Labour pledges to reform House

Press, 16 August 1978, Page 2

Labour pledges to reform House

PA Wellington A fifteen-point Labour Party plan for Parliamentary reform was announced in Wellington yesterday. In the plan the Labour Party pledges that if returned to power in the November elections, it will appoint a law reform commissioner charged with making the nation's laws more understandable and accessible to the genera! public. The Standing Orders of the House of Representatives would also be changed to allow three months to pass between the introduction and final passage of any bill except emergency or money bills, and any legislation passed would have a review or expiry date attached. Other points include provision for: All bills except money and emergency bills to go before a select committee.

'The establishment of a Parliament committee to review all regulations within three months of their becoming law. A review of all statutory advisory bodies and commissions with a view to eliminating as many as possible. A review of the Official Secrets Act and the introduction of a Freedom of Information Act. I Reform of the law of Parliamentary privilege so that it cannot be used for “political purposes.” The House to sit three days a week, three weeks' a month, up to 10 months i a year. The broadcasting of all Parliamentary proceedings. : The increase in the total number of members of Parliament to 121. In a speech prepared for (delivery to the Institute of Public Administration • yesterday Mr Rowling said New Zealand was becoming

j increasingly a “shrill and diivided community — rotted Iby the attitude that victory I must go to the one that shrieks the loudest.” “In my view, a major factor in that situation is the growing loss of faith in Parliament, in the way that laws are made and in the way they are respected and enforced,” Mr Rowling said. “Democracy is essentially ia belief that all interests (have a right to be heard and (respected. “As a party we are committed to returning to a system of open, fair and decent Government where there is respect for the law and respect and dignity in the workings of Parliament,” Mr Rowling said. “The system of Parliament as we now know it is failing to properly fulfil its law- | making function. You do not | have to be very knowledgeable about the processes of the constitution to realise that there is something very wrong about mountains of legislation — rammed through in a great rush and often in the dead of night — only to be recycled for amendment the following year.” Mr Rowling said that many of the acts were passed to patch up holes in : laws which went before. | “We need less iaw, but betiter law,” he told the administrators. ! “More and more in recent years Parliament has simply (become a rubber stamp for the wishes of the executive. Worse, on several occasions in the last couple of years, the executive-Cabinet — has simply moved in and overturned the laws of the land without any reference to Parliament at all.” I Mr Rowling said that (under Labour, a much greater role would be given to (Parliament in the scrutiny of (legislation and in maintaining an “eagle eye” on the running of State departments. He said that the 92 members in the House after the election would be too few to run the country. “A small Parliament is a false economy for which this country is paying more dearly than most appreciate. “It is our view that the House needs to be increased to at least 121 members. It also needs to start being run like the full-time business it is rather than a part-time after-thought,” Mr Rowling said. “You cannot have open Government unless there is a full-time open and active Parliament.” Sittings after midnight would cease and all proceedings would be broadcast. But, Mr Rowling said, the changes Labour was proposing would “mean more hassles for a Government.” “It is much more comfortable, and much more peaceful, to go ahead and get things done behind closed doors. It is a lot easier when you have all the facts of a situation and the public has none or few to fight back with. “But, what we are talking abiut is the essence of a democracy. What we are proposing is only a beginning. But I firmly believe it is a giant step in the right direction Mr Rowling said.