It happened because Louise Upston passed a piece of legislation so fast, under urgency, in just two days last year that no one had time to spot the fact the law contained a mistake.
What happened was that the law required MSD, the ministry, to check with people every year that they were still entitled to the money they were receiving. However, it didn't exclude pensioners and veterans receiving the Winter Energy Payment, which they get simply because they are pensioners and veterans.
Of course, they should have been excluded under those circumstances because, once you're a pensioner, you're a pensioner. You're not going to stop being a pensioner; you'll be a pensioner until you die. Once you're a veteran, you're a veteran until you die. It doesn't change.
So they should have been exempt from this law but they weren't because it went through the parliamentary process too quickly.
This actually happens quite a lot. A few years ago, under urgency, Parliament realised that it had tabled and voted through the wrong piece of legislation because proceedings were moving so fast.
It happens all the time.
This Government has used urgency a lot. Jacinda Ardern's Government used urgency a lot as well. They often do it because they're running out of time but sometimes it's because they want to avoid too much attention being focused on what they're doing for an extended period.
That's why, for example, National tabled and rushed through the Pay Equity Bill. They didn't want all the drama that would have come with people focusing on it for a long time.
But they've been warned that, if they do this, the consequence of rushing legislation through is that mistakes may go unnoticed and therefore never get fixed.
In this case, it's been particularly unfortunate because it has affected some of the most hard-up people in the country at the worst time of year: people relying on the pension and trying to heat their homes during winter.
That is a really hard lesson for political parties on why they should not rush laws.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and radio broadcaster who hosts Newstalk ZB's weekday Drive-Time Show – where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
Surely the basic writing of laws would be a simple task for one person with AI skills. Fast, efficient and able to look for just such mistakes.
There are myriad reasons why governments should not rush through legislation, but this is not a good example. The issue in this case is with whichever lanyard wearers were responsible for drafting this, the block voting behaviour in parliament which seems to be interpreted by MPs as meaning that there is no point in them reading anything they vote for or against (even if so easy with AI), and finally the powers that be in MSD, right down to the people pressing buttons on a computer to stop such payments. Not. One. Person. Even in the opposition parties, saying 'hey wait a minute, what about this?'. Although this does feel like yet another election year trap set for the government by wannabe-commie lanyard wearers, it's top-to-bottom an absolutely pathetic way to run any country regardless. "We're from the government and we're here to help" seemingly becoming even less true daily!
Was it a mistake, or was it public service left wing activism designed to embarrass the government?
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