People are bleating that Parliament was shut down last night. Richard Prebble was in a lather; Rodney Hide in a fit of self-importance called it a "dangerous precedent that a government would shut down our Parliament for its own convenience. It shows how arrogant Helen Clark and Michael Cullen have got."
Mark Twain would disagree that this is a bad thing. Given his view that “no one’s life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session,” I can only agree with him and suggest that closing this Parliament for almost any reason is A Good Thing. In fact, snarling up its functioning is A Good Thing. By this standard, Margaret Wilson's appallingly inept performance as Speaker is also A Good Thing.
I wish liquid lunches and longer dinners for MPs happened more often. I vote for lazier MPs, and shorter sitting sessions. Until such time as they start shredding legislation, it's one of the few ways to protect the few liberties that this Nanny Government has left us.
1 comment:
I wish I could share some of your optimism.
An unexpected side effect might instead be to double the legislation with even less debate.
And shredding the legislation was one of those members bills that might be pulled out on ballot. You've just reduced the chance of that happening!
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