The Government is still in the awkward stage of its legislative programme with the House sitting, but none of its new
policies ready to go.
After dealing with paid parental leave and a bill to develop regulations for rental housing standards last week (both
Bills which had been before the last Parliament), this week MPs will be dealing with ‘nuts and bolts’ legislation left
over from the last Parliament.
On top of the Order Paper is the completion of the first reading of the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships
Registration Bill and the second reading of the Customs and Excise Bill.
Other dull, but worthy bills set to be considered for the first time this week are the Legislation Bill and the Trusts
Bill.
There is also the prospect of the committee stages of the Electronic Interactions Reform Bill, Maritime Crimes Amendment
Bill and the Maritime Transport Amendment Bill.
Departmental policy analysts and the legislation writers at the Parliamentary Counsel Office will be burning the
midnight oil to get legislation associated the new Government’s ‘100 day’ priority list ready for ministers. So, it
looks set for the last two weeks of the House sitting this year to be very busy for MPs before they break for Christmas
on December 21.