By Louis Collins for The House
National's Chris Penk told the House the Government is doing everything they can to mitigate the impact of the Manawanui sinking on Samoa and the wider Pacific. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
Possibly the most attention-grabbing headline during Parliament's recent two-week break was the sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui off the southern coast of Upolu, Samoa.
It wasn't something that any government could ignore, so when the House met again it was dealt with before anything else.
The government did this via a ministerial statement on the sinking. Ministerial statements are a mechanism governments can use to brief the Parliament on an unfolding situation or event, and explain the government's plan around how they are approaching dealing with it.
The alternative, in all likelihood, is an opposition-initiated urgent debate. So by getting in first, the government can control the messaging to the public regarding the event.
Opposition parties may also prefer statements - they get to ask questions of the minister and/or make speeches. Ministerial statements are arguably more useful than either Question Time or urgent debates for gaining information and commenting on it.
Minister of Defence Judith Collins was on ministerial duties overseas, so National's Chris Penk was moonlighting as defence minister and fronted the ministerial statement.
It was his first foray into this particular kind of Parliamentary set-piece and The House chatted with him afterwards about the tactics and practicalities.
The Manawanui went down after hitting a reef. Photo: Supplied / Profile Boats
The format of ministerial statements sort of resembles that of a press conference. The minister, or in this case acting minister, makes a statement, followed by questions and comments from each party (the leader or a leader-nominated MP - generally spokespeople on the relevant topic).
Why make a ministerial statement?
"Their purpose," Penk says, "is to inform the House and therefore the people of New Zealand more broadly. I suppose one could note that it's a good way for the government to provide some information in quite a holistic way, to be able to have the luxury of setting out, within a five-minute period, the situation of quite a complex and important matter; as opposed to relying on questions being asked by the opposition.
"And it's quite theatrical in Question Time, which isn't necessarily the way to best express a complex situation."
Who decides to make one?
"It's a decision that's made by the government. The leader of the House is a crucial role in that. The whips of the respective parties and the Speaker and his team (being the clerk of the House), have to be aware, and they sort of manage the mechanics of it.
"I was given the wording that I needed to say in order to bring that forward before getting into the substance of the discussion.
"I think in this case, our determination is to be pretty open. So actually, there wasn't a lot that we wouldn't have anticipated or would shy away from answering, except to make the obvious point, as I did on my feet in the House, that there are things at the moment that we simply don't know."
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