Despite a week of distractions MPs were working. Hard. Ten bills were finished, and eight brand new bills began their lives, ready for the remaining weeks of this parliamentary term.
It was a tumultuous week at Parliament. A now former-minister was discovered to have broken cabinet collective responsibility; and before that commanded all the attention there was a brief sortie into America's culture wars.
With all the scene stealing and scenery chewing from those stories, even people paying attention might have failed to notice the huge work-load happening beyond the headlines.
This week MPs spent nearly three days working under urgency; debating bills in extra morning sessions and (on Wednesday), until midnight.
Partly it was to catch up on lost time, and partly to prime the debate-pump for the remaining five months of this parliament. The catch-up included third and final readings for ten new laws.
Listen to the radio version of this story with extra content on the newly finalised laws.
But this article focuses on the brand new bills - the new ideas for laws - offered up for public comment after a first reading. There were eight bills, seven are now before committees, six are open for broad public feedback. In case you want to stick your own oar in here is a brief taster.
The Quick and the Dry
The Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill allows the Governor General to sign off localised alterations (as Orders in Council) to specific existing laws (as suggested by the relevant minister), that would ease reconstruction efforts after the recent storms. Whew.
This approach is a mix of the approaches seen after the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, with the extra parliamentary checks added for Covid Orders.
The legislation is considered urgent and so the select committee process was highly truncated with only experts and stake-holders invited to contribute. The bill is expected to be passed by Parliament by the end of next week with general agreement from most parties.
Despite that, the Bill isn't being considered 'under urgency'. That would eliminate a select committee process entirely. Instead there was an agreement from most parties to hasten its progress without official urgency.
The dry half of the equation is the Appropriation (2021/22 Confirmation and Validation) Bill. This is an annual accounting set-piece. It is crucial but financial rather than policy. Briefly it is the butt-end of the lengthy budget process, where Parliament signs off the Government's final account of its spending from two budgets ago. The accounts are treated like a bill but skip some aspects of the process (e.g. no debates on the first and second readings).
The education two-step…