A week at Parliament can include debates on various bills, heated question times, or special announcements and this week MPs dealt with all three.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to the House during the debate on the Prime Minister's Statement. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
At the start of a non-election year MPs in the House debate whether or not they have confidence in the Government to keep governing; it's called the debate on the Prime Minister's Statement and includes the presentation of a parliamentary paper to the House which details the Government's plans for the year.
MPs then debate the Statement and vote on whether or not they still have confidence in the Government. This week in the House MPs finished off the debate (which totalled 13 hours) and voted in support of the Government.
Also happening this week was a speech from the newest member of the House.
National MP Agnes Loheni was sworn in last week and most new MPs give a speech to the House outlining their values, background, and plans for their time as an MP; it's called a maiden statement and gives a new MP the chance to share personal stories about why they became an MP.
National MP Agnes Loheni in Select Committee Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Ministers were also given a reminder about their responsibility to answer written questions.
In the Government's first year Minister's offices received more than 40,000 written questions creating a backlog as their staff tried to answer the questions.
Written questions can be lodged on any working day with a reply from a Minister expected within six working days.
The Speaker Trevor Mallard reminded Ministers that it was their duty to answer written questions and said extra supplementary questions would be given to the Opposition until overdue written questions were answered.
More detail and highlights from these events can be heard in the audio below.
Speaker Mallard gives a ruling on written questions Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
