Phil Smith

New Zealand

Editor at Radio New Zealand (RNZ)

Editor at The House Podcast

Journalist. Editor of The House - RNZ's Parliament report.

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Articles

The House: A Question Time scavenger hunt

2 weeks ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

"Arguments, inferences, imputations, epithets, ironical expressions, or expressions of opinion." It could be a lost verse from the Rodgers and Hammerstein song which lists "a few of my favourite things". In fact it's a partial list of things that questions during Parliament's Question Time cannot include. There are also some must-haves, and separate requirements for answers.
Behind the door at a parliamentary privilege hearing

2 weeks ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

Parliament's Privileges Committee has been a major source of news over the last few weeks. The committee is Parliament's own ersatz court, where a cross-party group of senior MPs consider whether their colleagues (or even non-MPs), may have broken Parliament's internal rules - something called a breach of privilege. This week's stories involved a stoush between Te Pāti Māori and the Privileges Committee, over how a privileges hearing should be conducted.
The parliamentary processes behind the missing submissions story

2 weeks ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

Parliament belatedly agreed https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/557081/parliament-agrees-to-add-all-treaty-principles-submissions-to-public-record unanimously to allow all submissions on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill to be added to the parliamentary record].
Threats without consequences: Parliament's 'schoolyard stupidity'

3 weeks ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

In Parliament, ignoring the Speaker, talking over them, or questioning their rulings are all serious offences - called "highly disorderly". Any of these offences have led to many MPs being ordered to apologise, leave the Chamber for the day, or 'named' (with their pay docked). This Parliament, those offences - along with using points of order and patsy questions (and their answers), as vehicles for attacks on the opposition, or on individual MPs - have become a daily commonplace.
The House: Urgency gives and urgency takes away

4 weeks ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

Parliament had some interesting select committee hearings scheduled this week. But when MPs got down to business on Tuesday the committee hearings schedule largely went out the window when the House voted to invoke urgency. Urgency allows the government to move bills through the House more quickly, by enabling longer days of debating with no stand-down period between each of a bill's stages of consideration.
The House: Hunker down for a week of urgent plod sprinkled with chaos

1 month ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

Parliament is back and plans to spend the week debating wall-to-wall, having plunged into urgency immediately after Tuesday's Question Time. Below, we list the bills and outline the notable legislation, some of which were made urgent due to calendar deadlines rather than political desire. The week will be a slog for MPs with the opposition slow-walking the debates while the government tries to move forward. Before the urgency began was Question Time.
The House: Climate change adaptation - Parliament asks the small questions

1 month ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

Politics is structurally oriented to focus on the short-term. Politicians must demonstrate change to stay in office and only short-term impacts will achieve that. Long-term fixes give credit to someone in the future. Addressing hidden or future issues, like slowly degrading water infrastructure, gives little reward to those in power. The biggest future problem is climate change, even if the early impacts are already happening.
A tough Budget preached in a revivalist tent

1 month ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

The 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) is an early warm-up to the government's 2025-26 Budget. The statement outlines the goals and objectives that guided Budget decision-making and the financial parameters that frame it. It is first considered by a select committee and then debated in the House. The debate took place on Wednesday and though it was highly political, it was also instructive. So what lessons can we take from the debate?
Fictional fiscal cliffs - misinterpreting budgets for political gain

1 month ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

Politicians have a reputation for stretching the truth. Sometimes they lie, but more often they just misinterpret data to suit. The Budget Policy Statement is debated by Parliament this week - a harbinger of Budget Day. With budget season nearing, it is worth watching out for one data argument that has become common across parties. It involves using multi-year appropriations to fashion imaginary funding holes, described dramatically as fiscal cliffs.
The House For Weds 12 March 2025

1 month ago | rnz.co.nz | Phil Smith

Fictional fiscal cliffs. The Prime Minister’s much repeated claim that he “saved school lunches” is nonsense, and relies on us not understanding how budgets actually work.