WEBVTT - What we learned from Parliament's first ever Scrutiny Week

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<v Speaker 1>Hello and welcome to Armor Tiles, New Zealand Herald's politics podcast,

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<v Speaker 1>Scrutiny Week special edition The Herald Gallery Officers coming to

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<v Speaker 1>Your Life from Parliament Delayed live with its views on

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<v Speaker 1>Scrutiny Week, Parliament's first of a Scrutiny Week. I'm Thomas Cotland,

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<v Speaker 1>the Deputy Political Editor, first up with her thoughts as

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<v Speaker 1>the political editor of the New Zealand Herald. Clear Tribette. Clear,

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<v Speaker 1>it feels a strange interviewing my boss. What if Scrutiny

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<v Speaker 1>Week has stood out for you?

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<v Speaker 2>Well? Well, my first counter with Scrutiny Week was Speaker

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<v Speaker 2>Jerry Brownlee doing the Parliamentary Service Budget in which he

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<v Speaker 2>first of all had at Heritage New Zealand for having

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<v Speaker 2>designate the Beehive a Heritage listed meant that I couldn't

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<v Speaker 2>do anything with the old concrete bunker NIX which used

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<v Speaker 2>to house the press gallery out the back. Has asked

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<v Speaker 2>that they do something with Heritage New Zealand so that

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<v Speaker 2>old buildings don't just have to sit there until they

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<v Speaker 2>fall apart. You're not allowed to do anything with them.

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<v Speaker 2>And he then proceeded to show his generation when talking

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<v Speaker 2>about MP security by saying that in the olden day,

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<v Speaker 2>MPs were given their handbooks, their kind of things they

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<v Speaker 2>were allowed, like security allowances and stuff in hard copy form,

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<v Speaker 2>and that didn't happen anymore these days. And then he

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<v Speaker 2>continued on that theme to note he also found it

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<v Speaker 2>very puzzling that nobody answered their landlines on their desk anymore,

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<v Speaker 2>and every time he tried to ring someone, nobody answered.

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<v Speaker 1>Interesting stuff. Thank you for your contributions to Scrutiny Week. Clear,

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<v Speaker 1>Julia Gable is not here and our US reporter, so

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<v Speaker 1>she will skip this episode. Adam Piers, our second US

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<v Speaker 1>Adam Cura. Good a Scrutiny Week highlights for yourself, It's.

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<v Speaker 3>More of a low light for me. I think I

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<v Speaker 3>was probably a little disappointed by all maps. I had

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<v Speaker 3>higher expectations of what Scrutiny Week might provide us in

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<v Speaker 3>a I suppose democratic sense. It was essentially an extension

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<v Speaker 3>of what we see normally with select committees, where opposition

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<v Speaker 3>members try and find out pieces of information, go along

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<v Speaker 3>lines of inquiry, but eventually they are shut down by

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<v Speaker 3>patsy questions from the government. However, I will say that

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<v Speaker 3>Scrutiny Week did provide a lot of opportunities for us

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<v Speaker 3>to be able to inquire about topics that we wanted

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<v Speaker 3>to learn more about, particularly given that a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>the ministers have different portfolios to appear before select committees

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<v Speaker 3>across the week on multiple occasions, so we're able to,

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<v Speaker 3>for example, prosecute the government's cancer drug policy and able

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<v Speaker 3>to see that there are quite different perspectives between certain ministers,

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<v Speaker 3>namely Nikola Willis, Shane Retti, David Seymour.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that was probably the biggest story to come out

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<v Speaker 1>of Screwed in the week, I think, which is funny

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<v Speaker 1>because it wasn't really you know, we only it was

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<v Speaker 1>a story that was already existed and it was only

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<v Speaker 1>taken forward. It wasn't really a news story. I sort

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<v Speaker 1>of agree with that actually, Like it just feels like

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<v Speaker 1>an extension of all ordinary estimates weeks. There's some interesting details,

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<v Speaker 1>Like I felt like I found some interesting stuff out,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was interesting rather than it was it was

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<v Speaker 1>e femera wasn't it was interesting rather than newsbreaking. I

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<v Speaker 1>think one of the Labor press releases one of the

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<v Speaker 1>days was the fact that the examples and the tax

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<v Speaker 1>package were ghost families. They were real families. They were

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<v Speaker 1>just you know, fake, and it wasn't really that interesting

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<v Speaker 1>to me. I mean, obviously you just make up examples

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<v Speaker 1>to illustrate a policy. It didn't really seem that scandalous

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<v Speaker 1>to me. But you know, anyway, Winston Peters was good.

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<v Speaker 1>He seemed quite good. You were in Winston's yesterday.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, well, I was in Winston's earlier in the week

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<v Speaker 3>with his racing hat on, which is always entertaining to see.

