In New Zealand's parliament, a cookie tin holds the power to change laws

As It Happens6:00In New Zealand's parliament, a cookie tin holds the power to change laws

It's not every day that legislation is born from a container once filled with cookies. But in New Zealand's parliament, that's exactly how a number of new laws get their start. 

This past Thursday, members of parliament Arena Williams and Tim van de Molen celebrated rare legislative wins by sheer chance. Their bills were selected for parliamentary debate through an unconventional yet democratic process: the members' bill ballot, drawn from a worn metal biscuit tin using numbered bingo chips. 

David Wilson, clerk of the New Zealand House of Representatives, presided over the draw in the parliament's library. 

"I do a bit of a preamble, but everyone just wants to get on with the draw, really," Wilson told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

"As they draw out, there's usually a bit of cheering if the MP happens to be there. It's quite exciting at the time." 

Members' bills in New Zealand allow non-minister MPs to introduce legislation that isn't part of the government's official agenda. These are one of four types of bills debated in the House, alongside government bills introduced by ministers, local bills submitted by local authorities for specific regional issues, and private bills that propose legal changes for an individual or organization.

The number of members' bills submitted typically exceeds the time available to debate them, so only a select few make it onto parliament's agenda. This selection can happen in two ways: either an MP seeks leave of the House to introduce their bill, or — more commonly — it goes into the draw.

And that's where the cookie tin comes in.

How did this tradition start? 

Before the 1990s, members' bills were scheduled in the order they were received — prompting MPs to queue outside the clerk's office overnight just to get their bills in early.

"So that wasn't really a very good way of doing it," said Wilson. 

That's when the system was reimagined. A staff member bought a tin of cookies from a local department store called Deka.

"The biscuits were eaten, and then the tin was used from then on," Wilson said. 

The tin, now a permanent fixture in a display case when not in use, is taken out on ballot days, when dozens of hopeful MPs gather in the library to see if luck is on their side. According to Wilson, about 70 to 75 bills are typically in the running. A neutral person, often from a visiting school group or a non-partisan staff member, draws the tokens.

"There's quite a buzz before it starts, and I usually have to raise my voice a bit, get everyone to settle down," he said. "We might get, you know, 50 to 100 people in the parliamentary library."

Bills that aren't selected remain in the pool for the next draw, at which point they are renumbered and placed back into the tin.

'It just works really well' 

Despite its humble appearance, the cookie tin has played a pivotal role in shaping some of New Zealand's most significant laws.

This system helped pass laws like the Adult Adoption Information Act 1985, granting adoptees access to birth records; the Marriage Amendment Act 2013, legalizing same-sex marriage; and the End of Life Choice Act 2019, allowing assisted dying for the terminally ill. 

In the most recent draw, two more bills earned their place on the agenda. MP Arena Williams' proposal aims to improve transparency around international money transfer fees. MP Tim van de Molen's bill seeks to prohibit the improper use or disposal of military decorations — an issue he's waited seven years in parliament to have the chance to address.

Wilson says the method is not only effective, but it's also secure.

"It's a little bit old-fashioned and quirky, quite low-tech," he said. "[But] there's no way of hacking it. It can't break. We actually have spare tokens and a spare biscuit tin if something could go wrong."

"We could have a computer system that randomly generated numbers or something. But we've got this, and it works well, and people like it."