Collins Judith: Standing Orders 
Collins Judith: Standing Orders 
[Volume:676;Page:21758] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
on behalf of the Acting Leader of the House: I move  
That the amendments to the Standing Orders set out in Part 2 of the report of the Standing Orders Committee on the Review of Standing Orders be adopted with effect from the day after the dissolution or expiration of the present Parliament. 
The Acting Leader of the House joined the Standing Orders Committee quite late in the piece as replacement for Gerry Brownlee so there will be other members able to speak with more authority on the breadth of the committee’s work. However the Acting Leader of the House does want to make a couple of points on a few of the recommendations particularly in light of his tenure as Acting Leader of the House since late February this year. In that role he has become very conscious of the availability of House time for Government business particularly this year. Due to the election and Rugby World Cup there were only 23 sitting weeks scheduled compared with 29 and 31 in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Although they were entirely appropriate responses the early adjournments that followed the Pike River disaster and the February earthquake also resulted in 26 fewer hours of House time—the equivalent of 2 sitting weeks. 
On the demand side of the equation around the middle of the year the Government needs to set aside 31 hours or the equivalent of 2½ weeks for Budget debates alone and that excludes any Budget-related tax legislation. Then there are smaller parcels of time required for various Government notices of motion that must be progressed with 4 hours for 16 valedictory statements this year. 
Understandably some of my ministerial colleagues have also been keen to see progress on some of their legislation before the election. So from that perspective the Acting Leader of the House is very supportive— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I apologise to the member. I am listening very carefully and I have been involved in both Standing Orders and adjournment debates previously. I just want the Minister to check that she has not picked up the wrong one of the two speeches. I think this might be the one for tomorrow which reviews the progress in the House through the year rather than being the one on the Standing Orders changes. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: I did listen very carefully to her commencement and she read the motion word for word. The Minister may wish to respond. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Speaking to the point of order this is the speech in relation to the Government motion for the review of the Standing Orders but I thank the honourable member. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: Proceed. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Thank you so much. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I apologise. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: That is quite all right. 
Understandably some of my ministerial colleagues have also been keen to make progress on some of their legislation before the election. So from that perspective the Acting Leader of the House is very supportive of the committee’s recommendations to allow the Government to obtain extra hours of House time by moving that sitting be extended to a Wednesday or Thursday morning or by agreement of the Business Committee to a Thursday evening and Friday morning. Although this would not remove the need for urgency from time to time it would provide a pressure valve for an Order Paper groaning under the weight of a busy Government’s agenda. I suspect that this may also have the effect of narrowing the scope of urgency motions to focus on specific measures that require a particularly expeditious passage or to fix up problems with existing legislation—and there have been a number of those this term. Similarly I note that there is another recommendation for a Minister in moving urgency to state the reasons with some particularity which is something the Acting Leader of the House has attempted to do. He anticipates that future Leaders of the House may look at using extended sitting hours once every 3-week block for example just to keep what is largely non-controversial legislation flowing through the pipeline. 
The Acting Leader of the House is also pleased to see the Standing Orders Committee give a bit more formal recognition to cognate bills. Last year he drew a precedent from the 1960s to seek leave for debate on two interconnected bills to be taken together as cognate bills and since then we have used it on three further occasions to facilitate legislation on which there is broad agreement. 
However we recognise that the review of the Standing Orders is also a balancing act requiring give and take between Government and non-Government parties. In this respect one of the trade-offs for extended sitting hours is the recommendation that an instruction to truncate the select committee consideration of bills to fewer than 4 months be debatable unless agreement can be reached at the Business Committee. Balancing this out the Standing Orders Committee also recommended the debate on such an instruction must be confined to the subject matter of the motion. 
One of the underlying themes to emerge from the review of the Standing Orders is the growing status of the Business Committee as a mechanism by which the Government and other parties can make the best use of House time to advance measures with broad-based support. The Acting Leader of the House wants to add his appreciation to the members of the Business Committee for their constructive engagement this term. 
There is only one final comment concerning the Standing Orders Committee recommendation to reinstate the requirement to record and publish members’ attendance at parliamentary business. To the Acting Leader of the House’s mind members have an obligation to Parliament and the public to at least attend the House or other parliamentary business if not actively participate and the public have a right to know how their elected members perform in meeting this most basic requirement.