Latest news with #ParliamentaryServices
West Australian
14 hours ago
- Politics
- West Australian
Anti-Israeli graffiti attack on Parliament sparks camera upgrade and push case for ‘Post and Boast' laws
An anti-Israel graffiti attack has sparked a review of State Parliament's security cameras, after the incident revealed a gap in coverage. Senior staff told a Budget estimates hearing on Thursday that the night-time attack was only partly captured on CCTV. 'The area is actually under CCTV surveillance. However, it was at night time, and the cameras aren't the night vision type of cameras,' Parliamentary Services Executive Manager Rob Hunter said. 'So there is a need to upgrade our cameras across the whole precinct. They go into over 100 cameras, so that one there did capture some things, including the offender coming down Harvest Terrace.' Mapping has started but funding is yet to be allocated to upgrade cameras, six weeks after a door of State Parliament and the footpath in West Perth were spray-painted. 'We expect that this year we will see some upgrades in our cameras across the precinct,' Mr Hunter said. It was also revealed that the 22-year-old charged over the damage has since paid 'restitution' of $2200 for the clean-up. It was also revealed he had posted video of the crime on social media, but proposed 'post and boast' laws set to carry a maximum penalty of three years jail are yet to pass Parliament and did not apply.
Scoop
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
‘New Security Service' For Parliament Would Have More Powers
Parliament's security guards will receive training later this year to prepare for potential additional powers. Lillian Hanly, Political reporter Parliament's security guards will receive training later this year to prepare for potential additional powers. The Parliament Bill is up for a second reading and would give the guards statutory powers of 'consent search, denial of entry, temporary seizure of specified items, and temporary detention.' Parliamentary Services chief executive Raf Gonzalez-Montero told the Governance and Administration scrutiny hearing yesterday they were taking that responsibility 'very seriously'. Police and the Ministry of Justice were assisting with the training, which is expected to begin in December, with the first guards certified around March or April next year. As part of the hearing – which allows MPs to scrutinise funding decisions – Gonzalez-Montero mentioned the Parliamentary Service focusing on embedding the 'new security service' for members. During the election they trialled that service, which he said was 'well-received'. It was now an established service and they will have staff that are able to travel with MPs when they have functions or gatherings 'just to keep them safe', Gonzalez-Montero said. He said a review of the security system overall will also be taking place, with some gaps between 'when a member is a member, and when a member is a minister'. 'There are things that need to be tightened up in that ecosystem.' Gonzalez-Montero told MPs the parliamentary service was also investigating options to increase the ability to monitor social media to address what had been seen this year, which was 'digital harm' against MPs. He said he wanted to make sure whatever service was chosen to respond the issue was 'fit for purpose' for members. Other issues in Parliament Other questions in the hearing focused on the issue of infrastructure and accessibility, as well as Parliament's capacity to fulfil its democratic responsibilities. The Greens' Lawrence Xu-Nan asked about a key lift in the Parliament building, which, when out of order, means a key route for wheelchairs is inaccessible. Gonzalez-Montero said he agreed, if the lift was out of service, 'that would be a big problem for us.' He said he would love nothing more than to fix those things, but it required funding. He had a wish list to create a ramp for the entry to Parliament, rather than just having the stairs, or having to use different lifts. 'Unfortunately, those things are very expensive, and we haven't yet had the money to fix those things. 'We'll keep it on our radar, keep doing the things that we can within the budget that will allow us.' He pointed out they'd received funding this year for the infrastructure of the buildings, 'so the sprinkler systems, things that fail, things like the lift.' But he said last year was the lift's 'end of life' and it hadn't previously been budgeted as something that needed fixing, 'we were lucky this year we got funding.' 'That is the juggling we do all the time. 'So we've got a list of things that we focus on fixing, and then something pops up, and then we say, well, something's going to have to come out of that list for us to fix the lift.' The funding the service had been receiving was at 2005 levels, he said, and things go up in price and 'every year we're able to do less.' He said a lot more upgrades in terms of infrastructure will be needed in future. The Beehive needed a lot of work, 'it's a very old building,' he said. 'Pretty much all the buildings here are in in dire need of fixes, strengthening and upgrading.' Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson also fronted the committee and was asked by Labour's Glen Bennett about parliament's 'ability to operate'. Bennett noted the Office of the Clerk had said there were 'a lot of challenges in terms of workload' and asked how that was being managed in order to provide MPs with what they needed, as well as the public when it came to 'scrutiny and transparency'. Wilson said he was confident the Office of the Clerk would be able to do that. The increase in funding they'd received wasn't a 'vast sum of money' he said, but it did 'make a difference.' 'It enables us to retain the staff that are hard to attract, but also to take on additional staff when we need to, for example, when we have bills with large numbers of public submissions, we can temporarily embrace the workforce to deal with that.' This was notable during the submissions to the Treaty Principles Bill, where the committee received 300,000 online submissions, half of which were received on the last day. Submissions were re-opened due to technical issues so people who had issues were able to submit. Some complaints have been made during the submission process to the Regulatory Standards Bill this week. Wilson told RNZ they were aware of a technical issue with the Parliament website, which was being worked on. 'The issue is affecting the whole website.'
