Photo: VNP / Phil Smith, Daniela Maoate-Cox
A good pub quiz team always needs a music and a sports nerd and a celebrity news addict, but for wide general knowledge you mightn't do better than a MP, with good reason.
Some MPs are dedicated experts, focused on a specific area of knowledge. Maybe for them Mastermind would have been ideal. Generalist MPs, on the other hand, are forced to become knowledgeable in a vast array of subject areas. This is especially true of a backbencher, whose job entails becoming knowledgeable in almost anything you can imagine - making them the perfect member of the pub quiz team.
Unless you listen to a lot of Parliament it would be easy to miss the boggling range of topics that come up for discussion or debate in a week, or even a day. That is especially true for select committees, but it is also regularly true of debates in the House.
Some weeks in the House debaters get tangled in a particularly contentious subject and the number of topics covered can plummet, but typically debate switches from topic to topic in a blink - just like a quiz.
Take this week for example. Tuesday began with a debate over the situation in Gaza (a topic that might draw on and add to knowledge of Palestine and Israel, multiple local cultures, major religions, centuries of politics and protest, and a history of genocide and asymmetrical warfare). And that was just Tuesday's increasingly contentious "starter for ten".
From Gaza, the topic skipped to marine protection in the Hauraki Gulf (a bill enabling this was receiving a third reading and was supported but - having been watered down - wasn't what everyone was hoping for). Debating it effectively required knowledge of local fish stocks, commercial and recreational fishing methods, affected communities and traditional kai moana gathering.
The next debate was on porcine welfare. The Animal Welfare (Regulations for Management of Pigs) Amendment Bill walks back fast approaching restrictions on the use of sow farrowing crates, but shortens their allowed period of use. The debate made it clear that some MPs are knowledgeable about animal husbandry and recent international changes in practice as well as farming generally. Note: The Primary Industry Select Committee is already asking for public feedback on the bill.
From animal welfare the House moved without a pause to a second reading debate over the government's re-imagining of the national polytechnic system - a reorganisation of the previous government's reorganisation. Tertiary education policy might seem a simple topic, but debating it effectively requires knowledge of the skill areas taught, trade and industry labour force requirements and regional employment and economic variations. Yes, these don't come up in pub quizzes as often as the Kardashians but I'm presuming you already have a celebrity nerd on your team.
With only a little whiplash, MPs pivoted to the construction of granny flats (via the second reading debate for a law to allow the unconsented building of small stand-alone dwellings). Cue information on consent processes, building, housing, demographics and the economy.
Wednesday was a Member's Day when non-government bills are considered. They are typically fast and varied and although this week's debate was unusually slow, MPs scheduled on for the day would have prepared themselves to speak on local body funding, company director requirements, the 'right to repair' ethos and its complexities, life jackets and child water safety, and coal mining.
You get the idea. Thursday in the House this week included discussions of institutional abuses and at-risk youth mental health care and confinement, customary marine titles, and Parliament's own management and funding. Add to that all of the varied and manifold topics covered in Select Committees plus the wide variety of questions asked in Question Time and you have an extraordinary daily grounding for absurdly good general local knowledge.
Quiz team captains, take note.
*RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk. Enjoy our articles or podcast at RNZ.
