The backbench blockers
Stuff reports:
Opposition parties say Labour is misusing its majority by keeping useful information away from the select committees.
MPs from across the House, including National, ACT and the Greens say backbench Labour MPs – who make up the majority of members at most select committees – are actively blocking parliamentarians from accessing information from officials.
The Greens are in Government so it is also a Government party saying it.
The issue of select committee gatekeeping surfaced most recently with the National Party’s justice, police and mental health spokespeople being denied access to the police commissioner and also for a briefing on the damning Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission report.
But Opposition MPs say this has been an ongoing issue, since Labour won a majority at the 2020 election.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon said there was a trend where Labour MPs would block briefings and inquiries about health, policing and housing.
“For a Government that purports to be transparent and open, it’s blocking us from doing our job – which is holding them to account but more importantly, doing the right thing by New Zealanders who are asking some questions,” he said.
Luxon said his MPs started keeping a record of every time Government MPs blocked their requests for briefings or meetings with officials, which he said was happening more than once a week.
National had recorded 19 instances so far.
This is why I support ACT’s policy to have the Opposition have a majority on select committees, so the Government can’t block select committees from even asking questions.
Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick said she tried at every meeting of the Finance and Expenditure Committee, for six months, to get a briefing from Treasury and the Reserve Bank on how the two organisations forecast house prices.
She had the support of ACT and National’s Nicola Willis, but Labour successfully blocked the request as it has a majority.
Swarbrick said it made no sense for MPs to be that concerned about discussions or releasing information.
The Labour backbench Ministers are blocking on behalf of the Minister, because they don’t want Parliament (and the public) to have the information.