Manurewa Labour MP and Party Assistant Whip, Arena Williams, says opposition parties will be on high alert this week for any sudden introduction of legislation as the parliamentary year winds down.
The House is expected to sit under urgency for the next two weeks. As an Assistant Whip, Williams helps to ensure her party organises their MPs to be in attendance for voting.
She says just before Christmas is a favourite time for governments to introduce legislation they know will be unpopular.
“It might be, things like the Fast Track (Bill), it might be new legislation that we didn’t know about. But I would say it’s pre-Christmas fatigue I guess, so there will be a real desire to get through as much legislation as possible when eyes are elsewhere,” says Williams.
Arena Williams says Labour MPs did a great job during the just-completed Scrutiny Week—grilling the government about Māori health, tamariki, and the police—and this is not the time to relax.
