Hipkins ChrisSTANDING ORDERSSessionalHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): I move That the House adopt the following procedures to facilitate the activities of the House and its committees during the current epidemic:SPECIAL PROCEDURES DURING EPIDEMIC1Business CommitteeThe Business Committee may meet and make determinations by electronic means including remote participation.2Assistant SpeakersFurther to Standing Order 28 an Assistant Speaker may perform all duties and exercise the authority of the Speaker during an adjournment of the House if both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are absent from duty (for whatever reason).3Giving notice of motion(1)Further to Standing Order 98 a member who intends to give notice of a motion may lodge the notice with the Clerk in electronic form.(2)A notice of motion lodged under paragraph (1) must—(a)be lodged by 10am on a sitting day and(b)be signed by way of an electronic signature by a member.4Casting of proxy votes(1)The Business Committee may determine that for a specified period the limit on proxy votes that may be cast by a party during a party vote is to be adjusted or waived.(2)Standing Order 155 is read accordingly.5Special arrangements for select committee meetings(1)The Speaker may approve special arrangements for select committees to meet and conduct business.(2)Special arrangements for committees under paragraph (1)—(a)may include meetings or other forms of decision-making by electronic means with remote participation:(b)may apply for a specified period:(c)may make different arrangements for a specified committee or committees.(3)Standing Orders 190 to 194 205(2) 208 and 210–214 are read in accordance with any special arrangements made under paragraph (1).6Lodging of oral questions(1)Further to Standing Order 381 notice of an oral question may be lodged by a member with the Clerk in electronic form.(2)A notice of an oral question lodged under paragraph (1) must be—(a)signed by way of an electronic signature by the member or by another member on the member's behalf and(b)lodged no later than 10.30 am on the day on which the question is to be asked.7Lodging of urgent questions(1)Further to Standing Order 388 notice of an urgent question may be lodged by a member with the Clerk in electronic form.(2)A notice of an oral question lodged under paragraph (1) must be signed by way of an electronic signature by the member or by another member on the member's behalf.8Electronic signaturesIn rules 3 6 and 7 an electronic signature for this purpose must adequately identify the member and adequately indicate the member's approval of the question.The provisions outlined in this motion are about the House preparing itself for the possible effects of COVID-19 just as we are asking the rest of the country to prepare for those possible effects. And I want to acknowledge the cooperation that we have had across the House in putting this set of rules together. This motion proposes putting in place a sessional order that will become part of the House's rules until the next election. It's important to note that only minor administrative measures proposed come into effect immediately. The more serious measures would be triggered only if the situation developed in a way that means a significant number of MPs are unable to travel to Wellington to be physically present at Parliament.These measures have been conceived in order to make sure that Parliament continues to function and that it continues to exercise scrutiny over the Government throughout any emergency and that the Government can continue to report to the House and therefore put to the people of New Zealand any measures that it puts in place to deal with the effects of COVID-19. It may also be necessary if there is a need to pass urgent law changes and so that the House can approve any necessary expenditure. The most significant threat to Parliament being able to function would be MPs being away from Wellington for whatever reason in large numbers. Usually a maximum of 25 percent of MPs from any one party can be away from the parliamentary precinct at any given time without affecting the proportionality of the votes cast in the House. Proposal number 4 gives the Business Committee the power to adjust or even remove the 25 percent limit. This would allow the House to continue to function with lower numbers of members and to maintain the balance of proportionality created at the last election.It's important to note that this power to make changes is exercised by the Business Committee and the Business Committee operates on near unanimity. So this is not a question of the Government or even a majority of Parliament adjusting these rules. Any adjustment would require near unanimity.As the Leader of the House I also want to undertake as I did during the Business Statement that if numbers in the House became severely depleted for any reason the Government would not continue with a full legislative programme. The House would be left to focus upon scrutiny of the executive and passing any legislation that was necessary to deal with COVID-19 or any other urgent matter and it's likely that sitting hours could be reduced in order to effect that. The Business Committee already has the power to adjust the sitting programme if necessary.Because the Business Committee is central to the decision-making process in this situation these special procedures also need to allow it to meet remotely if that is necessary. Select committees would continue to have an essential role in holding the Government to account and for this reason proposal number 5 gives the Speaker the power to put in place special arrangements for select committees to meet and conduct their business including allowing them to meet remotely. These arrangements can be varied according to the different circumstances of each committee. For example committees could be given the authority to meet remotely if a number of its members were in self-isolation. Proposal number 2 gives the Assistant Speakers the authority to exercise all of the powers of the Speaker and/or the Deputy Speaker if necessary. I'm sure we all hope that that won't be required. But this is a plan for back-filling in the same way that many organisations and Government entities are planning up and down the country should key members of the organisations become unavailable.Other changes are administrative—for example allowing papers and notices of motion and questions to be lodged electronically. The Office of the Clerk and Parliamentary Service are putting in place a range of measures that will enable the House to function in an emergency. We all hope that these special procedures that we're considering today won't be necessary but it's essential that we hold them in reserve so that the Parliament is able to continue to exercise its critical democratic functions on behalf of the people of New Zealand in a case where they may be required.