22 Jun 2015

Policing the politicians

10:41 am on 22 June 2015

It might not seem like it all the time, but Parliament operates under rules – a lot of them. They’re called Standing Orders, and there’s slightly more than 400 of them.

The expert in those rules is the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The current Clerk – until next month – is Mary Harris, who describes her job as the “primary expert in parliamentary procedure, and the principal advisor to the Speaker and MPs on how Parliament works.”

Clerk of the House, Mary Harris and the Speaker with David Wilson, the newly appointed Clerk of the House.

Clerk of the House, Mary Harris and the Speaker with David Wilson, the newly appointed Clerk of the House. Photo: Office of the Clerk.

She also manages a staff of about 100 people, which provides all the services the House needs when it’s meeting, and to communicate what it’s doing.

The Clerk is also a broadcaster – through Parliament TV and radio – and a publisher with the Parliament website, which is now one of the biggest in New Zealand. “It probably doesn’t get as many hits as Trade Me, but it’s a very big content website,” Harris says.

“I’m an advocate for Parliament. As the principal permanent of the House, I take a kind of a guardianship or kaitiaki role for the institution. And so we’re very involved in the way in which Parliament works, and the way in which it evolves.”

Like the Speaker, the Clerk’s role is independent, so she’s often on her own. “We are there for Parliament, and one of Parliament’s roles is to ensure that it scrutinises government activity. So we’re always concerned about the separation between Parliament and the Government or the executive. And the courts as well,” Harris says. Protecting Parliament and the way in which it operates is a big part of the job.

We think about alternative ways of making submissions. You might write a letter as people always did, or we might get submissions via Facebook.

Learning the rules isn’t the hard part, she says, but fitting them into how Parliament works. Like a good public servant, she won’t name names, but says politicians are “remarkably creative”. “So you’re dealing a lot with the interpretation of the rules at the edges, and facilitating ways to do things.

“We’re not policing the rules – the members actually police the rules themselves effectively. Our job is to know the rules, provide advice on them, and find a way to do things within the rules.”

Harris agrees that MPs often try to test those rules. “Every morning before question time, I meet with the Speaker and we go through the questions, and we try to work out where they might go, and what procedural problems might come up and anticipate solutions.

Having worked at Parliament for almost 30 years, she’s protective of the institution. “We’ve got an extremely good parliamentary system, it’s very highly regarded around the world. But in New Zealand we’ve had it for so long, and it’s worked very well, so people do take it a bit for granted.”

“People are interested in Parliament when it’s dealing with an issue that is of interest to them, but there’s not huge interest in how Parliament works. Maybe our civics education could be a bit better.”

Harris doesn’t want everyone to be as expert as she is, but to know what Parliament does, what it’s dealing with, and how people can participate. That means putting a lot of that information online – where and how to submit to a select committee for example. “We think about alternative ways of making submissions. You might write a letter as people always did, or we might get submissions via Facebook.”

She wishes people who only see the bickering and posturing of Question Time could see the collaborative work that Parliament does. “The focus of the media on personality means that often the coverage of Parliament focusses on unfortunate or silly things that members might have done. Whereas you don’t see what Parliament achieves in terms of resolving issues.”

She says New Zealand’s House of Representatives is very good at resolving divisive issues – like Treaty settlements, example. She also cites the debate over marriage equality. “Hundreds of people came to Parliament for the third reading of that bill. Probably millions watched it on television. And that celebration of the resolving of a very difficult issue was just amazing.”

“We’re able to solve very difficult issues without public unrest, without fighting in the streets. It’s fantastic really. But you don’t see that so much in the media.”

This content was made for The Wireless with funding from Parliament.