Select Committees
I guess the House has voted to populate the select committees, as the Parliamentary website now lists members for them. What I am interested in, is how many does the Government have a majority on.
- Commerce – National 4, ACT 1, Maori 1, Labour 3 – Govt 5/9
- Education & Science – National 4, ACT 1, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 5/9
- Finance & Expenditure – National 5, ACT 1, Maori 1, Labour 4, Green 1 – Govt 7/12
- Foreign Affairs/Defence/Trade – National 4, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 4/8
- Government Administration – National 4, Labour 3 – Govt 4/7
- Health – National 5, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 5/9
- Justice & Electoral – National 5, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 5/9
- Law & Order – National 5, ACT 1, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 6/10
- Local Govt & Environment – National 5, ACT 1, Maori 1, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 7/11
- Maori Affairs – National 3, Maori 1, Labour 3 – Govt 4/7
- Primary Production – National 4, Labour 3, Progressive 1 – Govt 4/8
- Regulations Review – National 3, Maori 1, Labour 3 – Govt 4/7
- Social Services – National 5, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 5/9
- Transport & Industrial Relations – National 5, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 5/9
- ETS Review – National 4, ACT 1, United Future 1, Maori 1, Labour 3, Green 1 – Govt 7/11
I have a fair idea of who the Chairs and Deputy Chairs will be, but I’ll wait until they have all been confirmed by their Committees before posting names!
So we can group the select committees a number of ways
National majority
Health, Justice & Electoral, Social Services, Government Administration, Transport & Industrial Relations
The Government should have no problems passing laws in these areas.
National/ACT majority
Education & Science, Commerce. Law & Order, Local Government & Environment,
This could be significant as ACT want to introduce significant education reforms. Also useful for Rodney with any regulatory and local government reform.
National/Maori majority
Maori Affairs, Regulations Review
Very useful for the Maori Party relationship, that with National they have a majority on the committee.
National/ACT/Maori majority
Finance & Expenditure
In this important committee, National will need both major partners to have a majority
National and two of ACT, Maori or United Future
ETS Review
So National can pass changes without ACT if Dunne and Maori Party agree.
No majority – tied
Foreign Affairs/Defence/Trade, Primary Production
To some degree these areas are less controversial than others, so not having a majority is less of an issue. At the worst the Select Committee makes no changes to a bill, and it is all done at Committee of the Whole stage. Also means no inquiries can be launched without a Government party voting for it.
As I said above, I’ll review the Chairs and Deputy Chairs later today or tomorrow, when they are confirmed.