Submissions to the Parliament
Bill have opened up wider conversations about New Zealand’s
constitutional arrangements, including the establishment of
a Parliamentary Budget Office and an increased number of
MPs, say members of the Parliament Bill Select
Committee.
The ad hoc committee was established in
September last year for the specific purpose of examining
the Parliament
Bill.
The bill combines existing legislation
relating to the operation of Parliament, and makes some
changes to the powers of Parliament’s security officers, as
well as the funding arrangements of Parliamentary Service
and the Office of the Clerk.
After receiving unanimous
support at first reading, it arrived back in the House this
week, following six months of select committee
consideration. This is also the period in which the public
got to have a say on the bill in the form of
submissions.
Committee member, Green MP Ricardo
Menéndez March said that while the conversation wasn’t
always specifically within the scope of the bill, there were
a lot of valuable questions raised about New Zealand’s
constitutional arrangements.
“Something that was
raised was the reality that the number of MPs that we have
hasn’t kept up with population changes… As our population
grows and our number of MPs remains the same, each MP
actually has to serve a greater number of people, with
actually stagnant resources.”
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It is likely that
increasing the number of MPs wouldn’t be the most
politically popular move, but some of New Zealand’s
constitutional brains, many of whom submitted on the
Parliament Bill, said an increase in the number of
electorates (and therefore MPs) was a logical move, given
the current allocation (72) was made in 1996, when our
population totalled only 3.7 million.
Another question
that came up in submissions was whether New Zealand needs a
Parliamentary Budget Office.
The Office would be a
non-partisan institution that would provide oversight and
impartial scrutiny of fiscal policy.
Some advocates
also suggested the entity should provide costings for
political party policies prior to an election. Countries
such as Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom all have
something similar.
One of those advocates is Menéndez
March, who said the Greens had supported the idea for a long
time.
“Parties who don’t have access to Treasury have
very little resource to actually cost their own policies. If
we want to propose amazing radical things, like more of our
health system being in public hands, [we should] be able to
communicate to the public how much that will
cost.”
New Zealand First’s Andy Foster is also on the
Parliament Bill Committee.
He agreed with Menéndez
March that the proposition was a good one, citing the
benefit to the public in terms of transparency and more
measured policy-making.
“The more that the public can
have confidence that what is being proposed will cost X or
Y, the better it is. I think it’s a good discipline that
will hopefully result in better decisions and also the right
kind of things being put in front of the public.”
New
Zealand’s constitution and Parliament’s funding
When
we use the word constitutional, we are broadly talking about
the powers of the state.
New Zealand is a
constitutional monarchy with King Charles as our head of
state, represented by the Governor General, who signs off on
all legislation passed by Parliament.
Much of the
discussion from submitters on the Parliament Bill focused on
the ‘separation of powers.’ This refers to the separation of
the three branches of government:
- The Executive
(Government – The Prime Minister and his Ministers who
propose laws) - The Legislature (Parliament – House of
Representatives who pass laws and hold the Government to
account) - The Judiciary (The courts and judges who
interpret and enforce the laws)
Both submitters
and committee members agreed that the funding of
Parliament’s two agencies – Office of the Clerk and
Parliamentary Service – should better reflect that
separation of powers.
The two agencies are integral to
the running of Parliament and are independent and
apolitical.
However, for funding, these agencies are
currently treated as government entities. Each year they
rely on the Minister of Finance allocating them funding in
the government’s budget.
The bill would alter their
funding model to resemble the one used by the Officers of
Parliament (the Parliamentary Commissioner for the
Environment, the Ombudsman, and the Controller and
Auditor-General).
In practice, this could mean the
Parliamentary Service Chief Executive, and the Clerk of the
House would submit budget proposals to a select committee
(likely the Officers of Parliament Committee).
The
Committee would consider the proposal in consultation with
Treasury and an independent advisor, before recommending
that the House approve their budgets. This is what currently
happens for the Officers of Parliament.
Menéndez
March said this change would minimise the risk of
governments underfunding the legislature.
“For many
governments, it will be in their interest to purposely
underfund Parliament because it reduces the ability for
non-executive members to actually hold the government to
account.
“When we have a chronically underfunded
Parliament it impedes everyday people from participating in
our democratic process in a fulsome way.”
Foster
thought the word “chronically” was harsh but agreed with his
committee colleague’s general sentiment.
“I think it’s
a constitutional principle that Parliament is able to make
its decisions about those things because they are about the
operation of Parliament on behalf of the people of New
Zealand.
“Allowing people to engage with the
Parliamentary process, as Menéndez March said, that is
Parliament’s responsibility – not the executives.”
The
bill received submissions from 53 groups and
individuals.
Foster said the key to getting people to
care about important civics changes, like the Parliament
Bill, is through better civics education.
“We should
be teaching the way in which our system works, and the
history of our system as part of our school
curriculum.”
Menéndez March said he had observed an
upsurge in people engaging with the parliamentary process on
bills like the Principles
of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, and the Oranga
Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill, and
said if anything, it proved that we currently didn’t have
the resources to handle that increased
engagement.
“What I hope is that the Parliament Bill
will result in the ability to better resource the mechanisms
that allow everyday people to engage with parliamentary
processes.”
The Parliament Bill is due to go through
its second reading in the coming weeks, when it is expected
that all parties will support it.
– RNZ’s
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