Some MPs have special personal interests, some represent niche electorates or communities. Many MPs (especially opposition MPs) are given spokesperson roles by their own parties; topics they’re expected to focus on, and find and highlight issues in.
MPs are also often given communities to target in electoral terms; to encourage those groups to develop voting loyalty towards their party. This is particularly true of MPs who are from that group themselves. They can vary enormously and might include ethnic, religious, moral, sporting, lobbies, hobbies, lifestyle and occupational interests.
If being an MP was a mastermind quiz these would be their specialist subjects.
National MP Alfred Ngaro asks church pastors about the Parliamentary prayer. He can do so because he has swapped into the Governance and Administration Committee who are hearing evidence on a petition on the topic. Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith
There’s nothing odd or unusual about this. Diverse communities desire representation and parties want contact with and buy-in from diverse communities.
You might be able to tell an MP's focus by their committee assignments, or the party lists of MP's spokesperson roles, or the written or oral questions they ask; or their press releases or social media posts.
And sometimes you might get clues by an MP's select committee attendance.
MPs are assigned to specific committees so they can get expert on the topic areas. Their select committee assignment will usually relate to their spokesperson roles. But they also turn up in committees they're not part of. Often this is because they have been rostered by their whips to fill a gap.
But they also ask to swap with each other for a topic if an issue of interest arises in a committee they’re not a member of. Call it extra-curricular attendance.
And those swaps will also show topics that they’re focusing on. This week provided two cases in point.
The Governance and Administration Committee was hearing evidence related to two different petitions, and with the topics of those petitions in mind the membership of the committee was slightly different to usual.
One petition was calling for the Parliamentary prayer to once again become Christian specific by the re-addition of the words Jesus Christ. And for the hearing the National MP Alfred Ngaro had swapped places with another National MP so he could participate on a topic close to his heart.
Green MP Gareth Hughes in committee asks a question about animal welfare and fireworks. Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith
The other petition in the committee this morning was calling for a ban on the private sale of fireworks. The particular focus of many of the morning’s submitters was on animal suffering.
Green MP Gareth Hughes is the Green Party spokesperson on Animal Welfare and he also joined the committee this morning. Sometimes these kind of appearances are part of a wider, coordinated push.
In Gareth Hughes’ case this is evidenced possibly by the fact that he had already arranged to ask a question on the same topic in the House that afternoon.
