Member’s bill in the name of Phil Goff (Labour). Narrows grounds for approving foreign purchases of rural land to investments that deliver benefits over and above what a New Zealand investor would produce and that creates substantial numbers of jobs and export increases. Introduced Dec 12 2013. First reading held on July 22 with the bill defeated by 61 to 60 with National, ACT and United Future opposed. Goff indicated in debate Labour now believed it had allowed too much land to be sold into foreign ownership and would tighten the regime if elected. Overseas Investment (Owning Our Own Rural Land) Amendment Bill

A bill in the name of Labour MP Phil Twyford introduced on Nov 12. The bill would mean non-residents would only be granted permission to purchase a residential property if they intend to live in NZ permanently or the purchase adds to existing housing stock. First reading debated interrupted on May 25 and completed on June 29 with National, ACT and United Future voting it down by 61 to 60. Overseas Investment (Protection of New Zealand Homebuyers) Amendment Bill

Introduced on May 14. The Bill amends the Overseas Investment Act by bring forwarding the introduction of the ministerial application of a national interest test for strategically important assets and the temporary application of protections to assets where their value may have fallen below thresholds due to recession. First reading on May 14 and referred to the Finance and Expenditure Committee for a short consideration. Second reading, committee stage and third reading on May 26. Opposed by National and ACT who said it went to far and would lead to both a chilling effect and delays in investment.
Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Amendment Bill

Introduced on Dec 14. The Bill class residential and lifestyle housing and land as sensitive under the Overseas Investment Act and only makes it sale possible to non-residents under limited circumstance. It also gives new information-gathering and enforcement powers of the Overseas Investment Office. Completed first reading on Dec 19 with National and ACT opposing and sent to the Finance and Expenditure Committee for consideration. National also strongly opposed a curtailed select committee process with the Committee ordered to report back by Feb 20 by a majority of the House. Trade Minister David Parker indicated the committee would be given more time to consider the Bill with the CPTPP now due to be signed in March. The Govt sent further amendments to select committee bringing investments in sensitive land involving forestry rights under the Act. Under the proposed changes investors buying up to 1000 hectares of forestry rights each year will not need consent, but purchases above that level would be screened. This would apply to all forestry rights, including bare land planting. The changes would also introduce a light-handed “checklist” screening regime, for overseas investors if they were subject to the current screening regime. Report back extended until June 21. Reported back on June 18 with a larger number of amendments. These included carving out some groups from the ban. This included infrastructure companies and others. Other exceptions were also made for different types of purchase. Unusually the Speaker ruled one amendment exempting a specific development as out of order as it used a public bill to give private benefit. Second reading completed on June 26. Committee stage began on August 1 with National strongly opposing and filibustering the Bill. Committee stage eventually completed on August 14 with no major amendments and third reading completed on August 15 with National and ACT opposed. Overseas Investment Amendment Bill

Introduced May 14, 2020. The Bill was introduced alongside changes to the Overseas Investment Act implemented in response to covid-19 with longer term measures. Changes include a higher threshold for acquiring farm land, enabling decision makers to consider the impacts of investments involving water bottling or bulk water extraction for human consumption on water quality and sustainability, greater recognition for Māori cultural values, requiring investors to disclose information relating to their proposed investment structure and introducing a regulation making power to respond to future emergencies. Reduces red tape around; investments in less sensitive land that are only screened because the land adjoins land that is sensitive in its own right, transactions involving fundamentally NZ entities, leases or other interests of less than 10 years. First reading on May 14, opposed just by ACT with National reserving judgement. Referred to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. Reported back on March 4, 2021 with a large number of amendments. These include removing the consent requirement for investors who only make additional, incremental investments that do not result in a material change in ownership or control and changes to the national interest test due to its over-application. Second reading on May 13, committee stage May 18 with no further amendment and third reading May 19 with ACT and Māori Party opposed.  Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 3)

Introduced under Urgency on Feb 27, the bill disestablishes the Māori Health Authority. Passed through all stage on Feb 27 with National, Act and NZ First in favour.

Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill

Introduced on Oct 20. The Bill disestablishes DHBs and the Health Promotion Agency and replaces with Health NZ and the Māori Health Authority to fund and administer health services. It also creates iwi-Māori partnership boards as a vehicle to exercise tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake at the local level. There will be a new Public Health Agency will be established within the Ministry of Health. There will also be a new series of monitoring and accountability documents including a NZ Health Strategy, Health Plan, locality plans, Health Charter and Code of Consumer Participation. First reading on Oct 27 opposed by National and Act. The Bill was referred to a specially formed select committee the Pae Ora Legislation Committee. Reported back on April 14 with a number of mainly technical amendments and the thrust of  the bill intact. Second reading completed on May 5 with National and Act opposed.  Committee stage completed on June 2 with only minor changes including making a national rural health strategy mandatory. Third reading on June 7 with National and Act opposed.

Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill

Member’s bill by Sue Moroney (Labour). Doubles paid parental leave to six months. Parties seeking compromise so government will not veto it on fiscal grounds. Has the support of United Future and Maori Party, delayed in the Government Administration Committee while National looks at its own policy. First reading July 25 2012. Reported back on Feb 28 with the committee divided on political lines and unable to agree on whether the bill should proceed. Set down for second reading on Members’ Day. The Government has been using delaying tactics on Members’ Day to avoid debate. After the Budget delivered National’s alternative watered down policy, the bill received its second reading despite much confusion over who was voting for what. National remain the only party in Parliament now opposed to this bill.it Finance Minister Bill English picked to use financial veto if necessary, though time is running out for the bill to progress in this Parliament. Completed its second reading with just National opposed, but run out of time in its committee stage on June 25 following delaying tactics from National. MPs returned to the committee stage, but delaying tactics from National meant it did not progress to the next stage. Committee stage debated again on Nov 5 with the new composition of Parliament resulting in National and ACT voting down clauses by 61 to 60. Completed its committee stage with National and ACT combining to gut the bill, it will be killed off when Parliament resumes in 2015. Defeated On Jan 25 with a 60 to 60 vote with National and ACT opposed. Govt indicated it would introduce further PPL legislation this year to extend eligibility and allow for some contact with workplace during leave.  Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months Paid Leave) Amendment Bill

Members Bill in the name of Sue Moroney (Labour) drawn from the ballot on July 23. The purpose of this bill is to extend paid parental leave to 26 weeks. This bill adds provisions around work contact hours, where working parents are entitled to the flexibility of returning to work for a certain amount of time during the parental leave period without losing their entitlement to paid parental leave. Received first reading on September 16 opposed just by National and ACT and sent to the Government Administration Committee for consideration. A report back is due by March 16. Its continued progress is reliant on the Maori Party and Peter Dunne still supporting the bill. The Government has indicated it will use its veto powers if it does survive to third reading. Some of the of the extensions of coverage proposed in this bill have been incorporated into the Government’s Employment Standards Legislation Bill. Report back deadline pushed back to April 28, 2016. The evenly divided Government Administration Committee failed to agree on whether the Bill should be passed when it did report back on April 28. However, the committee said if the House decided to progress the bill, it recommended a number of changes. These included changing the implementation date to April 2017. It also removed the provision for work contact hours as the Govt has already made these changes. As introduced, the bill would extend the period of paid parental leave from 16 to 26 weeks. However, since its introduction paid parental leave has increased to 18 weeks. On May 25, the bill received its second reading by 61 to 60 with National and ACT opposed. Finance Minister Bill English restated his intention to use his financial veto to stop the bill passing into law. MPs completed the committee stage on June 8 with the Govt slowing progress as part of a general tactic to negate Member’s bills. As expected Finance Minister Bill English vetoed the bill due to its fiscal impact. Third reading debate held on June 29, but the veto prevented a vote being taken and the Bill will not be enacted.Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave and Work Contact Hours) Amendment Bill

Introduced under Urgency on Nov 8 and completed its first and second reading on the same day. The Bill  increases paid parental leave to 22 weeks from 1 July 2018, with a further increase to 26 weeks from 1 July 2020. Only ACT voted against the Bill. Labour, NZ First, Greens voted against a National amendment allowing parents to share the entitlement and use it at the same time. They said the amendment was flawed and needed further work, but was an issue worth considering in a future Govt bill. The Govt parties supported another National amendment allowing the proportional increase of  ‘keep in touch’ work provisions. Committee stage completed on Nov 15. Completed its third reading on Nov 30. Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Bill