Select Committee Chairs
Jo Moir at Stuff reports:
A promotion for New Plymouth MP Jonathan Young will keep his finger on the pulse of energy issues affecting the region.
The National Party senior team including Prime Minister John Key, his deputy Bill English and Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee have appointed Mr Young to a new role as chair of the commerce select committee.
This article is correct in substance, but not in process.
The PM can not appoint a Select Committee Chair. The Commerce Committee elects its own chair.
However the inevitable process is the PM and senior Ministers and/or advisors decide whom the Government wants as a chair of a select committee, and that person gets elected.
If the Government does not have a majority on a select committee, then the committee can block the proposed nominee, but this is rare.
Generally the Government will consent to some chairs and/or deputy chairs being from non-Government parties. At present these are:
- Commerce Deputy Chair – Clayton Consgrove, Labour
- Foreign Affairs Deputy Chair – Kennedy Graham, Greens
- Govt Admin Chair – Ruth Dyson, Labour
- Local Govt & Environment Deputy Chair – Eugenie Sage, Greens
- Maori Affairs Deputy Chair – Parekura Horomia, Labour
- Primary Production Deputy Chair – Damien O’Connor, Labour
- Regulations Review Chair – Charles Chauvel,
GreensLabour