As Rutherford was speaking, Parliament TV’s camera shifted to a wide shot of the House, showing Davidson not in her seat. It returned to Rutherford briefly, before then showing the House again, but this time with Davidson there.
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson has been pushing this legislation for months. Photo / Mark Mitchell
National’s Maureen Pugh, an assistant Speaker, was in charge at the time and took some advice.
She eventually told the House: “The member wasn’t present to move the motion and I had just started ruling on that, that it then dropped off and then we move to the next item.” Pugh then moved the House on to other business.
In a statement to the Herald, the Greens co-leader said she “made a mistake” that meant her bill would not go through the second reading stage “and will not progress further through Parliament”.
“While in Parliament this afternoon, I underestimated the speed at which a piece of legislation would progress through the House. This meant that when the second reading for the Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill was brought to the House, I was 20 seconds too late to ensure it was picked up.
“We made immediate efforts to try and fix the mistake, to seek leave to reinstate the bill back into the House, but this was not granted. This means that the bill would need to be pulled from the biscuit tin again to be progressed. So it is unlikely to progress until the Greens are in government.
“I want to apologise to the people, communities and groups whose hard work was put into this bill. While we could not confirm if this bill had enough votes to pass through the second reading, we really needed it to be debated regardless. I will not give up on this kaupapa.”
Rutherford described it on social media as “bizarre scenes in Parliament”.
“Marama Davidson fails to show up to speak on her bill, meaning the bill is discharged. Labour can’t get basic details right in their policies, their mates in the Greens can’t show up on time and Te Pati Māori can’t show up at all. Unfit to govern!”
Bizarre scenes in Parliament. Marama Davidson fails to show up to speak on her bill, meaning the bill is discharged. Labour can’t get basic details right in their policies, their mates in the Greens can’t show up on time and Te Pati Māori can’t show up at all. Unfit to govern!
— Tom Rutherford (@TomRutherfordMP) October 22, 2025
Davidson’s legislation would have strengthened consumers’ rights to have goods repaired. This would have included allowing consumers to request goods be repaired, rather than replaced, reducing waste. It was first introduced in April last year.
While it passed its first reading with the support of Labour, the Greens, Te Pāti Maori and New Zealand First, a majority of parties at the select committee stage said it shouldn’t progress any further.
This isn’t the first time recently where legislation has been discharged due to a member not raising to speak on it. In July last year, no minister rose to speak on the Government’s Regulatory Systems (Social Security) Amendment Bill.
The bill was in the name of Social Development Minister Louise Upston, who was not in the chamber at the time. She told the Herald the call for the bill “came earlier than expected” and she was in a Cabinet committee at the time.
Pugh was also the chair when that happened and said “as the minister was not here [in the chamber] to take the call” that the bill should be discharged.
Jamie Ensor is a senior political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist this year for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.