Talk:New Zealand government withdraws asset forfeiture bill
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Original reporting
- I've been following the progress of this bill for a while, and noticed that it had disappeared from the Order Paper over the weekend. The OP had just been posted (Parliament is currently in recess), and there is no mention in Hansard of the bill being sent to committee or withdrawn.
- I called the office of Mark Burton, Minister of Justice, today seeking comment on the bill's withdrawal. Foolishly, I did not note the name of the spokesperson I talked to, but all they would say was that the bill had "a couple of procedural issues that need to be dealt with". They stuck to this line religiously, and would give no indication of whether the bill would be reintroduced, or when, or exactly what those "procedural issues" were.
- Currently, NZ has a minority government, which needs to negotiate every piece of legislation through the House. There is widespread disagreement on this bill, with the Greens and Maori party (one possibly source of a government majority) believing it to be an attack on human rights, and NZ First and United Future (the other possible majority) believing that it does not go far enough. The bill therefore is unlikely to be able to be passed in its current form.