Minor amendments to fiscal responsibility bill passed into law today despite Labour deciding to oppose the once
bi-partisan legislation.
The third reading of the Public Finance (Fiscal Responsibility) Amendment Bill was completed by 85 to 36 with Labour, Mana and Brendon Horan opposed.
Bill English said one of the strengths of Government in New Zealand was the broad political support of the Fiscal
Responsibility Act which ensured prudent fiscal policy.
This was done not through prescriptions but ensuring the Government’s policy and its effects were transparent, he said.
The bill required Governments to now also report more openly on fiscal performance compared with original forecasts with
the current system of reporting against updated forecasts which tended to mask variations, English said.
Labour’s David Parker said he agreed with much Bill English said and New Zealand had done well since the introduction of
prudent fiscal policy.
Parker said though it had been wrong for Treasury to allow the Government to book gains from asset sales in the
Pre-election fiscal update and not book the loss of income from those assets.
He was disappointed the Government did not accept any of the reasonable amendments put forward by Labour to ensure
cross-party support and as a result Labour would oppose the bill.
The bill originally suggested a cap on spending increases as part of National’s deals with ACT was heavily changed in
select committee with the fiscal cap dropped.
MPs began the committee stage of the Patents Bill
Still remaining in the Urgency Motion are the committee stage and third reading of the:
First readings and the referral to select committee of:
Second Reading debate on:
**
ParliamentToday.co.nz is a breaking news source for New Zealand parliamentary business featuring broadcast daily news
reports