Mallard Trevor: Governor-General Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Mallard Trevor: Governor-General Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:668;Page:14812] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) 
: 
 The first question I would like to ask the Minister in the chair the Hon Phil Heatley is that although the commencement date indicates that the legislation comes into force on the day after the date— 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The first question I refer to concerns the title of the legislation the Governor-General Act 2010. Unlike a number of title debates that might be semi-facetious there is a real and live question left with this one which is whether we think it is necessary to have separate legislation. Matters previously have been very well dealt with under the Civil List Act in particular and under the legislation covering the Remuneration Authority. The Committee has agreed to the amendments to the bill—I think it is fair to say there has been some debate around them but by and large there is agreement to them—but I would like the Minister in the chair the Hon David Carter to explain to us why he thinks it is necessary that we have additional legislation of this type rather than doing what Parliament would normally do which is to incorporate this sort of change into the primary legislation. 
The problem I see now as we are dealing with this is that people who go to for example the Civil List Act and the functions of the Remuneration Authority under that Act will not be able to see in the Act the Remuneration Authority’s role vis-à-vis the Governor-General—or that appears to be the case. It appears that it has been subsumed into this new legislation which is to be known as the Governor-General Act. I think there is a live question there. I am not so much of a Geoffrey Palmer or at least like him when he wrote “the fastest laws in the West”—what was the title of his book? 
Grant Robertson 
:  
Unbridled Power. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: That is right. In the period especially between 1981 and 1984 Geoffrey Palmer made many many speeches about how we had far too many Acts in New Zealand and that we should be working on consolidation rather than proliferation. So that is the first question of the series that I want to ask the Hon David Carter. 
I congratulate the Hon David Carter on acting for the Prime Minister. I think it is fair to say that the Minister looks and sounds a little bit more like the Governors-General of my youth than does his friend Phil Heatley; it might be to do with the history of the landed gentry. I am sure that Mr Carter will be better at responding across the detail of this legislation and in particular the need for having a separate Act rather than taking what I thought was generally the policy of the Government which was to consolidate and bring together legislation and to make it easier for people dealing with legislation going forward to find things. 
What we will have here is a Civil List Act on the face of it. At least if the Minister can explain to me that I am wrong I will be happy to— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I call Phil Twyford. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I have had only one call. 
Phil Twyford 
: I could defer to my colleague Trevor Mallard. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No it’s all right. I will go. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I have called Phil Twyford. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: If you sit down I will take the call. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I have given the call to Phil Twyford. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Yes he can sit down. He still gets another three calls. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Members stand up and seek the call. It is perfectly within the purview of the Chair to call whoever is the next speaker. I have called Phil Twyford. If Phil Twyford does not want to take the call he can sit down. I will call again. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Would the member be prepared to yield to me? 
Phil Twyford 
: Yes I would be prepared to yield to the member. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I thank the member for yielding to me in order that— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: This is too cute by half. That is not a yield. The call is for Phil Twyford. I will give the member one last chance. If the member does not take the call this time—this is the third time—it will be gone. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. Can you explain to the Committee why you have ruled that out? A member seeking and being yielded to is not a usual occurrence but it has occurred on a number of occasions in the past. I have been discussing with people recently the changes to the Standing Orders in the last 20 years. There have been some and it may be that yielding is no longer available. Could you explain to me why you ruled that that was out of order? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I draw the member’s attention to Speaker’s ruling 59/1. It is consistent with my understanding that yielding occurs where there is an interchange between members over an issue and one member asks the other member to yield so that the member can take up the matter. It is an interchange—a contest between two members interjecting over ideas. One yields to the other so that the other member may carry the point. 
That is simply not the case in this particular instance. The fact is that the member Trevor Mallard was speaking and at the end of his call Phil Twyford and a number of other members sought the call. I thought the member had made his point. It is up to me to consider the point of the speech. The member had gone round and round over several points and I thought he had made every point he was going to make and would continue to plough up and down exactly the same part of the paddock. The Chair was looking forward to some fresh information and was ever optimistic we were going to hear a fresh speech so I gave the call to Phil Twyford. I say to members that if the honourable member Phil Twyford does not want to take the call—it is being given to him for the third time—I will not call him for the rest of this debate.