WEEK IN THE HOUSE Rowdiness at high pitch as more legislation brought in

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33959, 27 September 1975, Page 3

WEEK IN THE HOUSE Rowdiness at high pitch as more legislation brought in

(By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY)

WELLINGTON, September 26. Proceedings in Parliament this week have not increased the possibility that the Government’s hopes of ending the session by October 17 will be realised without the frequent use of urgency. The main gain of the week, as far as the Government was concerned, was the advancement of the controversial Commerce Bill to its committee stage. This was accomplished only by the unusual decision to take urgency on a number of measures on Wednesday evening, after an earlier ruling that Wednesday afternoon’s sitting of the House should be abandoned in favour of select committee work. As a result, most of the vital second-reading debate on the Commerce Bill was held outside radio broadcasting hours, and so was lost to the public as a “live” show. An even better (or worse) show was available this morning, however, when name-calling .eached an almost unprecedented pitch, and the Acting Speaker (Mr .1. L. Hunt) came close to taking drastic measures. Even the attempt to give select committees more chance to complete their

deliberations on measures! which are expected to cornel back to the House this ses-; sion could not be described as a success. The sitting of; the Petitions Committee on! Wednesday afternoon had to! be cancelled; the Commerce! and Mining Committee did not sit on Wednesday morning; and four other impori;ant committees — Foreign Affairs, Social Services,! Lands and Agriculture, and Local Bills — did not meet during the afternoon. A notice of motion drawling attention to this failure .was tabled on Thursday by Mi J. R. Harrison (Nat!, Hawke’s Bay), who called on Parliament to censure the Prime Minister (Mr Rowling) and the Government for their “dismal handling of the affairs of Parliament.” This notice, of course, will never be debated — but will remain on the Order Paper until the session ends. Next Tuesday is the last day allocated for the discussion of the main Estimates — but there is no indication yet as to when the Supplementary Estimates will be ready for discussion. As the price-index is still rising, it is expected that the Supplementary Estimates will provide the " Opposition with more subjects for argument. MAIN PROBLEM The Government’s main I problem in ending the sesIsion, however, is the purely

physical one of disposing of ( what is already on the Order Paper or before select committees. There are 20 general! measures on the Order l Paper which should be corn(pleted, plus 32 before vari(ous committees, to which i (must be added some local measures, including the; (Christchurch Tramway Dis-' itrict Amendment (No. 2) Bill. Obviously, these will not all go through this, session: but for a Government to; ; carry over legislation in an. (election year would be to expose it to the charge of “politicking.” A bill on the (Order Paper may well be a (promise under action — but (this does not guarantee its (passage in 1976 (as we have (seen with the 25 measures (left on the 1974 Order (Paper.) ; The most worrying feature of the House this week,, (however, has been the atti-j rude of members. The Act-ing-Speaker (Mr Hunt) has earned the respect of both; sides by his prompt and impartial rulings, but there is a legacy of rowdiness and intractability which even he has found hard to control. AT A PEAK This reached a peak this morning, when the Governjment at this late stage in(troduced six bills — mostly ' clean-up measures—but the mere introduction took all (morning. Not long ago, these( (bills would have been in-

troduced in a total time of 30 minutes, for members have plenty of time to ask questions and make observations in subsequent stages of each bill's passage. Banter, rejoinder. and quite vicious interjection reached such a stage during the introductory debate on the Primary Products Marketing Regulations Confirmation Bill that Mr Hunt was forced to address the House several times. "I am not very proud of my part in the proceedings this morning,” he said with some bitterness. “I shall take some time to examine my conscience during the week-end.” If this were not sufficient warning to members, he later said that certain behaviour came “dangerously close to trifling with the Chair.” The full weight of Mr Speaker’s arm may well be felt next week — and it is a matter of conjecture which side of the House will feel it first.