The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night.

“Speaker Gerry Brownlee overruled the advice of the Clerk and the Presiding Officer of the House of Representatives. This is unprecedented,” Labour Shadow Leader of the House Kieran McAnulty said.

“Furthermore, he failed to reference a single previous ruling and in making his decision has potentially unilaterally changed the rules of Parliament.

“It has raised serious constitutional questions about the passing of a Government Bill that provides for private benefit.

“This amendment provides a list of 149 individuals and companies that will benefit from this change. There is a clear process for Private Bills that has not been followed in this case.

“Quite rightly, there is a process that a change that will benefit a company or individual should go through. The Private Bill process has previously been used to benefit individuals – such the Paige Harris Birth Registration Bill. That Bill received unanimous support, as it identified an anomaly in the law that was seen by many across Parliament to be unjust.

“This is a far cry from that. The culmination of the Speaker’s inability to cite any previous ruling, his decision to ignore the advice of the Clerk and Presiding Officers, and the nature of the amendment to the Bill in question has caused Labour to lose confidence in his ability to oversee a functioning, democratic Parliament.

“I urge him to reconsider his ruling, and the potential consequences it will have on this Parliament,” Kieran McAnulty said.