Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House)
: I move,
That urgency be accorded the passing through their remaining stages of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Bill, the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill, the Judicial Matters Bill, and the Student Loan Scheme (Exemptions and Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Bill, the interrupted first reading of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill, the second reading of the Inquiries Bill, and the first readings of the Trans-Tasman Proceedings Bill and the Securities Trustees and Statutory Supervisors Bill.
This is quite a large body of work. I know that the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Bill will be vigorously debated in the House. It is the Government’s wish to see this bill passed. We believe we have support for that and that must be tested in Parliament. But the reason for advancing it this week is that Parliament is about to go into a 2-week adjournment. That would mean that if we do not pass the bill in this block of time, those who are responsible for its enactment would be under far too great a pressure for it to be effective on 1 April. Although ensuring there is
such pressure might be the objective of the Opposition, it is certainly not the objective of the Government.
The Children, Young Persons, and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill essentially brings in new corrective arrangements for young people. It is highly popular among the population in New Zealand, and people are eagerly expecting it to be enacted as quickly as possible.
The Student Loan Scheme (Exemptions and Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Bill needs to go through all of its stages so that those responsible for administering student loans at this very important time of the year have a degree of clarity about how that should occur.
The interrupted debate on the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill is one that should be completed in order that the bill gets to a select committee before we go into that long adjournment. This bill was taken over by the Government from Mr Simon Bridges, and it deals with dreadful instances of extreme animal cruelty, like those that have occurred in recent times.
The other bills need to be progressed in order for them to make sufficient progress on the Order Paper for their passing in due time.
For those reasons, the Government seeks urgency in this case.