Scoop
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
'New Security Service' For Parliament Would Have More Powers
Parliament's security guards will receive training later this year to prepare for potential additional powers. The Parliament Bill is up for a second reading and would give the guards statutory powers of "consent search, denial of entry, temporary seizure of specified items, and temporary detention." Parliamentary Services chief executive Raf Gonzalez-Montero told the Governance and Administration scrutiny hearing yesterday they were taking that responsibility "very seriously". Police and the Ministry of Justice were assisting with the training, which is expected to begin in December, with the first guards certified around March or April next year. As part of the hearing - which allows MPs to scrutinise funding decisions - Gonzalez-Montero mentioned the Parliamentary Service focusing on embedding the "new security service" for members. During the election they trialled that service, which he said was "well-received". It was now an established service and they will have staff that are able to travel with MPs when they have functions or gatherings "just to keep them safe", Gonzalez-Montero said. He said a review of the security system overall will also be taking place, with some gaps between "when a member is a member, and when a member is a minister". "There are things that need to be tightened up in that ecosystem." Gonzalez-Montero told MPs the parliamentary service was also investigating options to increase the ability to monitor social media to address what had been seen this year, which was "digital harm" against MPs. He said he wanted to make sure whatever service was chosen to respond the issue was "fit for purpose" for members. Other issues in Parliament Other questions in the hearing focused on the issue of infrastructure and accessibility, as well as Parliament's capacity to fulfil its democratic responsibilities. The Greens' Lawrence Xu-Nan asked about a key lift in the Parliament building, which, when out of order, means a key route for wheelchairs is inaccessible. Gonzalez-Montero said he agreed, if the lift was out of service, "that would be a big problem for us." He said he would love nothing more than to fix those things, but it required funding. He had a wish list to create a ramp for the entry to Parliament, rather than just having the stairs, or having to use different lifts. "Unfortunately, those things are very expensive, and we haven't yet had the money to fix those things. "We'll keep it on our radar, keep doing the things that we can within the budget that will allow us." He pointed out they'd received funding this year for the infrastructure of the buildings, "so the sprinkler systems, things that fail, things like the lift." But he said last year was the lift's "end of life" and it hadn't previously been budgeted as something that needed fixing, "we were lucky this year we got funding." "That is the juggling we do all the time. "So we've got a list of things that we focus on fixing, and then something pops up, and then we say, well, something's going to have to come out of that list for us to fix the lift." The funding the service had been receiving was at 2005 levels, he said, and things go up in price and "every year we're able to do less." He said a lot more upgrades in terms of infrastructure will be needed in future. The Beehive needed a lot of work, "it's a very old building," he said. "Pretty much all the buildings here are in in dire need of fixes, strengthening and upgrading." Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson also fronted the committee and was asked by Labour's Glen Bennett about parliament's "ability to operate". Bennett noted the Office of the Clerk had said there were "a lot of challenges in terms of workload" and asked how that was being managed in order to provide MPs with what they needed, as well as the public when it came to "scrutiny and transparency". Wilson said he was confident the Office of the Clerk would be able to do that. The increase in funding they'd received wasn't a "vast sum of money" he said, but it did "make a difference." "It enables us to retain the staff that are hard to attract, but also to take on additional staff when we need to, for example, when we have bills with large numbers of public submissions, we can temporarily embrace the workforce to deal with that." This was notable during the submissions to the Treaty Principles Bill, where the committee received 300,000 online submissions, half of which were received on the last day. Submissions were re-opened due to technical issues so people who had issues were able to submit. Some complaints have been made during the submission process to the Regulatory Standards Bill this week. Wilson told RNZ they were aware of a technical issue with the Parliament website, which was being worked on. "The issue is affecting the whole website."
