up internal affairs - third reading
What:
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It’s an omnibus bill meaning it will make changes to more than one Act including replacing the definition of disability assist dog in the Dog Control Act 1996 and updating the definition of income in the Rates Rebate Act 1973 to reflect changes arising from the Veterans’ Support Act 2014.
Who:
This bill is in the name of Nanaia Mahuta who is Minister for Local Government.
Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Maori Development and Local Government being interviewed in te reo Maori by Maori TV. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Voting Online - second reading
What:
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More of the second reading of the Local Electoral Matters Bill.
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It’s an omnibus bill meaning it will make changes to more than one Act. One of those changes is to “support the conduct of trials of novel voting methods” like online voting.
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The Bill will also give local authorities the right to access date of birth information from the database of registered electors.
Who:
Also in the name of the Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta.
And that’s the week done. To find out how much the House actually got completed this week, head to the Daily Progress update on Parliament’s website.
