Mackey Moana: Bail Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Mackey Moana: Bail Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:538] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to contribute to the debate on clause 2 the commencement clause which to some people might not seem to be a particularly important clause. In fact it is extremely important. For the benefit of those who have only started listening to this debate since my colleague the Hon Annette King gave her contribution I say clause 2 reads: “This Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent.” For most people that is fairly meaningless because we are not privy to knowing on which date the bill will receive the Royal assent. Yet this bill is being introduced into the House in the 100 days of action— 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Turbocharged. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: —in the turbocharged 100 days of action. 
My question to the Minister is: on which day of that 100 days of action will this bill receive the Royal assent? The reason why that is important is that the Act comes into force on the day after the bill receives the Royal assent. So the day on which the bill receives the Royal assent is of critical importance to the people of New Zealand. I am not sure which day of the 100 days of action we are at now. Is this day one or day two? It may well receive the Royal assent on day 35 of the 100 days of action. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Urgency might make a difference. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Urgency might make a difference. 
The reason I ask these questions is that this bill has not gone to a select committee. It is not going through the normal process. Clause 2 does not tell us exactly what day it will be. We have had other bills in this urgency motion that have included dates in their commencement clause so we have known exactly when they were to become law. But when a bill simply states that the Act will come into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent then the date on which it receives the Royal assent becomes of critical importance. 
I ask the Minister again to give us some indication because we have been promised 100 days of action. Will the Act come into force outside that 100 days of action in which case there will be no sentencing legislation coming into force in the 100 days of action as was promised during the election campaign? Once again I point out that it is the role of the Opposition to hold the Government to account for its rhetoric in the election campaign and if the Minister could give us some indication of when he intends to provide the evidence to the Governor-General as to why this bill should receive the Royal assent then the Opposition would be interested in hearing that. 
Hon Dr Wayne Mapp 
: Oh come on! 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Mr Mapp is not very happy. If those members had managed to read the closure motion properly then I would have been denied the opportunity to ask these important questions. 
Hon Annette King 
: And you did ask them. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: That is right. One of the reasons is that law and order was a key campaign plank for the National - ACT - Maori Party Government. It is the role of the Opposition to ensure that that rhetoric comes into some kind of reality or the Government will be held to account. So I say to the “National - ACT - Te Ururoa Flavell Government” that— 
Chris Tremain 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I bring your attention to Standing Order 107 about relevancy. The previous Chairman instructed speakers to be relevant and speak to the title because I think we need to bring this to a close. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I do not need any further assistance. It has been made very clear that this is a very narrow debate on the commencement. Would the member confine her comments to those points. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. You are absolutely right about the question of relevance; you have to judge that for yourself. But one point I would make is there was a lot of noise in the Chamber while my colleague was trying to speak both from the Opposition side—we will take our responsibility—and the Government side and for a speaker trying to talk about a very narrow clause like this is difficult so maybe you could keep a little bit more order in the Committee. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: I am very happy to limit my comments to the commencement clause. I shall refer to the comments made by my colleague from the Green Party Metiria Turei about how important it is that the public knows exactly on which day this Act is to come into force. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: It states it in the bill. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Well no it does not state it in the bill and this is the point we are trying to make. Any indication from the Minister as to when he believes he will take this bill to receive the Royal assent would be greatly appreciated not only by the Opposition but I am sure also by the people of New Zealand who are listening to this debate because they were promised action within the first 100 days. The commencement date does not tell us whether this legislation will come into force within those 100 days and if it does not then the Government has failed in that respect to match the rhetoric of the election campaign in which it promised tougher sentencing and bail laws within the first 100 days.