After cyclone interruptions Parliament has just its second week of the year this week. MPs will debate an array of legislation but there are quite a few other things of note happening in the House.
The person responsible for most of it is Grant Robertson –the Leader of the House, the cabinet minister responsible for shepherding the Government’s legislative agenda and planning what happens in the debating chamber.
We asked him about the ‘extras’ on the Order Paper.
Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
Checking on confidence in the Government
The most significant thing this week (especially in duration) is the Debate on the Prime Minister’s Statement; a long, wide-ranging debate that begins most years. It takes most of a couple of weeks, and when it ends the MPs get to vote on whether to keep the Government.
The questions being considered are whether the House continues to have ‘confidence’ in the Government, and then whether it approves of the Government’s plans. This year there is not much suspense about the result, so why take so long debating it?
Grant Robertson points out that the debate is always a bit strung out by being interspersed with debates on other business, but the topic really is important.
“It's such a significant thing that what we have to say is actually laid out for us in Standing Orders – the things and topics we have to cover. …Given that it's the Government's whole plan for the year, I think we have to stand up and be accountable for that.”
The Debate on the Prime Minister’s Statement will take up the early parts of both Tuesday and Wednesday in the House.
A Maiden Statement for Tama Potaka
The second thing that’s happening this week is a maiden statement from National Party MP Tama Potaka who was elected late last year in a by-election for Hamilton West. Robertson notes that an MP’s first speech is always a fascinating view on them as a person.
“It is a really good opportunity for Members to say who they are, where they come from, what their background is. [Maiden Speeches] have changed a lot over the years, they are a lot more personal now than they were. So if you go back to maiden speeches from the 70s and 80s, you get very little of the character of a person.”
In pre-MMP days MPs often spent much of their speech outlining the social and economic character of their electorates. Now they spend a lot more time outlining how they came to be MPs and/or what they came to Parliament to achieve.
“I do think it's a great opportunity for people to get that measure of who you are. And it's certainly an occasion to talk about your values and what's driven you to get here. I find them fascinating, …you're given 15 minutes to say who you are, what do you choose to say? And it says a lot about people – what they do choose to say.”
A new appointment to Parliament’s ‘body-corp’
The organisation that runs the practical aspects of Parliament is called the Parliamentary Service. ‘Practical’ is most things that aren’t about passing legislation, so security, buildings, health and safety, MPs’ staffing, catering etc.
The Parliamentary Service boss reports to the Speaker of the House but the Speaker has a team of MPs to help him keep an eye on how it all runs, and make sure it is run even-handedly. That group is the Parliamentary Service Commission, a cross party committee of MPs.
Usually it is made up of senior backbench members like whips, but there are also sub-committees of other MPs that look after other things like Parliament’s rather good art collection.
This week the House will consider whether to appoint Labour’s new senior Whip Tangi Utikere to the Commission.
