Urgency and fast-tracking are risking our human rights
The New Zealand Government passed 13 bills under urgency in its first 100 days and has proposed concentrating power in three ministers to fast track projects. When asked whether he was concerned about the use of urgency by a journalist, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon responded with a question, rhetorical I am sure, “Isn’t it great?”. I do not expect the PM was waiting on a reply from me, but I will answer: “No, it’s not.”
When the previous coalition Government was using urgency to pass pandemic related legislation – for example the Covid-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Bill which created the traffic light system, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission gave warning about the use of urgency.
“In times of national emergency there is a risk of overreach when sweeping powers are granted, and rights are not balanced appropriately, leading to mistakes that are regretted,” former chief commissioner
Paul Hunt said.
In one of its first acts the coalition Government did away with the Māori Health Authority, overriding the Waitangi Tribunal and bypassing the standard select committee process. The authority was created after major reviews of health and disability care and a tribunal inquiry which exposed the inequity Māori face in our current health system.
Māori will continue to be in a health system that has consistently failed them.
Public participation is essential to human rights, because it empowers groups that are marginalised and discriminated against. Under urgency, bills bypass select committees which means they are not exposed to public scrutiny. The people most likely to be affected cannot tell politicians what it will mean for their lives. Consequently, voices of caution or dissent are silenced.
Now the new Fast Track Approval Bill will place unprecedented power in the hands of just three ministers. Forest & Bird’s Richard Capie says he felt a mix of surprise, horror, disappointment and anger when he first read the bill.
“This is unprecedented. It’s called fast track consenting, but it isn’t just fast track consenting, it’s fundamentally changing what can be built,” he told media.
Our new coalition Government says it is getting on with the business it was mandated for by the election – and its coalition agreement. A party manifesto – and a coalition agreement – do not make up for the fresh air of public scrutiny. I would argue that none of the legislation the coalition Government has put under urgency is urgent.
I also think most would agree that collaborating with people, so you fully understand a situation, leads to better decisions and, consequently, more lasting results.
Our democracy relies on good law-making. In What’s the Hurry, a Victoria University study of the use of urgency between 19872010, 10 principles for good law-making are identified.
They include allowing time and opportunity for the public to understand the arguments for and against legislation – as well as being able to scrutinise the detail. Essentially the parliament should operate in a transparent way.
Legislation should not jeopardise fundamental constitutional rights and principles. The more that legislation affects individual and group rights, the more important it is that it is accorded due process and is carefully considered.
Speed can be achieved without reducing our human right to have a say on the laws that affect us all. A shorter process can be achieved if Parliament provides the relevant select committee with a time limit for its inquiry.
The shortest of these was in 2019 when gun controls were tightened after the March 15 mass murder at Christchurch mosques. A bespoke version of urgency still allowed six days for a compact selectcommittee process, with about 10,000 written submissions.
When you already have the numbers to guarantee the passage of legislation surely this is when the “spirit of service” should be in flashing lights around those in Parliament.
I call upon our Government to support the right of people in Aotearoa New Zealand to participate in parliamentary process. Not only does participation contribute to better law-making, it helps to avoid the hasty mistakes which we will all repent at our leisure.
A French athlete nicknamed “the warrior” smashed the men’s and women’s world record for rope climbing by pulling herself up to the second floor of Paris’ Eiffel Tower with her bare hands in just 18 minutes.
Anouk Garnier, 35, an obstacle running champion and Olympic ambassador, completed the 110-metre charity fundraising ascent, known as the Eiffel Tower Monumental 100, on Wednesday.
“It’s crazy. That’s it, I climbed the Eiffel Tower,” said Garnier, who was cheered from below by friends, family and fans.
“My mother has cancer and it was important for me to surpass my limits for a good cause close to my heart, to help cancer research.”
She will donate all funds raised to France’s League Against Cancer.
“I trained for this event for a year. I thought of my mother, of my family, I had no right to give up,” she added.
Her mother Roselyne Garnier said: “She’s the warrior. Since she was little, she was always on the roof, she climbed everywhere, like monkeys do.”
The previous world record was held by Thomas Van Tonder, a 32-year-old South African, at 90m, while the women’s best height was 26m by Ida Mathilde Steensgaard, 33, the Danish climber.
Garnier is a fitness coach and the double world champion obstacle course runner – a sport that involves jumping walls, barbed wire and even fires.
The International Olympics Committee has now approved the sport as a modern pentathlon discipline, although it will not feature at this year’s summer games in Paris. – Telegraph Group