Wednesday, April 12, 2006



Cleaning up the Order Paper

Browsing the progress of legislation [PDF], I see that the government has finally taken some steps to clean up the order paper and dump old bills that were never going to be passed. The Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Amendment Bill (No 2), Police Amendment Bill (No 2), and Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill - all of which were first introduced to the House between 1999 and 2001, and whose progress was then for various reasons stalled - have been discharged from the Order Paper. I guess they've finally admitted they're dead. John Carter's Kerikeri National Trust Bill (first introduced to the House in 1995) and the Conservation (Protection of Trout as a Non-commercial Species) Amendment Bill (introduced in 1998, and awaiting its committee stage and third reading since December of that year) are still around, though.

Now I'm wondering how long a bill can be stalled in parliament for. The ten years for Carter's bill is pretty impressive. I wonder if its ever been surpassed?

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