Johnny Blades

After a two-month break, Parliament resumed only to soon adjourn for the week as Cyclone Gabrielle complicated plans for the first sitting week in 2023.

The last episode of The House for this year is an opportunity to look back at some of the goings-on in Parliament that we covered in 2022.

Parliament’s year is rapidly nearing an end, and the Government has this week been focused on completion of three fairly major pieces of legislation.

Five MPs travelled to Westport as part of a Parliamentary Outreach Programme aimed at connecting New Zealanders throughout the country with Parliament and its processes.

In a week when Parliament sat under urgency, across four long Tuesdays, quite a lot of legislative business has been progressed.

There’s been a distinct niggly energy about the exchanges in the House this week, and it’s got something to do with the fact Parliament is sitting under urgency.

Parliament is this week to sit under urgency as the Government seeks additional sitting hours to clear a backlog of legislation that it wants to progress.

“An incredibly diverse and eclectic collection”, the Parliamentary Collection has great art, black rods, protest bricks, bodily parts and much more.

A former Prime Minister has warned MPs they face a daunting challenge to maintain public confidence in the Parliament system in the age of disinformation.

MPs who are former members of the NZDF had plenty to say when the first reading of the Inspector-General Defence Bill got underway. 

This week in Parliament, a Member's Bill is duelling with a Government Bill to enable easier transferral between the Māori and general electoral rolls.

Whether cross-party or inter-parliament collectives, MP groups are all about human connections which help MPs, and importantly us, find out what makes them tick.

Soraya Peke-Mason's arrival as MP means an historic achievement of gender equity in New Zealand’s Parliament, while heralding another chapter in the political history of Rātana.

After consuming much of Parliament's energy last week, the Fair Pay Agreements Bill looks set to do so again this week as its committee stage continues.

As this week of Parliament was getting underway, just after the prayers, the House heard a rare message from the Governor-General.

What do Nicole McKee, Joseph Mooney, Teanau Tuiono and Sarah Pallett have in common? They’re first term MPs who have shared their experiences with us.

Trust in media, or lack thereof, was front and centre as the Minister of Broadcasting had a week of being grilled in parliament's Question Time about the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill.

MPs have been reflecting on the Queen's death again, with the passage of a bill under urgency to create a one-off public holiday for her. But not all the reflections were misty-eyed.

Debate on several Member's Bills this week is set to offer a mix of the contentious and the agreeable.

The revitalisation of te reo Māori was abundantly evident as a big crowd converged on Parliament to mark 50 years since the Māori Language Petition.

Parliament TV offers the public the chance to catch all sittings of Parliament and more besides. 

Press Gallery journalists are in their element after the regular bridge run returned from the Grand Hall to the 1st floor foyer of Parliament House, the place known as 'the tiles'.

Debate during the first reading of the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Bill offered insights into the lives of at least two MPs and the marketing mindset of another pair.

It’s six months since the occupation of Parliament's grounds for three weeks, but the human cost is only now becoming clear.

Previous experience as a Minister of Conservation and Land Information was instructive in the shaping of Eugenie Sage's Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill.