Yesterday was a members' day in Parliament, and a number of bills from the opposition were up for debate resulting in the Labour government being defeated in several of them.
Wayne Mapp's bill to introduce a probationary employment period of 90 days passed its first reading 63-58 with National, New Zealand First, United Future, Act, and three members of the Maori Party voting for it. This is great news as it allows a very sensible measure to be debated in more detail. The scare-mongering has already set in with people claiming that it will allow employers to hire people for short periods of time then sack them before the 90 days are up.
This is rubbish.
As someone responsible in my department for hiring, one of the real problems we have is that under New Zealand law it is very difficult to get rid of people who aren't up to scratch. Consequently, we are extremely picky about who we hire - we only hire if everyone involved in the interview process (at least 3 people and sometimes more) agrees that they would be a brilliant hire. It is too risky to do anything different.
However, if a 90 day probation period were allowed, I would be much happier to give someone a go who we weren't 100% sure about. Most likely, some of those people would go very well, but at present it is too much of a risk to take them on.
I really hope this bill becomes law, but it will probably depend on how much pressure Labour can place on the minor parties supporting it.
The second bill was Barbara Stewart's bill to reduce the number of MPs to 100. This passed its first reading by 61 votes to 60, and I suspect is very unlikely to become law. National made the point during the first reading that they think that the number of MPs cannot be decoupled from a debate on the electoral system itself - so they will most likely vote against it later on. However, having the debate is definately a good idea.
Barbara Stewart was saying in her speech that everywhere else had to perform cost-cutting measures, and so why should Parliament be any different? The remaining MPs would just have to work smarter.
I don't really think she has thought this through.
If we had remained under FPP, then the number of MPs would now be around 115 anyway due to how the numbers were calculated (South Island seats set at 16, and North Island seats would adjust based on population size).
Her comparisons of Parliament size to Australia forget that there are State governments in Australia with significant powers and responsibilities, most with two chambers.
Dropping the number of MPs would not removal the least hard-working and least effective MPs. Due to the party lists, there would still be plenty of deadwood in Parliament, and as there would be less MPs around, this deadwood may now actually have important roles.
I actually think we should be increasing the number of MPs, rather than decreasing. Sure our system of government is not perfect, but reducing the number of MPs will make it worse, not better. We need a well-funded and resourced Parliament to have an effective opposition which is fundamental to the Westminster model that we follow.christv 4.7 pro crack
Wayne Mapp's bill to introduce a probationary employment period of 90 days passed its first reading 63-58 with National, New Zealand First, United Future, Act, and three members of the Maori Party voting for it. This is great news as it allows a very sensible measure to be debated in more detail. The scare-mongering has already set in with people claiming that it will allow employers to hire people for short periods of time then sack them before the 90 days are up.
This is rubbish.
As someone responsible in my department for hiring, one of the real problems we have is that under New Zealand law it is very difficult to get rid of people who aren't up to scratch. Consequently, we are extremely picky about who we hire - we only hire if everyone involved in the interview process (at least 3 people and sometimes more) agrees that they would be a brilliant hire. It is too risky to do anything different.
However, if a 90 day probation period were allowed, I would be much happier to give someone a go who we weren't 100% sure about. Most likely, some of those people would go very well, but at present it is too much of a risk to take them on.
I really hope this bill becomes law, but it will probably depend on how much pressure Labour can place on the minor parties supporting it.
The second bill was Barbara Stewart's bill to reduce the number of MPs to 100. This passed its first reading by 61 votes to 60, and I suspect is very unlikely to become law. National made the point during the first reading that they think that the number of MPs cannot be decoupled from a debate on the electoral system itself - so they will most likely vote against it later on. However, having the debate is definately a good idea.
Barbara Stewart was saying in her speech that everywhere else had to perform cost-cutting measures, and so why should Parliament be any different? The remaining MPs would just have to work smarter.
I don't really think she has thought this through.
If we had remained under FPP, then the number of MPs would now be around 115 anyway due to how the numbers were calculated (South Island seats set at 16, and North Island seats would adjust based on population size).
Her comparisons of Parliament size to Australia forget that there are State governments in Australia with significant powers and responsibilities, most with two chambers.
Dropping the number of MPs would not removal the least hard-working and least effective MPs. Due to the party lists, there would still be plenty of deadwood in Parliament, and as there would be less MPs around, this deadwood may now actually have important roles.
I actually think we should be increasing the number of MPs, rather than decreasing. Sure our system of government is not perfect, but reducing the number of MPs will make it worse, not better. We need a well-funded and resourced Parliament to have an effective opposition which is fundamental to the Westminster model that we follow.christv 4.7 pro crack
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