We don’t want that. So the next thing the Government could do, that I would encourage
the Minister, is to take these orders and actually publish a comprehensive chart of the circumstances in which people can find themselves and say, “This is what you do if you suspect you’re sick” and then the flow chart tells you what happens when you get tested, and what happens to people who’re near you. Because, actually, I know people who have been in this situation, and they’ve found it damn difficult to find out what the answer is. And the next thing they should do is actually show the authority, show the specific order that makes it a requirement to do such and such a thing if you are in a certain circumstance. Because, at the moment, the Government’s got all this legislative power to make the rules; they’re not making them surgically enough, they’re not making them clear, and they’re not linking their communications to the rules. Those are all ways the Government could do better.
It’s not often that this Government will get encouragement from the ACT Party to make regulations and talk about its regulations. This is actually one of those times. And so, with that, I commend these orders. I hope the Minister will take them seriously and use them better to maximise New Zealanders’ overall freedom and welfare. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Motion agreed to.
Orders approved.
URGENCY
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): I move, That urgency be accorded the passing through the remaining stages of the Climate Change Response (Auction Price) Amendment Bill.
This bill enables the setting of a confidential reserve price for auctions in the New Zealand emissions trading scheme. It’s essential to ensure that the clearing price in these auctions reflects the prevailing secondary market prices to prevent the sale of units significantly below the market price. And the reason that this is being done under urgency is because the first auction takes place on 17 March and this change needs to be in place before that auction happens. With tomorrow being a members’ day, there aren’t enough sitting days left to progress this bill one stage each day through its remaining stages, and so hence we’re having to use urgency to do it. The timescale that we put in place for this bill was designed to enable the maximum time for the select committee to consider it, compared to what would have been available had we brought it back in order to pass it through its remaining stages on a more regular timetable.
- A party vote was called for on the question, That urgency be accorded.
Ayes 75
- New Zealand Labour 65; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 10.
Noes 43
- New Zealand National 33; ACT New Zealand 10.
- Motion agreed to.
