New member’s bills

The three bills drawn from the ballot yesterday are:

Social Security (Pathway to Work) Amendment Bill – Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni

This Bill lifts the threshold of how much persons can earn before their benefit is reduced by abatement rates. The thresholds
are currently $80 per week for those on Jobseeker Support and $100 per week for Sole Parent Payment and Supported Living Payment and this increases them to $150 per week.

It is not necessarily a bad thing to have a higher threshold before abatement starts, but what would be useful to know is the cost to the taxpayer if this bill is accepted.

Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill – Green MP Dr Russel Norman

This bill will would ban public fund managers (such as ACC, NZ Super Fund, Govt Super Fund) from investing in companies directly involved in the mining and production of fossil fuels.

It is a ridiculous bill.

Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Amendment Bill – Labour MP Clare Curran

This Bill amends the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Act 2013 and establishes a Technical Advisory Board to which matters must be referred in instances where the Minister will be required to exercise his or her discretion or prescribe an additional area of specified security interest.

I think this bill is worth supporting, at least at first reading. The TAB would provide expert advice to the Minister on network security, and they can analyse and make recommendations around intended directives.