Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Trevor Mallard under pressure over legal costs, questions over why border testing review is still under wraps, and Massey academics speak out against cuts. Speaker Trevor Mallard is under pressure over the costs of paying out to end a defamation dispute. In the wake of the … Read more
As speaker, Trevor Mallard took the exception of ‘naming’ the National MP Nick Smith. It’s just the latest salvo exchanged by the veteran pair. The more important question, however, is whether the accusations of bias hold up On Wednesday last week Judith Collins made good on her word and produced a delicious looking plate of … Read more
Accusing parliament’s Speaker of behaving in a biased fashion undermines the necessary authority of the office, and even the comments by the Herald political editor likely could be punished as a contempt, if parliament wished to, writes Andrew Geddis for RNZ Wednesday’s flare-up in parliament, which saw the Speaker ordering both National’s leader and leader … Read more
From the outside, parliamentary Question Time looks like a juvenile farce. But it matters far more than many give it credit, writes long-serving aide to the late Jim Anderton, Tony Simpson. The many filmgoers who have seen Saving Private Ryan may recall a vignette near the beginning in which General George Marshall reads out a … Read more