Sunday, February 05, 2012
   
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Parliamentary Reform

At the moment, the House of Representatives’ schedule is out of step with the facts of modern life, and makes family life difficult for many MPs. I would like to see fewer sitting weeks, which would allow MPs to be better connected with our communities, and in sitting weeks I would like official business to take place during normal business hours. I also believe more work should be done in Select Committees because there bills can be given the detailed attention they deserve, and this might inspire more public confidence than the usually low numbers of MPs in the House.

At the moment, MPs must stay at Parliament when the House is sitting, even if they are not required to speak or attend select committees. This is because of achaic quorum requirements. If all votes were given to whips by proxy, MPs could increase their availability to community groups and better manage their diaries during Parliament’s sitting times.

Although much legislation is controversial, a great deal is not. An example of legislation in the latter category is the recent Major Events Management Bill. This sort of legislation should have a simplified procedure for introduction and consideration by Parliament. This would save time to work on legislation that we disagree on, in greater detail. We should also look at reducing the number of readings for every bill from three to two; rarely are any new objections or suggestions raised in the third reading stage, so I think in the interests of efficiency we could safely drop one reading and still give legislation proper consideration. The time saved could be devoted to more Select Committee consideration.

Finally, I would like Parliament to consider reform of question time. I certainly do not wish to abolish it, as it is an important and exciting part of our democratic process. But do we really need the endless supplementary questions, sniping for a slip of the tongue? Would it not be more productive to limit the number of supplementary questions and at the same time enforce more substantive answers from Ministers? I think requiring fewer answers of much higher quality might provoke more civilised proceedings during question time.
Labour Spokesperson for Justice
Labour Spokesperson for the Environment

Labour List MP Based in Ohariu
Authorised by Charles Chauvel, 103 Johnsonville Road, Johnsonville