COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL AFTER FOUR MONTHS, WORK ABOUT TO BEGIN IN HOUSE

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32359, 27 July 1970, Page 12

COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL AFTER FOUR MONTHS, WORK ABOUT TO BEGIN IN HOUSE

(From C. R MUNTIPLAY, our Parliamentary Reporter)

As inembers of Parliament enjoy their fourth recess since the session was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in mid-March, the conviction is growing that a new pattern of Parliamentary attendance is being tried out this year.

The breaks in Parliamentary sessions, introduced a few years ago, were known as “working recesses”, and it was emphasised that their main reason was to allow the select committees to catch up on their work.

This year, the qualification of “working” appears to have been dropped. Indeed, the 1 volume of work before the select committees is such that it can be contained with a minimum of recess work. This is as well, for otherwise the membership of committees would have to be adjusted to allow for the absence of members overseas. The present pattern of recesses did not occur haphazardly. It was planned ahead, presumably by the Prime Minister (Sir Keith Holyoake), whose task it is to control the House. At the time of the Royal opening of Parliament, it was known officially that the first break would be until April 1, the second between April 24 and May 19, and the third between May 29 and June 23. The present break was pencilled in, even at that stage.

The result has been four months of slow, placid progress, during which the Opposition has had every encouragement to bring forward private members’ bills, debate notices of motion, and prolong the question-and-answer period with supplementary questions. It seems this Labour action is welcomed, on the theme that the House has to talk about something, and there is not enough Government business to occupy its time anyway. So we have had the frustrating business of listening to second-reading debates on measures which have no future (because, as they involve an appropriation, they will inevitably be ruled out of order). Time To Start? It is an indication of the oddness of this session that, after four months of leisurely work, during which a dozen measures have been passed through all stages, we have now reached the traditional starting-time of New Zealand Parliaments.

It used to be an axiom that very little work could be done before the Budget was brought down. This year it was correctly predicted in March that the Budget would come down on June 25. The Budget Debate then ran its course in the first three weeks of this month—and some had the feeling that Parliament would now get down to work. There is no apparent reason whv this cannot be so The National Party conference at Rotorua was merely a week-end show, and was designed to fit into the usual Parliamentary break between the rising of the House at 4 p.m. on Friday and the resumption at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday. Almost the last act of the House before rising on July : 17 was to pass 10 bills through i all remaining stages. These • bills, while all necessary, were . not of prime importance, and could have been passed at any ■ time. Included among them ! was the recognition of two new republics in the Com- ' monwealth—Guyana and Gambia.

Their passage leaves 13 measures on the order paper, all at the second-reading or committal stage. They are: The Niue Amendment Bill, the Tokelau Islands Amendment Bill, the Tonga Bill, the Land Valuation Proceedings Amendment Bill, the Shops and Offices Amendment Bill, the Chattels Transfer Amendment Bill, the Narcotics Amendment Bill, the Local Elections and Polls Amendment Bill, the Estate and Gift Duties Amendment BilL the Berryfruit Levy Amendment Bill, the Antarctica Amendment Bill, the Customs Acts Amendment Bill and the[ Lands Amendment Bill. As will be seen, these range from .the formal and run-of-the-mill to the very important indeed. Some of them have also been around for a long time. The Narcotics Amendment Bill was read a second time pro forma on| April 14: the Chattels Transfer Amendment Bill went through a similar process on April 17. More Coming

These measures have been on their way for so long that, in the public interest, they' should be completed. They! will not get a better opportunity for deliberate and un-i hurried discussion than they [ would have received had the House sat through the present | recess.

Leaving for the moment the 12 local bills which are before -the relevant committee. 11 major measures are down for consideration by five select committees As it is unlikely that any of these will simply disappear (as did the Contractors’ Liens Bill this year) we can expect to have them reported back some time after August 4.

• These measures, with the relevant committees in parentheses, are:— The Age of Majority Bill, the Illegal Contracts Bill, the Sale of Liquor Amendment Bill (Statutes Revision Committee): the Marine Farming Bill, the Marine Reserves Bill, the Valuation of Land Amendment (No. 2) Bill, the Water and Soil Conservation Amendment Bill (Lands and Agriculture Committee); the Medical Practitioners Amendment Bill (Social Services Committee): the Fisheries Amendment (No. 3) Bill

(Fishing Industry Committee); the Mining Bill, the Shipping and Seamen (No. 2) Bill (Labour and Mining Committee). One select committee which, has used the early opening; well is the Local Bills Comimittee. Eleven local bills have' been passed through all stages, and of four more on. the order paper, two await consideration, however, and this committee will not run out of work. This is one branch of Parliamentary activity in which there has been a tremendous improvement Only a few years ago there were continued complaints about the slow arrival of local body legislation, and two separate com-

mittees had to be set up to deal with the flood when it did arrive. In the next few weeks, the Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) must bring down his :ißudget legislation, including •the controversial measure 'validating the payroll tax. It I is not likely that there will ibe much peace in the remaining months of the session. , li Not very long ago, a New. i Zealand session began towards the end of June, and ■ finished in late October, Novi ember, or (when the Oppose s tion was particularly cantanf kerous) in December. Thia ■ ■ year we may be “half-way r home" with four months be- - hind us—and the equivalent - of a full, hard session ahead.