May 22, 2015 9:27am by David Farrar

Parliament 22 May 2015

The House is is urgency and is sitting from 9 am to 1 pm, 2 pm to 6 pm and 7 pm to midnight until the following bills are dealt with. It can sit on Saturday also.

The Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill amends the Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Act 1992 to allow the social housing agency (currently the Ministry of Social Development) to enter into more flexible and innovative purchasing arrangements for social housing.

The key purpose of Telecommunications (Development Levy) Amendment Bill is to make additional funding available, through the telecommunications development levy applied to the telecommunications industry, for the Government’s policy of extending the Rural Broadband Initiative and establishing a Mobile Black Spots Fund.

The KiwiSaver Budget Measures Bill proposes to remove the $1,000 KiwiSaver kick-start contribution paid to all new enrollees in the KiwiSaver scheme, effective from 2 pm on 21 May 2015.

The Border Processing (Arrivals and Departures) Levy Bill amends the Biosecurity Act 1993 and the Customs and Excise Act 1996 to introduce levies to fund the direct and indirect costs of activities carried out by the Ministry for Primary Industries and the New Zealand Customs Service relating to the processing of people arriving in and departing from New Zealand.

Support for Children in Hardship Bill is an omnibus Bill introduced under Standing Order 263(a). The Bill strengthens work expectations and increases assistance for parents on a benefit and who have dependent children from 1 April 2016.

To date the Support for Children in Hardship Bill has completed its first reading (109 to 12 – NZ First against) and been referred to the Social Services Committee

The Social Housing Reform (Flexible Purchasing and Remedial Matters) Bill has had its first and second readings (both 63 to 58 with Labour, Greens, NZ First against) and is now at committee stage.