Parliament’s late-year push: voting rules and climate targets sparking debate
The House: Parliament moves quickly on voting rules and climate targets
In its second-to-last sitting week of the year, Parliament was kept exceptionally busy, debating 12 bills, 11 of them under urgency.
The week kicked off with anticipation around the Resource Management Act (RMA) changes. Two major RMA bills were introduced, but neither was debated at that stage.
Among the small RMA-related measure that did go to debate, the focus was on extending certain consents. Its urgency and late disclosure to the opposition drew most of the controversy.
The week’s real flashpoints emerged later, with two especially contentious pieces of legislation debated through Thursday into the early hours of Friday, and another spanning much of Friday.
First up was the Electoral Amendment Bill, returning from the Justice Select Committee and given urgency for its second reading and committee stage.
This bill proposes significant changes to general election rules, including moving the enrolment deadline to 13 days before election day. That change would prevent people from enrolling or updating details on election day—a barrier for about 110,000 people who enrolled on election day in 2023.
The bill would also restore a broader ban on prisoner voting.
The government argued the earlier enrolment cut-off was needed to cope with slow vote counting. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith told the House at second reading that the official results now take about a week longer to finalise than before 2020.
He warned that the timeline could be even longer when coalition negotiations under MMP are in play.
Despite this being the third consecutive evening of urgency, MPs were unusually animated about this electoral bill. Labour’s Ginny Andersen, the first opposition speaker on the matter, set a combative tone.
“Among all the unethical, shady, and dishonest moves this government has made, this one may be the worst,” she asserted, “it will prevent people from voting in the next general election.” She described the bill as a crafty, sandpaper-on-the-cricket-ball move designed to tilt the game in the government’s favor, and questioned whether the change would actually speed up counting.
“The Electoral Commission told the Justice Committee that even with the changes, there will be no difference in counting time compared with the previous election,” she noted, “so why pass this bill now?”
Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
Associate Justice Minister and ACT leader David Seymour tried to counter the “gaming the system” argument by drawing a parallel with Labour’s 2022 electoral-law changes on donations. He argued that while those changes were sold as transparency, they were used to dox donors who preferred anonymity—a tactic he said disproportionately affected opposition to Labour’s campaign. He accused the government of abandoning a principled stance in favor of a transparent rationale that wasn’t consistently applied.
As the committee phase began, it became clear the opposition planned to scrutinize every clause, seeking concessions on almost every point.
After a long night of speeches and votes, the House finally suspended business at 1:40am on Friday, with the committee stage only wrapping up around 11pm. Justice Committee members, exhausted but professional, returned at 9am to resume proceedings.
The week’s justice-focused rush culminated in four justice-related bills passing under urgency, marking a grueling stretch for MPs responsible for law and order matters.
The Electoral Amendment Bill’s journey continued until it was reported back, just as fresh faces returned to the chamber for the week’s other major flashpoint: the Climate Change Response (2050 Target and Other Matters) Amendment Bill.
This bill likewise received VIP urgency treatment, moving through all stages but skipping select committee, which meant there was no opportunity for public input.
In essence, the bill is straightforward: it revises New Zealand’s targeted biogenic methane reductions, lowering the 2050 target from a 24-47 percent reduction relative to 2017 levels to 14-27 percent. The change nearly halves the previous target.
From the outset, opposition speeches signaled a plan to challenge the methodology behind the new target during committee consideration, hinting at a protracted, contentious debate ahead.
With electoral reforms and the climate-target adjustment dominating the week, Parliament’s long sitting produced an extra, nearly 15-hour day of debate on Friday.
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Would you prioritize swifter voting rules with fewer delays or stronger climate targets, even if they require longer, more transparent parliamentary scrutiny? Share your thoughts in the comments.
