Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National leader Judith Collins. Photos / Mark Mitchell
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National leader Judith Collins. Photos / Mark Mitchell
Today's Question Time, the first since the election, will pit the vastly depleted National Party against the majority Labour Government.
And National leader Judith Collins says her plan is to ensure that every question counts.
As well as Question Time starting up, 14 new MPs will be giving their maidenspeeches in the next two remaining sitting weeks [schedule below].
Collins said she asked serious questions about serious events, "not silly stuff."
"I don't think the public wants to see silly stuff or stupid stuff in Parliament. They expect us to ask good questions on their behalf and to expect answers."
"Most of my time in Parliament in Opposition has been in asking very tightly defined and structured questions and that has been the most effective in my opinion.
That approach meant there was nowhere for a minister to hide and it showed the Opposition had done the work.
Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins will now be shadowed by National's Chris Bishop.
"I have no tolerance for questions being asked when we don't know the answer in the first place."
She said that had been how she had dealt with ministers, including Lianne Dalziel who was forced to resign as Immigration Minister in 2004, and Phil Twyford who was reshuffled out of Housing when Collins shadowed him over Kiwibuild.
Collins said she would be holding Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to account "for her many promises and non-delivery".
"I'm not there to give her a free pass."
National began the previous Parliament as the largest party, although the three parties of Government had a majority.
The dynamics have changed vastly with National losing 23 MPs and Labour ruling as a single-party majority Government.
David Seymour's Act Party will now get about 20 supplementary questions a week instead of two. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The dynamics have changed within Opposition as well and National will be competing with a stronger Act Party which is intent on asserting its voice in Opposition as well.
Act's allotment of primary questions has increased from about one every eight days to about one a day. But it is also able to ask about 20 supplementary questions a week on any of the primary questions, compared to about two a week for the previous nine years.
All eyes will be on some of the new match-ups, for example National's new Covid-19 response spokesman, Chris Bishop, vs the Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.
And Nicola Willis, National's shadow housing spokeswoman, will be up against Housing Minister Megan Woods. Willis willingly gave up education in Collins' recent reshuffle and asked to return to housing in which she had previously made some impact against Woods.
Housing Minister Megan Woods and National housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis.
Paul Goldsmith, who made several errors in National's fiscal plan during the election, was demoted and given education, against Hipkins.
And of great interest will be how National handles Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson. Andrew Bayly is dubbed shadow Treasurer and may question him on issues relating to the Reserve Bank's remit. Michael Woodhouse is dubbed finance spokesman and shadows Robertson on fiscal matters.
The Government will be passing legislation through all stages establishing a new top tax rate, as per its manifesto, of 39c on income over $180,000.
It will also introduce legislation doubling the statutory minimum of sick leave from five days to 10 days although that will go through a full select committee process.
Parliament will also hear 14 maiden speeches from new MPs this week and eight next week (the schedules are below). The current Parliament has 42 new MPs. Two maiden speeches were given last week by Arena Williams and Ibrahim Omer, and the rest will be given next year when Parliament resumes, likely to be on February 9.
Remaining maiden speeches this year:
Tuesday, December 1 5pm Helen White (Labour list) 5.15pm Shanan Halbert (Labour, Northcote) 5.30pm Naisi Chen (Labour list) 5.45pm Steph Lewis (Labour, Whanganui)
