120-member Parliament mooted

Press, 9 July 1983, Page 14

120-member Parliament mooted

PA Wellington An enlarged Parliament of about 120 members has been suggested by the Labour member of Parliament for Wellington Central, Ms Fran Wilde. Reform of the Parliamentary committee system was central to the “search for accountability within the political process,” she said. An increase of seats was Labour policy and would be necessary for an expanded committee system. Under the changes she suggested, committees would have the power to initiate their own inquiries, rather than simply examine any bills referred to them by the Government. The committees would include backbenchers only

and have a separate appropriation by the recommendation of a bipartisan committee. They would be able to appoint advisers and move about New Zealand to encourage public participation. “An important power would be the ability to summon Ministers and'public servants and to send for papers,” Ms Wilde said. “To make the new committee system work, one more change would be desirable, an enlargement of Parliament itself. I doubt whether 70 to 80 members could do justice to the sort of demands placed upon them by this system. “If we had a Parliament

of, say, 120 members, that would leave about 100 backbenchers to do the task. She did not want to get into a debate on the worth, or lack of worth, of politicians. But if people wanted to give Parliament the power to demand more accountability from the Executive, and open up the system to greater public participation, Parliament needed more members. Ms Wilde said people could not expect the present system of “almost instant access” to their members of Parliament to continue if there were to be an increase in any other part of the workload.