THE SESSION

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24909, 24 June 1946, Page 4

THE SESSION

ADDRESSIN-REPLY DEBATE SPEGULATION ABOUT DURATION (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, June 23. The question of how long the Ad-dress-ta-Reply debate will take in the House of Representatives is the subject of speculation in Parliamentary circles, because a sudden end to this debate might cause the Government some difficulty in providing business for the House until the introduction of the Budget. The Opposition would have a modem precedent for shortening the debate in the tactics of the labour Party, which caused the Rt. lion. G. W. Forbes much embarrass; ment some years ago, when Mr M. J. Savage called off the debate at an early stage and pressed Mr Forbes to bring down his legislation, which the Coalition Prime Minister found rthard to do. However, the Rt. Hon. P. Iraser is too wily a tactician to be caught napping, and it is likely that if the Opposition does quickly withdraw from the debate, he will have enough bills ready to keep members occupied tor some time. . The Address-in-Reply, in the normal course, will take about _ two weeks The motion before the House is merely that a respectful reply be tendered to the Governor-General s opening speech, which always surveys Government policy. It permits members to discuss practically any subject and. In an election year, party tactics aside, almost all members will wish to use their allotted half-hour m speaking over the Parliamentary radio to their electors. If the debate lasted only a day or two, instead of a fornight, the House would have about six weeks to fill in before the Budget, as the Minister of Finance (the Rt. Hon. Wr Nash) is not expected back until the end of July. Early Legislation In the last few years, the Government has not had much legislation drafted so early in the session, a situation which gave the Government some awkward moments last year. Mr Fraser is not going to be caught in the same way again. All Government departments were asked months ago for their proposals and a number of bills, including a big measure consolidating factories’ enactments, are practically ready for introduction. With these, and discussions on several important topics, the Government will probably have enough to keep the House fairly* well occupied until Mr Nash is ready to produce what will be the central feature of the ‘session—the first tax reduction Budget for 10 years. In the circumstances, the Opposition may consider it just as well to let the Address-in-Reply debate take the normal course and take full advantage of its superior debating power over the air.

The Address-in-Reply debate is not quite the first business after the Gov-ernor-General’s speech. All the money for Government services must be voted by Parliament, a privilege won in civil war. This the House of Representatives does by passing the estimates and then the Annual Appropriation Bill, which agrees to the proposed expenditure. This bill may not be passed until nearly three-quarters of the financial year has gone. Services must go on in the meantime and, by law, all salaries and other costs up to the end of June may. be met in anticipation of the House’s concurrence. To meet expenses after the end of June, the Government has to go to the House every two months, until the Appropriation Bill is passed, with an Imprest Supply Bill. The first of these each year has to be passed before the end of June. This is normally the first business of the session. On this bill, members may discuss any question even remotely connected with Government expenditure, which means practically everything. It is usually convenient to follow this with references to the deaths of members and former members of the Legislature, so that the Address-in-Reply debate can be begun at the beginning of the next week.

The first two speeches are made on the opening evening of the debate by two Government members—Mr J. Thorn (Thames) and Mr C. Morgan Williams (Kaiapoi) this year. The House then adjourns to enable the Leader of the Opposition to open the other side of the case on the following evening. Until the normal steamer-express service is resumed, the House may adopt the practice of recent years of sitting alternate short and long weeks.