Steve Baron: Urgency: An Attack on Our Democracy?

We have been hearing a lot of discussion recently about the 'Urgency' procedure being used far too often in parliament and how it is abusing our democracy. The New Zealand Herald published an editorial entitled Bulldozed rush of legislation makes mockery of democracy. The editorial raised fears that a huge amount of non-urgent legislation was being pushed through parliament under urgency without following the democratic process, saying, “It has adopted a bulldozing approach that is disturbingly at odds with democratic Government”. Pushing this legislation through meant there was no time for public debate or input.

Urgency is a process used in parliament to extend the sitting time of the House to enable it to complete certain business. A motion for urgency can only be moved by a Minister of the government.