Thursday 10th December

Yesterday in the House during Question Time, Jeanette Fitzsimons asked the Prime Minister “Is he open to increasing New Zealand’s 2020 emissions reduction target when he is in Copenhagen next week, in light of new evidence that even if the most ambitious targets countries have put forward are met, the global average temperature will still rise by 3.5 degrees this century, making large parts of the world uninhabitable?” . Here is his response: http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/738

Also during Question Time yesterday, Hon Phil Goff responded to the Minister of Energy’s (Hon Gerry Brownlee) announcement to introduce new legislation that will affect the electricity market: http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/740

Today in the House, the Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill is in its second reading. This bill introduced by the Hon Anne Tolley intends to “amend the Education Act 1989 by introducing new governance arrangements for polytechnic councils, creating an extended interventions framework for the polytechnic sector, and making several other changes affecting polytechnics.The size of polytechnic councils would be reduced from between 12 and 20 members to eight members, with four of the eight to be appointed by the Minister for Tertiary Education. The Minister would make these appointments principally on the basis of relevant governance experience.”

The Cluster Munitions Prohibition Bill (from the report of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee) is in its second reading. Also in its second reading is the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill. This bill would “amend the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 to extend the Youth Court’s jurisdiction to cover the most serious 12- and 13-year-old offenders, and to allow a wider range of sentencing orders to be made for dealing with offenders.”

Click here http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/SC/Meetings/2/c/3/49SCOSchedule1-Sched... to see the schedule of select committee meetings that are open to the public today.