Parliament tackles legislative mountain

Press, 12 November 1977, Page 2

Parliament tackles legislative mountain

By

CEDRIC MENUPLAY

The House set out this week to scale the mountain of the 70 or so general measures yet to be surmounted — and so transferred to the Statute Book — before the work of the session can be completed.

Not all of these will be dealt with before Christmas but there has been no firm decision about which will be completed and which will remain before various select committees until the 1978 session.

A clear decision on this will probably wait until the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) returns at the end of this month.

The remarkable thing about this week was that progress was accelerated without the need for ur-

gency. On Tuesday the Ac - ing Prime Minister (Mr Talboys) moved urgency on the advancement of 12 measures, each by one stage. Admittedly they were largely noncontroversial, but they were all disposed of before the normal rising time of 10.30 p.m.

It seems odd that the crucial second-reading debates on five general measures — the Tenancy Amendment Bill, the Rent Appeal Amendment Bill, the Estate and Gift Duties Amendment Bill, the Land Tax Amendment Bill, and the Primary Products Marketing Regulations Validation and Confirmation Bill— should go through in a total of only 40 minutes.

The cynic may ask why it is that such measures lie for so long on the Order Paper in the absence of dissent, where here is obviously so much to be gained in passing them into operation. If the answer is that less important matters are given a higher priority, then one must keep asking “Why?.”

It is also somewhat shattering to note that important general bills are still arriving in Parliament, when members are booking holiday accommodation related to rising dates of December 9 or 16.

Seven such bills came in this week, including four — the Mutual Insurance Amendment Bill, the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council Amendment Bill, the Status of Children Amendment Bill, and the Education Amendment Bill— yesterday morning. There was only partial reassurance in the referral of the Status of Children Bill to the Statutes Revision Committee for recess study —■ indicating that it, at least, is not expected to become law this year. The better temper and higher standard of co-oper-ation showing again this week relates directly to the firmer hand of the Acting Speaker (Mr J. R. Harrison) and his cohorts. For a long time now, certain members have been dancing gleefully on the knife edge of suspension. On Thursday afternoon it happened, but without undue heat, and almost by reflex. The members briefly suspended while points of order on notices of motion

were being examined were Mr 'R. O. Douglas (Lab., Manukau) and the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Higher). After the crisis passed, they resumed their seats and the debate went on.

Yesterday morning, when a member sought to present a notice of motion which had not been submitted earlier, according to approved procedure, he was slapped down firmly and quietly without noticeably adding to the normally high Friday noise level. The week ahead will be devoted mainly to legislation, with local bills on Thursday.