Epidemic Response Committee

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The Epidemic Response Committee was a select committee of the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was established on 25 March 2020 during the 52nd Parliament while the House of Representatives was adjourned because of the coronavirus pandemic. [1] The committee was disestablished on 26 May 2020, after normal parliamentary sittings had resumed. [2]

Contents

History

On 25 March 2020, meetings of the House of Representatives were adjourned for more than one month while the country locked down to contain the coronavirus pandemic in New Zealand. Before adjourning, the House unanimously passed emergency legislation, created sessional rules to enable written questions asked of Ministers to be answered under more flexible timeframes, and established a cross-party committee to scrutinise the government's management of the pandemic. The motion to establish the Epidemic Response Committee was proposed by the Leader of the House, Chris Hipkins, and supported by Gerry Brownlee, Tracey Martin, James Shaw and David Seymour on behalf of their parties. Brownlee, the shadow leader of the House, said the committee would fill the gap left by the absence of Question Time. [3]

The purpose of the committee was to hold the government to account with regards to its response to the coronavirus pandemic, in lieu of standard parliamentary scrutiny like oral questions and debates. In the motion establishing the committee, it was given the power to "send for persons, papers and records," which is not normally a power that New Zealand select committees have. [3] [4] The Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard, indicated his expectation that this power would be used "to effectively interrogate ministers or public servants on their actions around the pandemic." [4]

The committee met 24 times. [2] Its meetings were conducted using Zoom and were livestreamed. [5] [6] Each meeting had a theme, such as media or tourism, and consisted of briefings to members followed by opportunities for members to question ministers, senior public servants, or experts. [6]

On 26 May 2020 the committee was disestablished. [2] Hipkins moved the disestablishment motion, stating the committee was no longer needed as New Zealand had relaxed its pandemic control settings and Parliament could function largely as it did pre lockdown. [7] The motion was opposed by the National Party, ACT New Zealand, and conservative independent Jami-Lee Ross but passed with the support of the government, 63–57. [8] Calls to "bring back the Epidemic Response Committee" were occasionally issued in the subsequent 53rd Parliament, but were resisted by the re-elected government. [9] [10]

Membership

The committee had eleven members. Permanent members of the committee were Simon Bridges, the then Leader of the Opposition, as chairperson and David Seymour as the sole member of ACT New Zealand. Other members were made up from the various parties represented in parliament: four further National Party members, three members from the Labour Party, and one member each from the Green Party and New Zealand First. [11] The committee therefore had an opposition majority. Michael Woodhouse, the National Party health spokesperson, was designated as deputy chair on 5 May 2020. [12]

The membership of the committee was as follows: [13]

Key

  National   Labour   Green   NZ First   ACT

NamePortraitElectorate
Simon Bridges Simon Bridges 2019 (cropped).jpg Tauranga
Kiri Allan Kiri Allan.jpg List
Paula Bennett Paula Bennett in 2018.png Upper Harbour
Marama Davidson Marama Davidson 2019 (cropped).jpg List
Ruth Dyson Ruth Dyson, 2011.jpg Port Hills
Paul Goldsmith Paul Goldsmith (cropped).png List
Shane Reti Shane Reti (cropped).png Whangarei
David Seymour David Seymour (cropped).jpg Epsom
Fletcher Tabuteau Fletcher Tabuteau crop.jpg List
Michael Wood Michael Wood (New Zealand Politician).jpg Mount Roskill
Michael Woodhouse Michael Woodhouse (cropped).png List

References

  1. ↑ "Epidemic Response". New Zealand Parliament. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Parliament returns to a safe normal". The Beehive. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Wednesday, 25 March 2020 - Volume 745". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  4. 1 2 Dreaver, Charlie (24 March 2020). "Special committee set-up as Parliament is adjourned". RNZ. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  5. ↑ "Zoom. A national security threat?". Radio New Zealand . 1 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  6. 1 2 Maoate-Cox, Daniela (23 May 2020). "Looking back at the Epidemic Response Committee". RNZ. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  7. ↑ "Parliament returns to a safe normal". New Zealand Government . Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  8. ↑ "Business of Select Committees — Epidemic Response Committee—Motion to Disestablish". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  9. ↑ "Bring back the Epidemic Response Committee". act.org.nz. 14 June 2022. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  10. ↑ Braae, Alex (15 April 2021). "The Bulletin: Calls made for return of Epidemic Response Committee". The Spinoff. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  11. ↑ "Watch as Epidemic Response Committee hears from Civil Defence and police". Newshub . 2 April 2020. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  12. ↑ "Michael Woodhouse". New Zealand Parliament . Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  13. ↑ "Epidemic Response". New Zealand Parliament. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
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