The House has voted to go into urgency this afternoon and is therefore expected to sit through the day for the rest of the week till late Friday to get through a long list of bills.
A spokeswoman from the office of the Leader of the House told Scoop this afternoon that the urgency motion relates mainly to tidying up the order paper, rather than dealing with anything that is either particularly urgent or contentious.
As there is no member's bills day this week it will not interfere with that.
According to the spokeswoman agreement has not yet been reached with all parties on whether Questions of the Day will proceed in spite of the house being in urgency. In recent times question time has usually proceeded during urgency by leave of the house.
The urgency motion read by Leader of the House Michael Cullen covers the first 16 bills presently on the Order Paper, namely:
All stages
Land
Transport (Street and Illegal Drag Racing) Amendment
Bill
1st readings
Counter-Terrorism Bill
New
Zealand Symphony Orchestra Bill
Statutes Amendment Bill
(No 3)
Copyright (Parallel Importation of Films and Onus
of Proof) Amendment Bill
Radio New Zealand Amendment
Bill
New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Amendment
Bill (No 2)
Corrections Bill
2nd
Readings
Consumer Protection (Definitions of Goods
and Services) Bill
Fair Trading Amendment Bill (No
3)
National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Matauranga o
Aotearoa) Bill
Ngati Ruanui Claims Settlement Bill
All Stages
Motor Vehicle Sales Bill
Maori Purposes
Bill (No 2)
Hop Industry Restructuring Bill
Social
Workers Registration
Bill
ENDS