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<v Speaker 3>I think I'd agree with you in the sense that

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<v Speaker 3>it is. It is interesting but not necessarily groundbreaking. But

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<v Speaker 3>when we see instances like Pawtucker, who talked about how

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<v Speaker 3>it was ambitious that we're going to save every species

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<v Speaker 3>now depend regardless of your position on that matter, it's

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<v Speaker 3>still interesting just to hear your conservation minister talking about

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<v Speaker 3>that we might actually not save every species and that

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<v Speaker 3>it's a vicious goal. You know, it's just provides an

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<v Speaker 3>opportunity for them to put their feet in their mouth,

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<v Speaker 3>as it were.

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<v Speaker 1>So I suppose we did get to see which ministers

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<v Speaker 1>were vulnerable to putting their feet in their mouths and

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<v Speaker 1>which ones are sort of safe. I thought. I spent

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<v Speaker 1>all of Tuesday and christ bishops committees and he really didn't,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, letting the goals and he's fine lasted under

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<v Speaker 1>scrutiny for hours and hours and hours even in the

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<v Speaker 1>sports portfolio, you know everything. Whereas yeah, Tama goes up here.

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<v Speaker 1>I had a long committee as well, but this conservation

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<v Speaker 1>committee just totally put his foot In't it very funny, Adam?

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you very much for your contributions. Sophie and the

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<v Speaker 1>ZIB office, Jason and Demelza away. Jason managed to make

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<v Speaker 1>it safely back from Japan and the Papua New Guinea

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<v Speaker 1>and Australia, but Sophie's been holding the thought. So for

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<v Speaker 1>your your views on screen.

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<v Speaker 4>In your week, Yeah, I've been eavesdropping slightly on what

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<v Speaker 4>Adam said, and he did pick up two of my

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<v Speaker 4>favorite things, which were the cancer drug discrepancy in what

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<v Speaker 4>the ministers were saying, and what the Conservation minister said

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<v Speaker 4>about protecting endangered species. I have really enjoyed seeing some

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<v Speaker 4>important issues kind of prosecuted or canvassed over a much

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<v Speaker 4>longer period of time than we would normally see in

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<v Speaker 4>question time. For example, so yesterday in the Justice Select Committee,

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<v Speaker 4>there was quite a lengthy and back and forth between

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<v Speaker 4>Ginny Anderson and Police Minister Mark Mitchell about whether or

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<v Speaker 4>not police were stepping back from family harm and mental

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<v Speaker 4>health callouts, and so that was sort of a bit

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<v Speaker 4>of a theme throughout the whole day of the Justice

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<v Speaker 4>lect Committee and Police Commission. Andrew Costa was able to

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<v Speaker 4>sort of explain how cases were triaged, and I thought

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<v Speaker 4>that while it may not have been groundbreaking, it was

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<v Speaker 4>kind of interesting to see an issue that we haven't

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<v Speaker 4>heard much about from this government kind of sort of

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<v Speaker 4>being able to be interrogated in a long format like that,

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<v Speaker 4>do we.

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<v Speaker 1>Get to the bottom of that issue?

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<v Speaker 4>The government has said and the Police Minister have said

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<v Speaker 4>that you know, where violence is occurring, where family violence

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<v Speaker 4>has occurred, police will always be dispatched. But Labour's Ginny

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<v Speaker 4>Anderson is arguing that in the Minister's letter of intent

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<v Speaker 4>it says they are stepping back from family harm callouts.

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<v Speaker 4>And the Commissioner did say that as well, that if

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<v Speaker 4>police attended every single incident where there is a risk

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<v Speaker 4>of something bad happening, then they just wouldn't have capacity

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<v Speaker 4>to discharge the rest of their responsibilities.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a really interesting story to coming out. You never really,

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<v Speaker 1>you always get to close to the bottom. You never

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<v Speaker 1>quite get to the bottom of that in this leakmmittee,

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<v Speaker 1>but that is an interesting, interesting little detail. On the titles, listeners,

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<v Speaker 1>we'll be able to pick up in your accent at

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<v Speaker 1>can Burn an Australian. Are you keeping an eye on

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<v Speaker 1>what's happening at home? The climate war was back on

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<v Speaker 1>back home in Australia, and you know, any thoughts on

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<v Speaker 1>what's happening across the ditch.

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<v Speaker 4>I have been focusing on scrutinizing this government this week,

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<v Speaker 4>so I probably wouldn't comment on that.

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<v Speaker 1>That's interesting, it's interesting stuff, you know. I mean, I

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<v Speaker 1>should read my own newspaper, read, you know, but like

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<v Speaker 1>I can't, can't help them keep an eye on what's

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<v Speaker 1>happening across the ditch. It's interesting, certainly interesting. Thank you

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<v Speaker 1>Sophie for joining us on the podcast. Thanks for the listening.

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<v Speaker 1>Sorry so a bit short this week. That is the

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<v Speaker 1>way the cookie crumbles, but thank you for listening. It

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<v Speaker 1>was on the tiles for another week, our producers, even Sills,

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<v Speaker 1>and we'll be back next week with our local edition

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<v Speaker 1>up on the tiles. Thanks for listening.