RNZ News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
'New security service' for Parliament would have more powers
Parliament guards would get statutory powers of "consent search, denial of entry, temporary seizure of specified items, and temporary detention" under a new bill. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas Parliament's security guards will receive training later this year to prepare for potential additional powers. The Parliament Bill is up for a second reading and would give the guards statutory powers of "consent search, denial of entry, temporary seizure of specified items, and temporary detention." Parliamentary Services chief executive Raf Gonzalez-Montero told the Governance and Administration scrutiny hearing yesterday they were taking that responsibility "very seriously". Police and the Ministry of Justice were assisting with the training, which is expected to begin in December, with the first guards certified around March or April next year. As part of the hearing - which allows MPs to scrutinise funding decisions - Gonzalez-Montero mentioned the Parliamentary Service focusing on embedding the "new security service" for members. During the election they trialled that service, which he said was "well-received". It was now an established service and they will have staff that are able to travel with MPs when they have functions or gatherings "just to keep them safe", Gonzalez-Montero said. He said a review of the security system overall will also be taking place, with some gaps between "when a member is a member, and when a member is a minister". "There are things that need to be tightened up in that ecosystem." Gonzalez-Montero told MPs the parliamentary service was also investigating options to increase the ability to monitor social media to address what had been seen this year, which was "digital harm" against MPs. He said he wanted to make sure whatever service was chosen to respond the issue was "fit for purpose" for members. Other questions in the hearing focused on the issue of infrastructure and accessibility, as well as Parliament's capacity to fulfil its democratic responsibilities. The Greens' Lawrence Xu-Nan asked about a key lift in the Parliament building, which, when out of order, means a key route for wheelchairs is inaccessible. Gonzalez-Montero said he agreed, if the lift was out of service, "that would be a big problem for us." He said he would love nothing more than to fix those things, but it required funding. He had a wish list to create a ramp for the entry to Parliament, rather than just having the stairs, or having to use different lifts. "Unfortunately, those things are very expensive, and we haven't yet had the money to fix those things. "We'll keep it on our radar, keep doing the things that we can within the budget that will allow us." He pointed out they'd received funding this year for the infrastructure of the buildings, "so the sprinkler systems, things that fail, things like the lift." But he said last year was the lift's "end of life" and it hadn't previously been budgeted as something that needed fixing, "we were lucky this year we got funding." "That is the juggling we do all the time. "So we've got a list of things that we focus on fixing, and then something pops up, and then we say, well, something's going to have to come out of that list for us to fix the lift." The funding the service had been receiving was at 2005 levels, he said, and things go up in price and "every year we're able to do less." He said a lot more upgrades in terms of infrastructure will be needed in future. The Beehive needed a lot of work, "it's a very old building," he said. "Pretty much all the buildings here are in in dire need of fixes, strengthening and upgrading." Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson also fronted the committee and was asked by Labour's Glen Bennett about parliament's "ability to operate". Bennett noted the Parliamentary Service had said there were "a lot of challenges in terms of workload" and asked how that was being managed in order to provide MPs with what they needed, as well as the public when it came to "scrutiny and transparency". Wilson said he was confident Parliamentary Service would be able to do that. The increase in funding they'd received wasn't a "vast sum of money" he said, but it did "make a difference." "It enables us to retain the staff that are hard to attract, but also to take on additional staff when we need to, for example, when we have bills with large numbers of public submissions, we can temporarily embrace the workforce to deal with that." This was notable during the submissions to the Treaty Principles Bill , where the committee received 300,000 online submissions, half of which were received on the last day. Submissions were re-opened due to technical issues so people who had issues were able to submit. Some complaints have been made during the submission process to the Regulatory Standards Bill this week. Wilson told RNZ they were aware of a technical issue with the Parliament website, which was being worked on. "The issue is affecting the whole website." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
MPs urged to 'lead by example' and trim superannuation subsidy
Photo: RNZ The Taxpayers Union says MPs should be "leading by example" and wants politicians' gold-plated superannuation scheme "trimmed". It comes as the government halves its KiwiSaver contribution to New Zealanders, and means tests access to it, saving two and a half billion dollars over four years. All MPs are entitled to a superannuation subsidy allowing them to receive 2.5 times the percent they contribute from their salary, up to a maximum payment of 20 percent. Parliamentary Services explained the maximum subsidy could be accessed if an MP contributed 8 percent of their salary to a registered scheme. If an MP contributed at a rate lower than 8 percent of their salary, the subsidy payable is reduced proportionately. A law passed in 1977 required the Remuneration Authority to provide superannuation for MPs, which has been done consistently since at least the 1990s. That legislation specified the maximum 20 percent payment of the "gross salary payable to a backbencher". The prime minister is allocated the same amount of superannuation contributions as a backbencher, for