Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House) Link to this
I seek leave that for the Committee stage of the Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill members have unlimited numbers of speeches of 5 minutes each but no more than two consecutive speeches on each part or provision in the bill.
Mr SPEAKER
Hon DARREN HUGHES (Senior Whip—Labour) Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have deliberately waited until this point to raise this point of order with you. Ordinarily, I would have raised it at question time, but I did not want you to think we were trying to delay matters. My point goes to the interaction you have with other presiding officers when we are in urgency and considering a big bill, as we will be during the Committee of the whole House stage, where there are substantial Supplementary Order Papers that have not had the chance for select committee scrutiny, or for a decent amount of time for the Opposition to look at them, propose amendments, and line them up with the existing bill if there is no revised-tracked version of the bill. I inquire, Mr Speaker, as to your liaison with the three members who service the Committee of the whole House, to ensure that the Opposition gets a fair run to be able to speak in the Committee stage on those parts, given that they have been so heavily amended and there has been no chance for scrutiny before that. I am seeking your protection for the minority, in that respect, and signalling that to you at this stage.
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) Link to this
With all respect to the point of order that my colleague has just raised, I think we have just agreed that there not be a limit to the number of speeches that members can make in Committee. Therefore, of course, any concerns that he might have about closure disappear at that point.
I appreciate the point the honourable members have made, and I think it is incumbent on the presiding officers to make sure that on important legislation such as this, the debate is thoroughly heard. The honourable member also makes a perfectly valid point that where there are significant changes to the bill, and where there are significant numbers of Supplementary Order Papers, then there is obviously a need to make sure that those are properly considered and debated by the Committee. I think that the leave that the House has just given should give some comfort to members that reasonable debate will be enabled on these important measures.
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Climate Change Issues) Link to this
I think it is worthwhile for the House to note that this morning I provided copies of the Supplementary Order Papers—both from me and from the Māori Party—and a briefing with officials to all members of the House in order to ensure that they could be informed on those events.