Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: MPs, Parliament adopt remote working / hybrid working

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the House in alert level 4 lockdown last year. Photo / Robert Kitchin

MPs will be able to work remotely under new Parliament rules as Omicron runs rampant across the country.

Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard said Parliament would operate hybrid sittings, allowing MPs to work remotely from March 1.

In the hybrid sitting, the House will continue to sit in Wellington.

Some MPs will be physically distanced within the debating chamber, while others will join remotely from across the country and be displayed on screens within the chamber.

"During this pandemic, our Parliament has adapted to new ways of working to ensure we continue carrying out our role for the people of Aotearoa New Zealand", Mallard said.

"Previously, we have limited how many MPs can be in the chamber at Parliament for everyone's safety.

"Now, we can safely have all 120 MPs together in the "virtual" chamber, just in a different way."

It comes as more than 12,000 new community cases were reported today, nearly doubling from the previous day.

The increase was in part because of increased testing capacity as people can now self-report positive results using rapid antigen tests (RATs) under phase 3 of the Omicron plan.

These settings would allow MPs to help reduce the spread by participating remotely, instead of travelling to Wellington, Mallard said.

"Over the course of this pandemic, our Parliament has been at the forefront internationally of adapting ways of working – such as holding a virtual select committees and adapting our rules to enable us to work better in the pandemic environment," Mallard said.

"Now, it will be joining the increasing number of legislatures around the world that have adapted virtual models they can use should traditional sittings not be able to go ahead."

Each party caucus is also taking measures, including dividing into teams and reducing physical meetings, and parliamentary staff who can do so have been asked to work remotely.