Thursday, March 17, 2016



No ballot

Yesterday, I predicted that Member's Day would be clogged with private and local business, and that the House would be pressed to make a start on Alfred Ngaro's Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 3). Instead, they moved quickly, and completed its second reading. Normally, they would have gone on to the next bill on the order paper - Andrew Little's Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2) - which would have resulted in a ballot for a new Member's Bill today. Instead, they adjourned at 9:27pm apparently by agreement.

This is unusual, especially for a Member's Day. I'm not sure whether it was because Labour was unprepared, or because the government wanted to prevent a ballot. Either way, we haven't been well-served by our democratic representatives.