Leader of Government in Parliament Ro Filipe Tuisawau has moved a motion to restore 14 bills to the Order Paper after they lapsed when Parliament was prorogued on December 8, 2025. The procedural move, lodged under Standing Order 97, would reinstate the measures so they can continue from the stage they had reached before the prorogation.
Ro Filipe named the full slate of bills proposed for restoration: the Code of Conduct Bill, Access to Information Bill, Accountability and Transparency Commission Bill, Work Care Bill, Accident Compensation Amendment Bill, Employment Relations Amendment Bill and Education Bill. He also listed the Public Service Learning Institute for Public Service Bill, Personal Insolvency Financial Rehabilitation and Entrepreneurial Rescue Bill, Rights of Indigenous Peoples Bill, Criminal Records Bill, Commercial Use of Marine Areas Bill, Mahogany Bill and the National Referendum Bill.
The restoration motion follows a period when some measures were reported to be at risk of being withdrawn. Acting Attorney‑General and Minister for Justice Siromi Turaga had earlier been expected to withdraw the Code of Conduct Bill, the Access to Information Bill and the Accountability and Transparency Commission Bill; Ro Filipe’s motion instead seeks to bring those same bills back into the parliamentary process.
Ro Filipe stressed that the motion is procedural, citing Standing Order 97 and Section 46 of the Constitution as the legal basis for reinstating lapsed bills so Parliament can carry out its legislative responsibilities. He said the move will allow the relevant parliamentary standing committees to resume their work from where it stopped before the December prorogation, rather than requiring bills to start the process anew.
Restoration under Standing Order 97 means each bill would pick up at the parliamentary stage it had previously reached, enabling committee inquiries, consideration of submissions and reporting back to the House to continue without having to reintroduce the measures. That preserves the progress of bills that had been under examination and maintains the government’s legislative timetable.
The inclusion of high‑profile measures such as the Accountability and Transparency Commission Bill and the Access to Information Bill comes against the backdrop of broader government discussions about anti‑corruption and oversight institutions. Earlier government statements and proposals have signalled plans to reshape existing oversight arrangements, making the fate of those particular bills of wider public interest.
The motion now moves through the parliamentary process; if agreed by the House, standing committees will be able to reinstate hearings and deliberations on the restored bills. The procedural restoration ensures the legislative agenda interrupted by last year’s prorogation can continue without loss of prior work.
Leave a comment