Green co-leader Marama Davidson has apologised to supporters of her member’s bill after it was discharged due to her running slightly late to its second reading.
The Right to Repair bill – which would have required manufacturers to repair, rather than simply replace, products – was likely to have been voted down anyway by the Government parties.
But Davidson did not even get a chance to test support after missing her slot to speak late yesterday afternoon.
In a statement, Davidson said she had “made a mistake” by arriving in the debating chamber “20 seconds too late”.
“I underestimated the speed at which a piece of legislation would progress through the House,” she said.
“I want to apologise to the people, communities and groups whose hard work was put into this bill… I will not give up on this kaupapa.”
Parliament TV shows that Davidson was not in her seat when Assistant Speaker Maureen Pugh called on the next order of business.
After a pause, National MP Tom Rutherford jumped to his feet.
“I was expecting the member in charge of the legislation from the Green Party to stand and take the first call on this bill, being it her piece of legislation, but she hasn’t turned up to the House,” he said.
The camera returned to a wide shot of the chamber, this time with Davidson there, attempting to speak.
But Pugh said the moment to speak had passed, so the legislation dropped off the agenda.
Attempt blocked
Davidson later attempted to have it reinstated into Parliament’s business, but Government MPs blocked the attempt.
“We made immediate efforts to try and fix the mistake, to seek leave to reinstate the bill back into the House, but this was not granted,” Davidson said in a statement.
“This means that the bill would need to be pulled from the biscuit tin again to be progressed. So it is unlikely to progress until the Greens are in government.”
Davidson’s bill passed its first reading after New Zealand First joined the opposition parties to vote in favour.
NZ First later withdrew its support after the select committee process, meaning Davidson did not have the necessary numbers to progress the bill any further.
In July last year, a Government bill was also discharged after Social Development Minister Louise Upston missed her call to speak.
By RNZ Gallery team of rnz.co.nz
