Parliament resumes as election campaign looms

NATIONAL BUSINESS REVIEW: MPs return to Wellington this week for the beginning of the second to last scheduled sitting of Parliament before the election.

Parliament is due to sit for three weeks from this Tuesday, and there is then a one-week adjournment before the last scheduled session begins on September 23.

This Parliament will expire on October 6 and an election must be held by November 15.

Dissolving this Parliament before that time and setting the election date is entirely the choice of Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Most people are picking November 8 as the most likely election date, though some in National are still convinced it will be held as early as October 18.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has given few hints on her thinking about election dates and how long Parliament will sit for.

Miss Clark is most likely to prefer a longer formal election campaign in the hope that she can trip up National leader John Key and eat into his party's lead in political popularity.

Balancing this is her desire to make progress on a large amount of legislation.

The Government is keen to send a large number of bills through to select committees for the next Parliament to work on.

There more than 50 bills parked on Parliaments's order paper which the Government wants to make progress on.

Many of these are first readings which take up to two hours of Parliament's time to send to select committee.

Others are at more time-consuming stages, where progress can be slowed by the opposition if it wishes to.

There are also a number of large bills ministers want to see put into law.

Amongst these are bills reforming police and immigration legislation.

Most importantly is the Government's desire to pass its emission trading scheme legislation into law as the centrepiece of its climate change policy.

The Greens and New Zealand First are yet to say whether they will support the bill and without both parties votes it will not make it through Parliament.

The Greens announced last week they would decide their position on Tuesday after seeking the public views on the issue.

They are torn politically on whether to support the bill which they believe makes progress in some areas, but is very flawed in others.

If the emissions bill does gain enough support to pass then the Government will most likely need the last scheduled session to complete this Parliament's legislative programme.

Many select committees would also like more time to complete inquiries and contemplation of bills before Parliament is dissolved.

While parliamentary business does roll over to the next Parliament, it is up to the Government and individual select committees to set their programmes.