The week in the House Rising of Parliament may depend on Opposition

Press, 19 August 1978, Page 2

The week in the House Rising of Parliament may depend on Opposition

By CEDRIC MENTIPLAY Nobody yet knows when Parliament will rise this year, although there have been comments that “it could be over in a flash.”

This week has brought an extension of the usual contest between the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) and Opposition members, with the usual result. Between now and the end of any election year session it is the Opposition which has the main role in deciding when the session will end. The Prime Minister has the power to continue the introduction of Government measures, and he has the power to compel all-night sittings and other devices. The Opposition, however, has the power to delay, and this is still being used. Again this week important Government legislation has been delayed. Discussion on the Customs Orders Confirmation Bill has remained stalled half-way through the committee stage, while the two income tax bills await their committee stages. After all that has been said about the amalgamation of Air New Zealand and N.A.C., it is odd to find that the National Airways Corporation Dissolution Bill is still awaiting committee discussion before it can be completed. The appropriation bill needs seven more days of consideration of its estimates before it can be moved on.

Next week, Estimates will be discussed on Tuesday and Thursday. Although the Supplementary Estimates may be expected about the middle of September (accompanied by an "adjusting” mini-budget, according to Mr Muldoon) this could not signal the end of the sessional matters.

When an Opposition member, referring to the thin Order Paper of 17 items, said yesterday morning: “We could run through those in a fortnight,” it was Mr Muldoon’s turn to smile his crooked smile and say: “You are quite welcome to do that, if it pleases you.” The list of measures be-

fore select committees stays short. The Local Bills Committee alone seems heavily loaded, with eight measures before it. There are only 12 general measures, scattered about under no fewer than six committees. Obviously the Government has other bills to introduce, notably in the fields of drugs and accident-prevention. Three more, covering Maori affairs, war pensions and social services, arrived yesterday. Over the last several weeks, indeed, legislation has been arriving more quickly than it is being disposed of. The week was notable for its “fall-out” on Labour’s alternative scheme of taxation, and also for the release of Labour’s proposals on community health. If they were brought together, as they will be soon, Labour’s propdsals cover the whole manifesto gamut, and Labour candidates are better

equipped with policy-points than they have been in some years. The bitter and unhappily important subject of violence within the marital relationship was brought up when Mrs M. D. Batchelor (Labour, Avon) introduced a private member’s motion. Members spoke strongly on the subject, but the Minister of Justice (Mr Thomson), while expressing sympathy, revealed that the Government had its own measure on the way.

Mrs Batchelor was refused permission to send her bill to a select committee, but was offered the right of membership of the Statutes Revision Committee when the Government measure was examined. Mrs Batchelor’s measure won the right to a second-reading debate, however. It will take place on September 20.