Lock up your valuables: the legislature is back in session! [updated]

It’s time to quote Mark Twain again, who reminds us that “No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” 

The legislature is now back in session, and far too swiftly for my liking.  Time to lock up your valuables.

Remember just because you’re not interested in politics, it doesn’t mean politics isn’t interested in you.

Just for your reference then, here (complete with my comments) is the 27-point “action plan” that the new National/ACT/Maori/Dung Government hope to impose on the country before Christmas which now has two additions (about which see below).

Here’s the Speech from the Throne, which outlines the new Government’s programme beyond that – or at least as much as they want to talk about at this stage.

And here’s the new seating plan for parliament, for those who (for some unfathomable reason) like to watch the imbeciles on television, and who’d like to know which moron is which [hat tip Kiwiblog].

The two immediate additions to the government urgent programme over and above the previously announced “first 100 days action plan” are to implement Wayne Mapp’s proposal allowing new employees a ninety-day trial with their new employer before the full panoply of restrictive state-imposed employment law comes into play (a small advance for employment law, but at least some small help to employers and employees in what is about to be a very troubled employment market), and the announcement of the make-up and terms of reference for the select committee inquiry into so called “climate change” -- which has explicitly at least ruled out an inquiry into the science behind the scare stories, concentrating instead on guessing what other countries might do about the scare stories, how they might respond to what we might do, and whether a carbon tax or a trading scam is the right way for NZers to be fleeced.

You can see the make-up of the committee and the terms of reference here (hat tip NRT: head to the bottom of page 9 for the inquiry details).  Time to start putting together your submissions.

UPDATE: Lindsay Perigo is cautiously excited:

The most promising moment of today's Speech from the Throne came right at the start, says SOLO Principal Lindsay Perigo.
"Just four sentences in, after noting the new government's commitment to economic growth, the Governor-General read out the following:
'In pursuing this goal of economic growth my Government will be guided by the principle of individual freedom and a belief in the capacity and right of individuals to shape and improve their own lives.'
"This is probably the first time in living memory the principle of individual freedom has been mentioned at all, let alone as central, in a formal government agenda," notes Perigo.
"Of course, too much shouldn't be expected from a government stuffed with anti-freedom conservatives and the occasional unreconstructed Muldoonist, but it's fair to assume Prime Minister John Key knows what his party is supposed to represent, and we freedom-lovers will be demanding that he deliver on his welcome inclusion of it in today's agenda-setting document.

However … read on for his full analysis of the Speech from the Throne.