The House looks at two of the major bills this week: one walking back law on Maori wards, and one seeking new ways to show 'tough on gangs'. This week, Parliament is debating a smorgasbord of bills, most of which are on their 2nd and 3rd readings (the third reading being their final approval by Parliament). Expect to see plenty of debate referencing what was said in the select committee (for second readings) and committee of the whole house stages (for third readings). Gang members protesting ou...
Jul 31, 2024•5 min•Ep. 550
The moment the Abuse in Care Report was tabled in Parliament MPs began debating what it means and how to respond. Every week Parliament is a smorgasbord of stories and issues, many of them interesting and most of them impactful, but sometimes one event or issue in the week dwarfs every other. This week that issue was the tabling of, and initial debate over the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. The report is nearly three thousands pages, spread across 16 volumes. Cruci...
Jul 27, 2024•15 min•Ep. 549
An adult entertainment activism group who are dancing through Parliament's petition process discuss issues, solutions and the experience of political engagement. Given their broad scope of responsibility, Parliament's Education and Workforce Committee hears submissions from all sorts of individuals and groups. Builders to bus drivers, teachers to travel agents, basically anyone with a job is by default, a stakeholder of much of the business that goes through the committee. This week, one of thos...
Jul 26, 2024•7 min•Ep. 548
An embarrassing kerfuffle in Parliament's debating chamber on Wednesday provided fun lessons on how the House works; or at least, how it is meant to work. An embarrassing kerfuffle in Parliament's debating chamber on Wednesday provided fun lessons on how the House works; or is meant to. It began with a surprising and unusual period of silence in the House during Wednesday's extra morning sitting. Debate on a bill had ended slightly early (for the lack of an MP to speak for Te Pāti Māori), and th...
Jul 25, 2024•6 min•Ep. 547
The House chats with Kieran McAnulty about a recent trip which included visits with the Clerks of the Scottish and Uk Parliaments. Kieran McAnulty, Labour's Shadow Leader of the House, chats with Phil Smith about a recent trip to the UK, where he met with the Clerks of both the Scottish and UK Parliaments. Listen at the link below. The trip's primary objective was an investigation of UK housing policy (in light of the NZ Government looking toward recent UK housing ideas), but McAnulty also took ...
Jul 24, 2024•6 min•Ep. 546
Ever wanted a job that combines a very public tight-rope walk with solving fiendish puzzles? Helping The Leader of the House wrangle Parliament's Order Paper is just the thing. On The House we often refer to a government minister titled Leader of the House. Currently that minister is Chris Bishop. In the previous administration it was Chris Hipkins and later Grant Robertson. As you can tell, it's a role typically held by a senior minister. Listen to The House's interview with House Advisor Louis...
Jul 21, 2024•15 min•Ep. 545
Lobbyists are often portrayed as political bogeymen (or women). But what do they actually do and how? The House chats with two of them. The term 'lobbyist' derives from the Ayes and Noes lobbies that wrap around Parliament's debating chamber. Historically, they were places insiders could catch the ear of politicians. When the term lobbyist is used in political reporting it is usually negative. You might even get the idea that the parliamentary precinct is awash with them, greasing the wheels for...
Jul 13, 2024•15 min•Ep. 544
There is new research on how Parliament's rules change, and the researcher gets to observe that change very closely - Parlament's Clerk of the House. For any political geek, a new PhD thesis focused on the rules of Parliament is catnip; even more so if the researcher happens to run the Parliament's secretariat. Surely they know where the metaphorical institutional bodies are buried and which cupboard holds the spades. David Wilson had a PhD conferred this year with a thesis titled Influences on ...
Jul 06, 2024•15 min•Ep. 543
Parliament tussled through another long week of urgency, and more besides. The House weekend edition has a stormy debate on ferries, five new bills for comment, and submissions on restoring Samoan citizenship rights. Parliament's week began with an urgent (i.e. unplanned) debate into the recent stranding of an Interislander ferry (and the demise of the ferry replacement contract). You can read and listen to our report on that debate debate here. The debate was unusually and (sometimes unintentio...
Jun 29, 2024•15 min•Ep. 542
Parliament had another week of urgency and a new list of bills. Five now need public feedback on things ranging from charter schools, and medicine regulations, to three strikes sentencing. After an urgent debate about the Interislander ferry stranding, and another instalment of argument over the budget, the bulk of Parliament's week was spent under urgency. The urgency motion covered ten bills. Their individual progress varied, ranging from a single stage of debate, to completing all stages and ...
