urgency Archive

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  Misusing urgency

  
  
  
  Since taking office, the National Government has been using urgency with a vengeance. As of today, Parliament has sat for a little over 548 hours. Of these hours, 35% has been under urgency. What does this mean? Due process is condensed, legislation is ill-considered, and the opposition has little time to read let alone apply [...] read more
  October 23, 2009 8:05 am - 1 Comment
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  Submissions required urgently for Urbantramper’s new album

  
  
  
  Urbantramper, who this old frog had never heard of before today, has announced that they will produce their next recording ‘under urgency’. read more
  October 16, 2009 12:45 pm - 11 Comments
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  More rushed legislation under urgency

  
  
  
  Yesterday, the government decided that once again, it was important to run rough shod over parliamentary scrutiny by passing a motion for urgency and introducing new Bills and asking for debate before anyone had even seen the legislation. The Clerk of the House advises that urgency be accorded the introduction and first reading of [...] read more
  February 11, 2009 1:06 pm - 48 Comments
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  Sue Bradford on the “Fire at Will” Bill

  
  
  
  Sue speaks in the House about the ambiguity in the new 90 day fire at will bill that may prevent fired workers from accessing the dole, despite National’s assurances that this was not their intent: It is this sort of ambiguity that would have been picked up and corrected at a select committee. Ramming this through [...] read more
  December 15, 2008 12:03 pm - 74 Comments
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  Greens make bills available if Nats won’t

  
  
  
  I’ve only just realised, after enquiries with the Parliamentary Library, that even though the Nats made the bills being discussed under urgency available in printed form at about 11.35pm last night, they were not being made available in electronic form. How on earth can the public engage in the discussion if they can’t get access to [...] read more
  December 11, 2008 5:06 pm - 44 Comments
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  Hide against the people going to court

  
  
  
  Rodney Hide on Morning Report this morning has nailed his colours to the mast . He has come out for restricting the rights of ordinary citizens to appeal decisions of consent panels. Here’s what he said: Allowing just any Tom Dick and Harry to appeal something [to the environment court] is a recipe for endless debate [...] read more
  December 11, 2008 10:06 am - 105 Comments
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  Nats hit new democratic low

  
  
  
  Sitting in the House. Gerry Brownlee has just told the House that he has the bills that are to be debated under urgency but he won’t table them. What this means is that MPs are going to have to vote and debate bills they will not see until it is tabled. This gives the first opposition [...] read more
  December 10, 2008 11:27 pm - 16 Comments
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  Nats tax bill costs the low paid

  
  
  
  Nats yesterday introduced their tax bill. They dropped the bill on parliament without giving anyone a chance to read it before it hit the house and are pushing it through under urgency without giving a select committee or anyone else a chance to examine it properly. Even the Regulatory Impact Assessment stated that they hadn’t [...] read more
  December 10, 2008 9:14 pm - 34 Comments
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  Make the ETS fair and more urgent

  
  
  
  Some of the readers here may have heard my interview on RadioNZ’s Nine to Noon programme last week, outlining the changes the Greens need to see in order to support the ETS legislation. I notice that there has been some robust debate here about the need for action on climate change. For most people, including [...] read more
  June 7, 2008 3:38 pm - 70 Comments