The Inquiries Bill

Adam Bennett at NZ Herald reports:

The Government plans to force a largely forgotten five-year-old bill through Parliament in three weeks to allow a short, sharp “Government inquiry” into the Fonterra botulism scare.

The move to expedite a Government investigation into the food safety scare comes hard on the heels of three other investigations into the incident which Fonterra says could cost New Zealand tens of millions of dollars in lost export earnings.

The Inquiries Bill, introduced by Labour in 2008, gives ministerial-level inquiries new powers to compel witnesses to give evidence under oath but has been left on Parliament’s Order Paper for years.

But Prime Minister John Key yesterday said it would be passed, possibly within three weeks and under urgency, to allow a fast, effective investigation into how botulism-causing bacteria got into Fonterra whey concentrate which was then used to produce infant formula.

It makes sense to do the inquiry under the new law, as it would give the inquiry more extensive powers.

The Inquiries Bill was reported back from select committee in November 2009. It has to go through a second reading, committee of the house and third reading. That should be quite possible within three weeks, unless there is a filibuster of the committee stage – which I would have thought unlikely.