Politics And Government

Sometimes choosing a general question for that all-important primary gives the asker an advantage, sometimes it turns out to be a disadvantage. Sometimes it might just be an unintended Christmas gift.

Each sitting day in the House MPs debate bills and today, their penultimate sitting day for the year, they will polish off a list of bills.

Parliament is something of a circus. In the middle of it all as ringmaster, the Speaker. In just over a year Trevor Mallard has already made or begun significant change in Parliament, and reveals he… Audio

In case a government gets carried away with itself and makes up rules where it can't get laws passed, Parliament regularly checks through the latest decrees and keeps itself at the 'top of the hill'.

Each sitting day in the House MPs debate bills and today they’ll start with what the Reserve Bank sets rates, employment law and medicinal cannabis.

The start of every day at Parliament is like being at school, when the headmaster used to read out notices at assembly.  It even covers all the same sorts of things. Just another way that Parliament… Audio

I’m sure you’ve noticed that in Parliament MPs spend a lot of time talking.They even argue about the same bill multiple times. But is it Groundhog Day or is it subtly different every time? Audio

Milton asked for “the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” He omitted 'to vote', but he was speaking in Parliament, so maybe that’s a given. Video

During Question Time Ministers are required to answer questions. mostly. There are tactics to get around it, and some exceptions to the expectation. Audio

Jami-Lee Ross has both jumped and been pushed this week. When an MP leaves Parliament what happens next? asks Phil Smith.