Hipkins Chris; Rurawhe AdrianSTANDING ORDERSSessionalHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): I move That the House adopt the following rules as a sessional order:REMOTE PARTICIPATION IN SITTINGS OF THE HOUSE1PurposeThe purpose of these rules is to enable the remote participation of members in sittings of the House. Making remote participation available to members is intended to limit the risk of the spread of COVID-19 and to avoid undue health risks for the public members and staff.2DefinitionsFor the purposes of these rules remote participation means attendance at a sitting of the House by digital means without being physically present in the Chamber and participating remotely has a corresponding meaning.3Determination of sitting with members participating remotely(1)The Business Committee may determine that a sitting of the House will be held with members participating remotely.(2)A determination under this rule can relate to more than one sitting and can be made in respect of any member or a class of members (for example members from a specified area or district if restrictions apply in that area or district that differ from restrictions that apply in the Wellington area).4Remote participation part of House's proceedings The remote participation of members in a sitting of the House is part of the House's proceedings and those members are treated as present within the Chamber when they are participating remotely.5Standing Orders rules and practices applyUnless these rules provide otherwise the Standing Orders and other rules and practices of the House apply to any sitting of the House that is held with members participating remotely to the extent that they are capable of applying and with any necessary modifications.6Business Committee may determine rules(1)The Business Committee may determine rules regarding the conduct of sittings with members participating remotely.(2)Rules determined under paragraph (1) have effect despite any Standing Order or rule to the contrary.7Attendance of membersA member is recorded as present in the House on a sitting day for the purposes of Standing Order 38(1) if the member participates remotely in that sitting.8 Delivery and availability of documents at TableWhen a sitting is being held with members participating remotely references in the Standing Orders to the delivery of documents to the Clerk at the Table or to the making available of documents (such as notices of motion) at the Table include the communication of those documents by electronic means as arranged by the Clerk.9Voting during sittings held with members participating remotelyWhen a sitting is being held with members participating remotely—despite Standing Order 146 there is no limit on proxy votes that may be cast by a party anddespite Standing Order 144(5) and (6) a party of five or fewer members may have votes cast on its behalf including when no member of that party is present within the parliamentary precincts at the time by the leader or whip of another party andfor the purposes of Standing Orders 148 and 151 and despite rule 4 members who are participating remotely are not treated as present within the Chamber when a personal vote is being held.10Official coverageAppendix D is modified to the extent necessary to enable the coverage of members participating remotely in a sitting.This is quite a significant day for the New Zealand Parliament. New Zealand Parliament has always sat in this or a similar debating chamber for the entire time of its existence and members up until now have not been able to participate remotely—they've either been here or they haven't. The reality of the global pandemic is we are entering into a phase now where more people will be unable to attend the parliamentary debating chamber either because they have COVID-19 or because they are isolating because they have been exposed to somebody—a household contact for example—who has COVID-19. It is quite conceivable that in the next few weeks we will see some potentially senior members of Parliament unable to attend and participate in parliamentary proceedings unless we find an alternative way for them to do so.Other Parliaments and other democracies around the world have also had to grapple with this issue. We've seen in Westminster the home of Parliament similar arrangements being put in place to allow people to beam in. We've seen the Australian Prime Minister participate in their version of question time via TV screen. So other Parliaments and other democracies have had to grapple with these very same issues that we are grappling with here in New Zealand.It is vitally important at a time like this that our democratic institutions can continue to function. We've had a variety of different approaches to that as part of our pandemic response. We have been fortunate that for most of the last two years our Parliament has been able to sit relatively normally albeit with some additional public health measures like social distancing and so on. But we now are entering a phase where with more cases in the community we can't necessarily take that for granted.So the motion that we are passing now creates an enabling framework for MPs to participate remotely in the Parliament's proceedings. There are safeguards in place though—the decisions about when and how to initiate these provisions will be made by Parliament's Business Committee and they will be made using the usual approach of Business Committee decisions on a near-unanimity basis. So most parties in Parliament will need to agree to members participating remotely in order for that to happen.The Business Committee will also be able to determine for how long it happens and any conditions that may be imposed on people's ability to participate remotely. For example if there was an outbreak that affected a particular area it could be that only members from that particular area were included. There are a variety of things that the Business Committee will be able to consider. So this is not a sudden abandonment of Parliament's debating chamber. There will still be aspects of parliamentary proceedings that happen here in the Chamber. It is quite conceivable that in fact it is the minority of members who will be participating remotely while the majority of members are still able to be here in the Chamber. But it is also conceivable that we could have a situation where the minority are in the Chamber and the majority are participating remotely. This allows for that eventuality. If we get to that point but it would be Parliament's Business Committee that would make that determination.As I've said before we would need to get cross-party and cross-Parliament support for any remote sitting to take place. I think that that is important. We will need to feel our way here a little bit. No doubt there will be some teething troubles along the way. There might be the odd frozen Zoom call as we've all been used to. I look forward to the first member trying to participate in proceedings with their mute button on—it's only a matter of time before that happens. But I'm sure that we will be able to make this work and I think it is important that we do make this work.In making these decisions—and it's been a long journey a lot of a lot of debate has gone into these rules—we have been mindful of the fact that members of Parliament are very active travellers. We are very active in the community and therefore we are at more risk of coming into contact with COVID-19. I think the last thing that New Zealanders want to see is that potentially quite significant parts of parliamentary procedure are unable to go ahead because people can't participate. So this allows our Parliament to continue to function in a global pandemic and allows all members of Parliament to still be able to participate. I think that that's very very important.Finally—and this is something that I also raised with the parliamentary Business Committee—I arrived in the New Zealand Parliament at a time when attendance at the House was paramount above all else. I can recall instances where party whips would require people who were quite unwell to come into the parliamentary complex sometimes to sleep on the couch in their office in order to make up the numbers. I hope that we are reaching an era where we can be a little bit more sensible about some of those things. Sometimes the best thing for people to do when they are unwell—most of the time in fact—is for them to stay home and get better rather than exposing others to whatever ailment it is that they have. I think that doesn't apply just to Parliament; it actually applies right the way across our society. I think a global pandemic has certainly prompted many many people to rethink their attitudes when it comes to soldiering on" when they are unwell.I think that this latest change that we are making in the Parliament should be a welcome one. It is one that I think we will all take care about using it is one that responds to a global pandemic it is in keeping with what's happening internationally and so I commend this particular resolution to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."