Justice Committee to consider proposed amendments to the Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill

The House of Representatives has referred the Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill back to the Justice Committee for further consideration.

The bill was previously considered by the committee between December 2019 and June 2020. The committee received and considered 74 submissions from interested groups and individuals, and heard oral evidence from 17 submitters. However, the committee did not report any findings to the House by the deadline of 17 June 2020. The House has now asked the committee to consider the bill again.

The committee will consider all the amendments proposed to the bill, including those proposed by the member in charge of the bill, Darroch Ball MP. The formally proposed amendments, also known as Supplementary Order Papers or “SOPs”, can be found on the Legislation website (see links below).

The committee has not called for further public submissions at this stage. The committee agreed that that will be a question for the Justice Committee in the next Parliament.

Chairperson Hon Meka Whaitiri said that it was important that the changes proposed to the bill are considered in-depth.

“The amendments proposed by Mr Ball are significant, and the Justice Committee is pleased to have the opportunity to have a close look at them.”

The membership of select committees frequently changes after an election. Ms Whaitiri acknowledged that the Justice Committee of the next Parliament will need to consider how to proceed with the bill.

“With only one week left before Parliament finishes up ahead of the election, the next iteration of the committee will need to form a view on the issues raised by submitters and the proposed amendments.”

For more details:

• Sign up for notifications on the bill on the Parliament website
• Read the formally proposed amendments on the Legislation website 
   

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