A new level of parliamentary incompetence

Stuff reports:

New Zealand’s Parliament is famous for being able to pass laws quickly in a crisis.

But on Thursday it might have moved too quickly, after an error meant that the wrong piece of legislation was introduced to Parliament and then passed within hours, accidentally bringing into law a multi-billion dollar loan scheme. …

Robertson later clarified what had gone wrong, saying that the error was the result of an error made by the Parliamentary Counsel Office, which is responsible for drafting the legislation. 

“The bill that was put up by the Parliamentary Counsel Office and was tabled in the House was incorrect, and the Parliamentary Counsel Office have apologised for that,” Robertson said. 

The PCO is unable to table a bill. Only a Minister can table a Government bill. This shows that the Minister obviously didn’t even read the bill he was tabling.

And this wasn’t a minor piece of legislation. It may result in $7 billion of loans, many of which may never get repaid.