Jun 28, 2024•5 min•Ep. 541
Parliament is hearing submissions on a bill that would create a route to restore NZ citizenship for those Samoans who had that right removed in 1982. While the House spent the week debating under urgency, the Governance and Administration Committee found moments around the extended sittings to hear submissions on a member's bill about Samoan citizenship. The Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 Bill is in the name of Green MP Teanau Tuiono. It seeks to correct wh...
Jun 28, 2024•8 min•Ep. 540
Parliament's urgent debate on the recent ferry grounding was a rollicking ride, and you might say the Speaker was to blame. One of the many rule changes that came into effect with last year's birth of New Zealand's current Parliament involved urgent debates. It allows the Speaker to announce prior to Question Time that there will be an Urgent Debate, rather than after it (and immediately before the debate). On Tuesday he did exactly that. The topic was the recent stranding of the Interislander f...
Jun 26, 2024•5 min•Ep. 539
The House covers the beginning of Scrutiny Week - when Parliament makes the Government really work to get its budget approved. It's Scrutiny Week at Parliament - a week when the House doesn't meet, and instead the twelve subject Select Committees spend the week grilling government ministers about their budget plans. You may have thought the budget was all sewn up, but that's far from true. So far, the Government has proposed a budget, and Parliament is considering it, before eventually (presumab...
Jun 21, 2024•5 min•Ep. 538
Despite Parliament having supremacy, governments often play the boss. This week the tables will turn as ministers face up to backbenchers for Parliament's first Scrutiny Week. This week Parliament is undertaking 12 concurrent inquiries into government spending plans, in a rejigged post-Budget process being called Scrutiny Week. It is hoped this will improve on recent Parliaments' lacklustre scrutiny of governments. During Question Time you often see ministers dodge questions from opposition MPs ...
Jun 15, 2024•15 min•Ep. 537
Parliament has a long-held reputation for bad bosses and even worse behaviour. One solution is a new independent role to hear complaints. Parliament has a long-held reputation for bad bosses and even worse behaviour. The former Speaker Trevor Mallard commissioned outside advice on how to fix the problem. One of the many recommendations of that advice - the Debbie Francis Report - was the creation of a new role; the Independent Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards. The Commissioner is Lyn Pro...
Jun 08, 2024•14 min•Ep. 536
Budget Day in photos: Facts, attacks, stories, protests, pantomime and proclamations. The Sunday radio feature from The House surveyed the party leaders' speeches in the Budget Debate - the facts and attacks, the stories, the pantomime and proclamations. You can listen to that audio at the link below. But rather than a written version of the radio show, here is a photo essay of Budget Day at Parliament. no caption Inside Parliament it's an unusually quiet day. The parliamentary press gallery (po...
Jun 01, 2024•15 min•Ep. 535
After the Budget Debate begins, it's usual to go into urgency to progress some government bills quickly through the House, or as is the case so far this year - not so quickly. After Ministers of Finance have delivered a Budget Statement and the party leaders have each had a crack at it, the House typically adjourns the debate over the wider budget and instead gets into some policy specifics. It's usual to take the House into urgency on the afternoon of budget day, to progress some Government bil...
Jun 01, 2024•6 min•Ep. 534
Once the Budget Statement is delivered, what happens next? The House looks beyond the initial announcement to the three different processes that follow it, sometimes concurrently. The focus of budget coverage is, of course, all about the numbers. Hundreds and thousands of numbers. Enough numbers to last a month, or as a budget speech would describe a month... a generous 120 days across the four year spending period. Instead of talking numbers, let's focus on the process. What happens next for Pa...
May 31, 2024•4 min•Ep. 533
Like the calm before a storm, Wednesday evening at Parliament was not about the budget. It was a Members' Day including a bill on cellar door tastings. We sip it with its sponsor Stuart Smith. During budget week most arguments and debates in the House relate to the budget (or unusually this week, to some trouble caused by a failure to spot the difference between a karanga and a speech), but within that maelstrom Wednesday was a small eddy spinning its own path. Wednesday evening's debates were a...
May 29, 2024•5 min•Ep. 532
It's budget week at Parliament, but Thursday's announcement is just the beginning of a long process of the Government convincing Parliament to fund its ideas. It is budget week this week. I am sure you know that already. There are probably hermit monks, hidden in remote mountains, who are not only aware of budget week, but already tired of hearing about it. But few people realise that Thursday's announcement is not the end of the matter. It is barely the beginning. They also don't realise that t...
