The number of hours spent in Urgency in this Parliament was greatly reduced due to the use of extended hours provisions, Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee said today.
Instead of a Business Statement, due to the House rising today, Brownlee outlined some statistics on this three year Parliament. 236 bills had been introduced with 2813 Questions for Oral Answer and more than 32,000 questions for written answer lodged
Brownlee noted in recent years there was growing dissatisfaction with Urgency and this was down to 127 hours in this term. Meanwhile extended hours where most of the House agrees to sit in the morning took up 110 hours.
Reports on the Speaker’s visit to Australia and inter-parliamentary delegations were presented.
Select committee reports were presented on the:
Inquiry into engaging parents in the education of their children by the Education and Science Committee
Interim report on Petition 2011/102 of Carmel Berry and Charlotte Korte by the Health Committee
Interim report on the inquiry into the funding of specialist sexual violence social services by the Social Services Committee
Petition 2011/71 of Dr Lynley Hood and Associate Professor Gordon Sanderson on behalf of the Visual Impairment Charitable Trust by the Health Committee
Report from the Controller and Auditor-General, Health sector: Results of the 2012/13 audits by the Health Committee
The following bills were introduced:
Social Assistance (Portability to Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau) Bill
Drug and Alcohol Testing of Community-based Offenders and Bailees Legislation Bill
Health (Protection) Amendment Bill
A motion was passed noting the UN Secretary General’s comments on the bombing of children in a Gaza hospital and condemning Israel’s actions and calling for a ceasefire.
MPs began Question Time.
**
ParliamentToday.co.nz is a breaking news source for New Zealand parliamentary business featuring broadcast daily news reports
