In a week when Parliament sat under urgency, across four long Tuesdays, quite a lot of legislative business has been progressed.
The weary look on MPs faces today has been something to behold. It's been a gruelling week for members, some of whom joked grimly that they were like prisoners on precinct.
The Government - wanting additional sitting hours to get a big bunch of legislation progressed before the end of the year - on Tuesday got permission from the House to sit under urgency for the rest of the week. Technically speaking, it's been Tuesday the 22nd of November for most of the week at Parliament, with days beginning at 9am and on Wednesday and Thursday going until midnight, all the while quite a lot of legislative business has gone down.
Four bills had their entire passage through the House:
the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Amendment Bill;
the Land Transport (Clean Vehicles) Amendment Bill (No 2);
the Social Security (Accommodation Supplement) Amendment Bill;
the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Extension of Act and Reduction.
Another four bills had their remaining stages completed:
the Dairy Industry Restructuring (Fonterra Capital Restructuring) Amendment Bill;
the Climate Change Response (Extension of Penalty Transition for Forestry Activities with Low Volume Emissions Liabilities) Amendment Bill;
the Arms (Licence Holders' Applications for New Licences) Amendment Bill;
the Companies (Levies) Amendment Bill.
The House went painstakingly (emphasis on pain) through the various parts and clauses of legislation that enables the Government's Three Waters reform.
the committee stage of the Water Services Entities Bill.
Furthermore, a total of seven bills had their first reading this week:
the Grocery Industry Competition Bill;
the Fuel Industry Amendment Bill;
the Crown Minerals Amendment Bill;
the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Amendment Bill;
the first reading and referral to a select committee of the Legal Services Amendment Bill;
the introduction, first reading, and referral to a select committee of the Accident Compensation (Access Reporting and Other Matters) Amendment Bill;
the first reading and referral to a select committee of the Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill.
With these first readings out of the way people can now submit their views on the Bill to the select committee. It was part of the Government's plan for Urgency: to get a number of bills like this underway so the public can have that extra time over the Christmas break to consider submitting…