TLDR & TLDL: The final two weeks of the Parliamentary year are always pressured, but this year’s has a feel all of its own, thanks to delta, an Opposition leadership change and the bipartisan reaction to the housing crisis.
I spoke for just over half an hour on Friday afternoon with NZ Herald political and economic columnist and reporter Thomas Coughlan about these last two sitting weeks of the year. An air of exhaustion pervades the Parliamentary and Beehive complex. Politicians, advisers and reporters alike are limping across the line.
But last week’s penultimate sitting week of the year was a big one for news, and this one will be no different.
We spoke about:
Christopher Luxon’s first week in Parliament up against Jacinda Ardern;
the changes made to Townhouse Nation through the committee stages; and,
we look ahead to Wednesday’s HYEFU and how Grant Robertson might tweak his use of the Public Finance Act to finance next year’s Climate Budget 2022 (See more in Thomas’ article in Saturday’s NZ Herald).
I’ll be doing these ‘hoons’ weekly when Parliament sits from now on with a rotating cast of Parliamentary Press Gallery ‘wonks’, including Thomas Coughlan, Stuff Political Editor Luke Malpass and Interest.co.nz’s political correspondent Jenee Tibshraeny. When I say ‘wonk’, I’m talking about our shared interest in covering economic, macroeconomic, financial and housing policies.
I’ve left this open for all subscribers, both paid and free, as a taster, which means you can all listen to this week’s podcast. They’ll be behind the paywall in future, starting with our final one of the year this Friday. The first ones for 2022 will be Feb 10 and Feb 20. The link to Parliament’s calendar for 2022 is here and it’s down below in image form.
Here’s next year’s calendar to give you an idea of when we’ll do them next year. The green shaded weeks are Parliamentary sitting weeks.
A hoon of gallery wonks