RNZ: The House

The Sunday edition of The House includes one fresh story, and a replay from Thursday. The new story covers the first debate on the bill to change the electoral law – including the requirement to enrol to vote earlier. The replay from Thursday's House looks at Private and Local Bills.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The big laws debated by Parliament get a lot of attention, but others are so small as to be barely noticed. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

After the rare occurrence of a recommittal, the Crown Minerals Bill found itself back in committee where the Opposition tried their best to extract answers from the Minister. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament's Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, is considering a major rewrite of the rules for Question Time, potentially the first major reworking since the 1980s. Specifically the Speaker indicated he may ask the Standing Orders Committee (which proposes changes to Parliament's own rules), to consider balancing the playing field by allowing questioners to contextualise their questions. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week on The House, we chat with a visiting MP from the European Parliament, and hear some of the highlights from Parliament's newest MP, David Wilson Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week Parliament hosted MPs from the EU Parliament in Brussels. We chat with Ireland's Seán Kelly who lead the visiting delegation. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament this week is all-House, with extra debates and an interesting array of topics including space, espionage, and stalking. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The sitting week this week began with a Ministerial Statement from Foreign Minister Winston Peters. The House looks at the subsequent Q and A that followed. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

To mark the launch of the Ministry for Women's Free to Lead campaign, MPs discussed online harm and the safety of public figures in a panel this week at Parliament. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A parliamentary committee tasked with keeping a check on the Executive has heard how the Regulatory Standards Board would duplicate its role, but without its powers.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Albeit a month late, Speaker Gerry Brownlee sat down this week with the Governance and Administration Committee for a chat about Parliament. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament kicked off a three week sitting block today, and the first legislative business was initial debates and votes on three brand new bills. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Last week, MPs were replaced by their younger counterparts during Youth Parliament 2025, and just like real Parliament, there was plenty of drama. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Before laws are finalised, MPs get a last chance to argue for changes. Pav Sharma—whose office manages them—explains the purpose, rules, and process for the many amendments. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament spent most of the week debating legislation under urgency, finalising eight separate government bills, initiating four others. Despite that effort, the week's most telling events may have been its bookends – the international tragedy that opening it, the very local tragedy at its close.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

It was a sad day at Parliament on Thursday, with the news of the sudden death of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp. Before adjourning, The House paid tribute to her in a number of speeches. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament's focus this week is debating numerous bills under urgency. Across recent parliaments the use of urgency and extra sittings has become so regular as to be almost normal. But it remains important to know what laws are being debated and agreed – at whatever speed.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The first item of business at Parliament this week was not Question Time, but a Ministerial Statement on the Middle East situation.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

On the Sunday Edition of the House you can hear an interview with Lawrence Xu-Nan about Scrutiny Week and the preparation necessary. You can also listen to a description of a few of the Q&A tactics observed in the scrutiny hearings. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Scrutiny week is partly information-sharing and partly a partisan bear-pit. When Parliament undertakes governance of governments there are always tactics and politics involved. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Foreign Affairs is a portfolio that Winston Peters often receives bi-partisan congratulations on. In an otherwise adversarial scrutiny week, his hearing with the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee had a bastion of amicability and trust.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week at Parliament is Estimates Scrutiny week, when Ministers face Select Committees to defend their budget plans. We talk with Green MP, Lawrence Xu-Nan, a star scrutiny performer from last time round. As a former academic and one of a number of MPs with a PhD, Xu-Nan has the brutal research experience that is surely useful for digging into something as labyrinthine and esoteric as a budget.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

For electorate M Ps, weekends are generally spent in the community meeting constituents. The House popped into a morning tea Q&A hosted by Matt Doocey. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament and the Courts are different branches of our democracy. On Thursday, during the debate on MP punishments they overlapped.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Government had three things on its to-do list for the week. It managed... some of them, including the one that allows its own continued survival. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week the Health Committee heard oral submissions on the Government's Medicines Amendment Bill, which speeds up the approvals process for medication. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament, with an early history saturated in alcohol, has had no in-house bar at all for months. It seems almost no-one even noticed. The new bar, Pint of Order, has now opened and its dinky size may show just how much Parliament has changed.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The House chats with two long serving MPs to get some insight into some of the political strategy behind member's billsGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

After the first few speeches of the Budget Debate, the House knuckled down for a long and jam-packed dose of urgency. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The opening stanzas of a new budget begin in quiet formality, but get loud and political quickly. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The House sits down with Clerk Assistant James Picker to chat through the Budget process and what you can expect to see in the House on the day. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The highly anticipated debate on the report of the privileges committee only lasted for about 25 minutes before it was cut short by a surprise adjournment motion. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Former Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand talks about the role's interlinked relationship with Parliament and the Executive, and as a guardrail for democracy.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament's Speaker, Gerry Brownlee spoke to MPs on Thursday about the Privileges Committee's unprecedented recommendations for punishing Te Pāti Māori MPs. His response was telling. We decode his comments. Note: A slip of the tongue in this episode causes MP Duncan Webb to be renamed Duncan Green. Apologies. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The commitments that public organisations are subject to under treaty settlements are being treated like transactions, not relationships, says Auditor-General John Ryan, who briefed the Māori Affairs Committee on the issue this week. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Last week the Government announced that they wouldn't be introducing a new independent redress system for survivors of abuse in state care. This week they had the task of defending that position from a barrage of Opposition criticism during an urgent debate. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This Sunday edition of the House is a compilation of the week's reporting, including: coverage of the Government's surprise Equal Pay Amendment Bill, and the farewell of retiring Labour journeyman David Parker. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

After two decades in Parliament, Labour's David Parker is leaving politics. The House looks at some of the highlights of his valedictory statement made on Wednesday this week. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Equal Pay Amendment Bill wasn't in the Government's initially released plan for Parliament's week. It was included at the eleventh hour. It's late arrival, it's urgent passing, and its intent all caused anger in the House.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Returning from three weeks on recess, MPs' first business was a motion in honour of a pope. Speeches were a little more honest, and a little more heartfelt than typical. Especially one of them. And it may have included Parliament's first Hail Mary that wasn't a political desperation move. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parliament's select committees are well known. But the public never gets to watch the Cabinet committees, which all policies go through before reaching Parliament. Louis Collins chats with the Deputy Leader of the House, National Party MP Louise Upston, to understand what happens in the sub-committees which are Cabinet's workhorses. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Other nations are experiencing the erosion of democratic norms – even authoritarianism. Is our constitution strong enough to withstand it?Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details