Parliament Act 2025

Parliamentary privilege - Preliminary provisions

11: How to interpret this Part

You could also call this:

"Understanding this part of the law: respecting its purpose and government roles"

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When you interpret this Part of the Parliament Act 2025, you must do it in a way that promotes its purposes. You also need to consider the principle of comity, which means the legislative and judicial branches of government respect each other's roles and privileges. This helps ensure that the House of Representatives, its committees, and members can exercise their privileges and powers for the right reasons, as stated in section 14. You should know that this does not change how Part 2 of the Legislation Act 2019 applies to this Act. This means you must interpret this Part in a way that respects the rules and principles of the Act, and the relationships between different branches of government.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS804098.

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12: Interpretation of this Part, or

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Part 2Parliamentary privilege
Preliminary provisions

11How to interpret this Part

  1. This Part must be interpreted in a way that—

  2. promotes its purposes; and
    1. promotes the principle of comity, which requires a relationship of mutual respect and restraint between the independent legislative and judicial branches of government, each recognising the other’s proper sphere of influence and privileges; and
      1. ensures that the privileges, immunities, and powers exercisable by the House of Representatives, its committees, and its members are exercisable for the purposes stated in section 14.
        1. Subsection (1) does not affect the application of Part 2 of the Legislation Act 2019 to this Act.

        Compare
        • 2014 No 58 s 4