May 28, 2024•5 min•Ep. 531
Parliament begins its election inquiry with a double-header and finds that blame is something of a boomerang. Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne at Parliament's Justice Committee. In each new Parliament, the Justice Committee has a recurring job. It holds an extensive inquiry into the election just gone, looking for ways to improve and update New Zealand's electoral law. That inquiry has now begun. Listen to the radio version of this story, as well as two other Sunday stories - on controvers...
May 25, 2024•15 min•Ep. 530
The Justice Committee has begun its inquiry into last year's election. It got some pretty solid and very polite suggestions right up front. This page hosts the audio from Thursday's episode of The House, focussing on the opening stanzas of Parliament's inquiry into the 2023 election. The written version of this story will be published as the Sunday (26 May) edition of The House. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details...
May 25, 2024•5 min•Ep. 529
Changes to tenancy laws and the removal of Treaty obligations from Oranga Tamariki - two proposed new laws ask for public feedback. Two bills considered for the first time this week were highly contentious. Having had a first reading, both bills will go to select committee - the chance for public feedback. Listen to The House's outline of the bills in case you want to pitch in. The entrance to Parliament The Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill proposes to remove section 7AA fr...
May 23, 2024•5 min•Ep. 528
Parliament has been hearing submissions on the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. The House outlines the Bill and a variety of submissions. Parliament's Environment Committee has been hearing submissions on the Fast-Track Approvals Bill over the last three weeks. The oral submissions are a balloted selection from the many seeking to appear, and from the tens of thousands of written submissions received. Some are very specific, some very broad. They are typically well researched, thoughtful and have rang...
May 21, 2024•5 min•Ep. 527
We talk with the Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, about Question Time, MP porkies, and stepping above the fray after 27 years or partisan politics, to instead become 'Parliament's man'. The role of Parliament's Speaker is ranked fourth in the nation's Order of Precedence, comes with the title 'Right Honourable' (if you like that sort of thing), and shepherds the crucial institution of Parliament. But it seldom seems to be the first choice for MPs chosen for it. Most speakers seem to have other plans. Ad...
May 18, 2024•15 min•Ep. 526
Before each budget comes a political vanguard of announcements and trailers. Parliament has its own, less political signs that a budget is about to arrive. It is hard not to notice when governments get close to revealing a new budget. As they near, there is always a vanguard of political announcements and policy trailers. Alongside this political crescendo walks a quieter parliamentary parade. Annual pre-budget events in the House and Committees that act as less political signs of the budget to ...
May 11, 2024•13 min•Ep. 525
The Annual Review Debate allows Parliament to grill government ministers on performance in their areas, unless someone runs out of time first. They did. For the past two weeks the main event in Parliament's debating chamber has been the Annual Review Debate. This ten-hour-long debate happens every year in the run-up to a new budget. Formally, it is the Committee of the Whole House stage for the bill that confirms the government's books for the period initiated two budgets ago. The Appropriation ...
May 09, 2024•5 min•Ep. 524
Members of the public give some last-minute advice to the Government about its budget plans, via committee hearings into the Budget Policy Statement. There have always been a lot of rules that guide the way that governments plan and report their proposed and actual spending. The current approach possibly dates back to 1989, with the instigation of Labour's Public Finance Act (PFA), and then especially National's slightly more recent Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1994. The highlights of those two ...
May 09, 2024•5 min•Ep. 523
In the lead-up to the Budget, Parliament goes over the head of the Government, asking the Governor General to add in some cash for Parliament's three watch-dogs. The Government's budget is decided by cabinet, after many months of work from the Minister of Finance, Treasury and individual ministries and agencies. But they don't get to make all the decisions. Before the budget gets presented Parliament gets the chance to add a few items itself, by-passing the Government (kind-of) to fund its own w...
May 07, 2024•3 min•Ep. 522
James Shaw's valedictory statement included thanks, humour, yarns, surprising allies, warnings and advice for MPs on avoiding the endless policy tug-of-war. In the last year or so Parliament has heard some unusually good valedictory speeches from a variety of outgoing MPs. Just a few weeks ago from Labour's Grant Robertson for example, or late last year from National's Todd Muller. This week it was former Green leader James Shaw. So on the Sunday edition of The House we featured highlights of Ja...
May 04, 2024•15 min•Ep. 521
