This Amendment Paper amends the Parliament Bill. Recent reports of the Privileges Committee have drawn attention to the fact that at the present time it is at least strongly arguable that the House of Representatives has the power to imprison for contempt. This is because by virtue of section 8 of the Parliamentary Privilege Act 2014 and its predecessors, the House has the powers which were exercisable by the UK House of Commons as at 1 January 1865. The power of the House of Commons to imprison people by committing them into the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms was well recognised as of 1 January 1865.

The House in New Zealand has never exercised the power to imprison. It is now inappropriate for that power to exist—especially when the forum by which such an order might be made does not have the usual protections and procedures of a tribunal that would usually have the power to remove someone’s liberty. There being no doctrine of desuetude in New Zealand law means that the fact that this power (which is a statutory articulation of an ancient custom) has not been used since the House was first constituted does not affect its existence.

This amendment will make it clear that the House formally relinquishes its power to imprison for contempt.