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Parliament set for Urgency this week
Parliament is set for a bout of Urgency this week with the new Government seeking to implement its ‘100 Day Plan’, while there is a chance the first Members Bill ballot of this Parliament may be triggered.
An Urgency motion will be taken on Thursday after Question Time. This will follow Treasury releasing its Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update and the Government’s Budget Policy statement earlier in the morning.
This will include costings for the new Government’s programme and more details of the proposed policies. The Urgency motion will include the legislative aspects of this programme.
Amongst the policies are a boost for Working for Families, introduce a ‘Best Start’ payment for children in the first three years of life, a Winter Energy Payment for superannuitants and those receiving a main benefit, restoring the Independent Earner Tax Credit and committing to boosting the Accommodation Supplement. Alongside this will be the repeal of the previous Government’s tax cuts which had been legislated for to take effect next year.
The Budget Policy Statement
will further flesh out Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s
fiscal and economic strategy as well as the Budget 2018
process.
Robertson said: “The Government was formed
early enough during the Treasury’s forecasting and HYEFU
cycle – just – that we were able include officials’
work on our 100 Day Plan costs into the Half Year Update.
“So the likes of our Families Package, Fees-Free Post-Secondary Education and Training, Paid Parental Leave, the $2 billion capital injection for KiwiBuild, and our plan to restart contributions to the New Zealand Super Fund, are all included in the ‘base’ projections we’re starting from.
“These policies have been costed using Treasury’s normal process ahead of Budget announcements. Because of where the election fell, and the ambition of our 100 Day Plan, we were able to incorporate them into the accounts and the Budget process in December, rather than waiting for May to roll around.”
Today the Government intends to complete the first reading of the Taxation (Neutralising Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Bill. This was introduced last week and coverage is here.
The Government also wants to complete the third readings of the:
• Electronic
Interactions Reform Bill
• Maritime Crimes Amendment
Bill
• Maritime Transport Amendment Bill.
Wednesday will be a members’ day with MPs to debate the committee stage of the Rates Rebate (Retirement Village Residents) Amendment Bill and the second reading of the Employment Relations (Allowing Higher Earners to Contract Out of Personal Grievance Provisions) Amendment Bill.
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