Parliament is a place where plans are solid, but change regularly. It’s the inevitable outcome of decision-making institution with built-in opposition.
There aren’t many workplaces where half the team are positively encouraged to cheer if the boss fails and to stymie the leadership’s key objectives as much as possible. You might want to do that at your work - but it isn’t actually in your job description.
'Opposition’ is not just in the job description - it’s the job title. This does sometimes make Parliament a difficult flock to muster. That mustering is the job of the Leader of the House who organises which bills will be debated in the chamber.
Ian Lees-Galloway is Leader for he House while Chris Hipkins is on leave Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
At the end of every sitting week the Leader of the House tells Parliament their intentions for the coming week. Then because it's that kind of workplace the shadow leader of the House generally rises and poo-poos the plan.
At the beginning of every week we interview the Leader of the House and write up a rundown of the legislation that the Government is planning to progress during the week. We post it online to provide background to the various bills that are up for debate. I know, we're just that helpful.
And then the actual week begins and reality kicks in.
Some weeks the work plan is absolutely on the mark. And you could tick off the list like a winning bingo card to bring home the meat tray. And some weeks it gets wobbly as it comes out of the gate.
But sometimes, some of what is 'planned' was probably never expected to get achieved. Presuming the opposition were going to slow down debate could go badly if they sped it up and you ran out of things to talk about.
So the Leader of the House tends to keep a few bills up their sleeve in case. They'll turn up on the plan again next week if they don't get done this one.
That's particularly true when a bill is going to be considered by the Committee of the Whole House (the Committee Stage). Last week the Electoral (integrity) Amendment Bill - commonly known as the waka jumping bill - took by far the largest chunk the week. The government knew it would and had created extra time specially for it - and it took up most of it.
Order Papers can quickly become hopeful wish lists if the opposition puts real effort into a filibuster Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
But if the opposition had rolled over quickly on this bill there needed to be other things ready to go, just in case.
This annoying flexibility is because the Committee Stage is the only real opportunity the opposition have to 'filibuster'. To slow everything down as much as possible. And the opposition are getting better at turning committee stages into tortoises.
Over the five separate sitting days that the Committee stage took place in the House the Opposition offered up nearly a hundred suggested amendments - mostly to provide themselves with something to talk about.
Because during the committee stage you can more or less keep debating as long as you don’t run out of fresh things to say. But like a BBC panel game, once you start repeating yourself it’s game over.
Though eventually - on Thursday afternoon it finally finished it’s third and final reading and will go to the Governor General for her assent.
And while that part of the week was a crawl, another piece of business was achieved in a huge sprint. It made for a very two-paced week. You'll need to listen to the audio above for the run-down on the other business.