example. Currently a backbencher is paid about $170,000 , 20 percent of that would be about $34,000. If all 123 MPs got the maximum entitlement the scheme would cost more than $4 million a year. The subsidy is paid out of public money under "permanent legislative authority" without the need for annual appropriation, said Parliamentary Services. MPs can choose whether to apply the subsidy to their KiwiSaver, or another separate superannuation scheme of their choice. An MP can choose not to be in a superannuation scheme, but if they are, they must get the rate according to the law. According to the latest Register of Pecuniary Interests as at 31 January 2025, all members are enrolled in a superannuation scheme of some sort, with the exception of NZ First MPs Winston Peters and Casey Costello, and Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. An explanatory note in the superannuation legislation said parliamentarians do not have "security of tenure" and there is a high turnover of members, so the scheme recognised the need for parliamentarians to provide for their future. The last time the subsidy was reviewed was in 2003. Chairperson of the Remuneration Authority Geoff Summers acknowledged that was a "long time ago" and that determination had "carried on and not changed through that time". He said he doubted the authority would consider changing it, because of a provision in the Remuneration Authority Act that stated its not allowed to reduce the pay of any of their client groups - including MPs. "If we reduce their superannuation, we'd have to increase their salary accordingly, so that wouldn't make much sense." Summers said the determination could be reviewed, but it couldn't be changed because of what the law stated. "So while the law says what it does, our hands are tied, pretty much." He acknowledged any government is able to change the law, "absolutely, if they chose to, that's the right of any Parliament to do that," if a government wanted to reduce the subsidy amount. "It's a political decision." Because Summers was a Crown appointed statutory officer, he couldn't comment on political decisions. "I won't comment on whether or not Parliament should do something - that's up to Parliament. "I will comply with the law, and if they change the law, I will comply with the new law. That's how the system works for me." Head of communications for the Taxpayer Union, Tory Relf, said at the moment MPs are contributing 8 percent of their salary and getting 20 percent back when most people are "fortunate to get 1:1 matching". She said a 1:1 ratio would be a "fair deal". "Kiwis are having to tighten their belts. And MPs should be leading by example." Finance Minister Nicola Willis on her way to deliver the Budget. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Relf said the scheme as it works currently shouldn't exist "in this environment". "We are borrowing money to pay for the scheme, which isn't just wasteful, it's unfair to the next generation of taxpayer." Relf wanted the government to take a second look at the scheme, saying "it would be about symbolic leadership and restoring trust between taxpayers and the MPs." RNZ approached all political parties for their position on the scheme. National said the Remuneration Authority is responsible for MPs' superannuation, but didn't provide a response to questions about whether the scheme was appropriate in light of the changes to the government's KiwiSaver contribution or whether changes should be made to it. "Superannuation is part of MPs' total remuneration package and is set independently by the Remuneration Authority. All retirement schemes are declared in the Register of Pecuniary Interests." While the government has halved its KiwiSaver contribution to Kiwis, it changed the default rate which could increase employer contributions for members. Savings for 80 percent of New Zealanders will increase because of the new default rate, but self-employed or unemployed people - who don't receive an employer contribution - would see a decrease in their savings because of the decreased government top up. Currently the government will contribute 50 cents per dollar of contribution by an employee, up to a maximum of $521.43 a year. From 1 July 2025 that will be halved to 25 cents per dollar, up to a new maximum of $260.72. Officials said in the Regulatory Impact Statement , the change would "reduce the incentive" for people to make their own contributions. The finance minister was also approached for comment but declined to respond. Labour said it opposed the government's cuts to KiwiSaver, but supported MP pay (and superannuation) being set by the Remuneration Authority. The Greens also pointed out the overall salary and allowances package, including superannuation, for MPs was set independently by the Remuneration Authority. The party said it supported this system remaining independent. The Greens also slammed the changes to KiwiSaver saying they weren't "fair", in particular the halving of the government contribution, but pointed out changing the MP super scheme won't benefit those missing out on KiwiSaver funds as a result of the contribution rate changes. ACT leader David Seymour said every worker's total remuneration included their base rate and any other costs like super, ACC, and holiday pay. "Whether you believe MPs' total remuneration is too much or too little, the balance of base rate versus super contributions doesn't change the total amount." NZ First's leader Winston Peters was out of the country and the party said it had no comment while he was away. Te Pāti Māori said the government shouldn't be cutting everyone else's retirement funds while leaving their own untouched. "We don't believe MPs deserve special treatment when over two million people in Aotearoa earn less than $30,000 per year." MPs are due a payrise at the beginning of July this year, with a backbench salary rising to around $177,000. The Taxpayer's Union said this was an opportunity for a pay freeze. "It's been done before, and we are borrowing money to pay for those increases. So while we're still in a deficit, I think it's important that they do lead by example," Relf said. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said earlier this month he would follow the advice of the Remuneration Authority and "leave it at that".
