Parliament Today

Excerpt

Extended version of the Week in Parliament with Tom Frewen and Hinaya Ahu plus the full-length Santa Baby from Marama Fox and Te Ururoa Flavell.

The last Week in Parliament for 2016 and probably for ever as RNZ and the Clerk’s Office are not renewing the contract for 2017.

MPs start their summer holiday at 4.31pm at the end of the adjournment debate and a final festive Question Time.

Child poverty and Pike River dominate first Question Time for Bill English as prime minister, sitting in the National frontbench seat formerly occupied by John Key. First bill put up for debate by Mister English’s National-led Government is the Children, Young Persons and Their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Legislation Bill which passes its first reading by […]

Extended version of the Week in Parliament with Hinaya Ahu and Tom Frewen. Extra reports include the Speaker’a response to New Zealand First’s questions about the “Parliamentary Palace” and the first reading of a bill that would transfer responsibility for decisions on fluoridating local water supplies from territorial authorities to District Health Boards.

An exciting and historic week in the House after Prime Minister, John Key, announces his intention to resign after eight years. Speaker grants an urgent debate on the announcement on Tuesday and speculation on his successor dominates Wednesday’s General Debate and Question Times. Debate on Members Bills on Wednesday sees two from Government MPs survive […]

MPs take a break from speculating about John Key’s successor as National Party leader and Prime Minister to pass the Hurunui/Kaikoura Earthquakes Recovery Bill through all its remaining stages. The bill was back in the debating chamber after spending almost a week with the Local Government and Environment Committee whose chairman, Scott Simpson, related how […]

Opposition interest in National’s three-legged race to find a replacement for John Key as their party leader and prime minister dominates Question Time and the General Debate. Questions include some old skeletons from the cupboards of Police Minister, Judith Collins, and Health Minister, Jonathan Coleman. New Zealand First leader, Winston Peters, swaps barbs with Attorney-General, […]

New Zealand First leader, Winston Peters, gets his request for a snap debate on John Key’s resignation in ahead of Opposition leader, Andrew Little. The Speaker, David Carter, grants the request despite its technical flaws and opposition from the Government’s leader of the House, Gerry Brownlee. The government’s response to Winston Peters is led by […]

Extended version of the Week in Parliament with Hinaya Ahu featuring Tracey Martin and Catherine Delahunty in the General Debate and another round in the long running battle between Annette King and Jonathan Coleman, health ministers past and present.

The Key administration’s go-to quake response minister, Gerry Brownlee, dominates the week in the House, shepherding three bills through the House as the Government’s response to the Kaikoura earthquake on November 14. Mister Brownlee then gives a yeah-no answer to a patsy question seeking the timing and magnitude of the next big quake. The Speaker’s […]

Third quake bill – the Hurunui/Kaikoura Earthquakes Recovery Bill – introduced, given a first reading and sent to the Local Government and Environment Committee with instructions to report it back by Tuesday 6 December. Hurunui/Kaikoura Earthquakes Emergency Relief Bill, reported back from that committee, was put through all its remaining stages. Gerry Brownlee advises that […]

New Zealand First MPs pursue the Speaker, David Carter, over his plan to build a new ministerial building on Parliament’s car park. New Zealand First’s deputy leader, Ron Mark, goes too far and has to take an early bath. His caucus colleagues, Denis O’Rourke and Tracey Martin, keep up the pressure in Question Time and […]

Government puts House under urgency to pass two bills in response to the Kaikoura earthquake. The first, the Hurunui/Kaikoura Earthquakes Emergency Relief Bill, was given a first reading before being sent to the Local Government and Environment Committee where it will spend a day before being reported back on Thursday to be passed through its […]

Extended version of The Week in Parliament including Urgency on Tuesday.

MPs on the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee hear submissions on the Land Transport Amendment Bill. Otaki Road Safety Group convenor, Fred MacDonald, proposes gates on station platforms as a way o fthwarting fare dodgers. Some committee members struggle to get to grips with Uber’s technology of uniting driver and passenger via the internet. […]

Extended version of The Week in Parliament with double the length and including appeals for more money for public radio (which fell on deaf ears) and questions about the recovery of bodies from the Pike River Coal Mine (which also fell on deaf ears on the government benches).

Week in the House dominated by the aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which jolted the country on Monday morning; Prime Minister John Key delivers a ministerial statement on the quake on Tuesday, and is followed by a round of speeches from representatives of all parties in the House; Aftershocks of the quake were felt […]

Civil Defence Minister, Gerry Brownlee, explains the significance of Sunday night’s Kaikoura earthquake being upgraded from magnitude 7.5 to 7.8. Building and Housing Minister, Nick Smith,. faces questions about the quality of Wellington buildings. He also faces questions about the possibility of recovering the 29 bodies still in the Pike River Coal mine six years […]