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- Engage-in-Brief: 28 July 2025
Engage-in-Brief: 28 July 2025
Holly Bennett
July 28, 2025
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TWO TRICKS TO TRY
Want to know what Parliament’s getting up to at a quick glance? On each sitting day, the Daily Progress in the House page on Parliament’s website gets running updates in real-time. This is where you can see what business Parliament has covered that day, what stage of a debate they are up to, and other such information. If the House is having an extended sitting, or if it’s sitting under urgency, the page also tells you what business the Government plans to cover during the longer hours.
If you’re making a submission to a select committee, you can do it in any of Aotearoa New Zealand’s official languages. Although most people tend to use te reo Pākehā, you can also use te reo Māori or te reo Turi (NZ Sign Language). Parliament staff will arrange for an interpreter to be present when you appear before a committee to make an oral submission, and will have your written submission translated into English so that MPs are able to read it in advance. It’s even possible to make a written submission in NZSL, but you should contact the committee staff before you submit so they can guide you through the process.
ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW
As all our regular readers are well aware, knowing who to talk to is one of the most important things when it comes to lobbying and advocacy. And while most people know how to contact an MP, many people don’t know much about the different agencies that work on the Parliamentary Precinct — even though, in order to talk to an MP, meet with a Minister, or speak with a select committee, you’ll first need to interact with at least one of the hundreds of people who work in and around Parliament and the Beehive.
In this edition, we’ll cover the Parliamentary Service (the Service) and the Office of the Clerk (the Office) — the organisations that support the Legislature. In our next issue, we’ll look at the organisations that support the Executive branch.
Parliamentary Service
The Parliamentary Service is the largest of the parliamentary agencies. Employees of the Service provide MPs with the services they need to perform their roles and support the public to interact with Parliament— all across the country, not just in Wellington.
If you’re visiting an MP’s office, taking a tour of the Parliament buildings, or ringing the Parliamentary helpline, you’ll be interacting with Parliamentary Service staff. Political party office researchers and MP communications staff, as well as the cleaners, caterers, IT department and parliamentary security teams are all employed by the Parliamentary Service. The place would (quite literally) fall apart without them!
Office of the Clerk
The Office is Parliament’s secretariat, and provides support and specialist advice on parliamentary procedure to the House and to its Select Committees. Its role is to make sure MPs can do their jobs properly and that the public can participate in the parliamentary process. The Office is apolitical and independent, which means it doesn’t take direction from the Government of the day, unlike most other State sector agencies.
Although most of the Office’s staff mostly work behind the scenes to support MPs, if you make a submission to a select committee or create a petition, you’ll be interacting with officials from the Office of the Clerk. The Office also produces Hansard, supports inter-parliamentary relations work, and is responsible for the broadcasting of Parliament TV.
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ONE FUNNY THING
This week’s funny moment comes to you directly from Wednesday’s Question Time.
Although the Speaker may have got Wairarapa-based MP Kieran McAnulty’s name spectacularly wrong, he did gift the people of Eketāhuna a new slogan:
Eketāhuna: It’s the center of the Earth.
That’s it for this edition of Engage-in-Brief! Remember, you have a voice and you can use it. If you need training to support your advocacy efforts simply reply to this email.
Mauri ora!
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