Episode description
Episode description
What did we get out of Scrutiny Week? A look at what emerged from dozens of hours of questioning over the government's spending priorities
It was a week where government ministers couldn't dodge the spotlight, but plenty of them still managed to duck questions over their budget decisions
New Zealand politicians have survived the first ever Scrutiny Week, an innovation that clears the parliamentary decks and lets them eyeball each other over budget decisions.
Today on The Detail we call in Newsroom's senior political reporter Marc Daalder to tell us what we learned from the week where politicians had to turn up to be questioned on the finer details of the Budget, what their priorities are and where their thinking lies.
Some of it was a revelation - and not just because of the news that emerged such as the conservation minister Tama Potaka's hesitation over saving endangered species, or the thinking behind National's decision to reverse a Labour move over pay for disabled workers.
"We came out of this week learning quite a few things - the ministers who are across their portfolio and the ones who aren't," says Daalder.
With some it felt like they were winging their way through; some deferred questions to officials for operational or technical details; and others such as technology minister Judith Collins were very familiar with their areas.
Daalder says the majority of the questions are allocated to the opposition, which is able to push ministers and related officials in sustained lines of questioning to really figure out "what money's been spent, what are the impacts of cuts that have been made, and what are the next steps in key policy areas".
Some of those sessions were quite long, in contrast to Question Time that "really doesn't get anyone any answers", says Daalder.
"It's very performative, a lot of grandstanding ...(whereas) this takes place in select committee rooms, people are sitting down which helps, and the people that they're questioning are only a couple of metres away from them, looking at each other in the eyes and able to have more of a conversation.
"That's not to say there wasn't plenty of argy-bargy, there was plenty of that.
"But I think there were opportunities for real discussions, real questions and real answers which you don't get in Question Time."
Of course, some questions were too political and felt like point-scoring opportunities; others from National MPs were obvious 'patsy' questions and were a waste of time.
Newsroom made a point of covering as many of the hearings as possible, Daalder saying the new scrutiny is designed to hold politicians to account. …