Thursday, November 10, 2016



Drawn

A ballot for three member's bills was held this morning and the following bills were drawn:

  • Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Interim Restriction Order Classification) Amendment Bill (Chris Bishop)
  • Charter Schools (Application of Official Information and Ombudsmen Acts) Bill (Nanaia Mahuta)
  • Crimes (Increased Penalty for Providing Explosive to Commit Crime) Amendment Bill (Alastair Scott)
So, no death with dignity this time. But a sensible fix to the problems exposed by the temporary classification of Into the River last year, and another extension of the OIA. The latter will be interesting, and it will be fascinating to see whether National and the Maori Party will publicly take a stand against transparency for their little boondoggles.

There were 79 bills in the ballot today. Just a few years ago we were lucky to see half that, and its another example of how the importance of the member's ballot has changed as we get more experience with MMP.