McClay got to his feet, but speaker Gerry Brownlee shut down the question. Hipkins rose to offer his perspective: \u201cPrevious speakers\u2019 rulings have been very clear that the government can\u2019t use patsy questions to attack the opposition,\u201d Hipkins began, \u201cbut there\u2019s nothing to say the government can\u2019t use patsy questions to attack its own ministers.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Seymour\u2019s dig at NZ First earned plenty of laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t attacking him,\u201d replied Seymour, rather unconvincingly.<\/p>\n
Closing out the sitting day was the second reading of the English Language Bill, which \u2013 in the words of Act MP Simon Court \u2013 allowed parliament to celebrate \u201cthe indigenous language of the Anglo-Saxon people\u201d. \u201cThe indigenous language of the people who sailed to New Zealand and who pioneered New Zealand and developed New Zealand in partnership with the M\u0101ori people,\u201d Court continued.<\/p>\n
That sentiment didn\u2019t quite resonate with all corners of Court\u2019s coalition, with National MP Greg Fleming visibly uncomfortable as he commended the bill to the House in te reo M\u0101ori. And on the opposition side, Labour\u2019s Belich wondered whether there were more \u201cfundamental truths\u201d the government should try writing into law. \u201cWhat is the government going to legislate for next?\u201d Belich mused. \u201cThat it should get dark at night, that the sun should rise in the morning, that the sky is blue, and that flowers should bloom?\u201d<\/p>\n
Act MP Simon Court championing the indigenous language of the mighty Anglo-Saxon people.<\/p>\n
By Wednesday, a distasteful comment from a minister-turned-candidate saw NZ First hoist with its own petard. A gleeful Chris Finlayson \u2013 former National Party minister and current podcast bro \u2013 hopped and skipped down to parliament\u2019s press gallery to present a text from Stuart Nash, who had rubbished Napier MP Katie Nimon for the slothful way in which she decided to push a baby out while also having to look after an electorate of about 65,000 people. The text had to be delivered to reporters in person, because even the most esteemed legal minds can struggle with taking a screenshot.<\/p>\n
When the news made its way to the tiles, transport minister Chris Bishop offered reporters a look of pure astonishment unseen on his face since he received the vision of hell on election night 2020<\/a>. It also resulted in a rare good quote from Luxon: \u201cI think Stuart Nash channels the manosphere.\u201d Nash, who was standing in Napier for NZ First, handed in his resignation letter by the end of the day and, presumably, retreated to the manosphere, or home to receive a bollocking from his wife<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s question time saw some frustration on the opposition side, with a few rounds of ministerial musical chairs tripping MPs up. Green MP Kahurangi Carter had put a question to minister Louise Upston on her social development portfolio, but Upston batted away all supplementary questions from Carter on child poverty. Though she is the minister for child poverty reduction, because the primary question fell under Upton\u2019s social development portfolio, the minister could only answer questions while wearing that hat.<\/p>\nChris Bishop experienced every negative emotion known to man upon hearing the latest reckons from Stuart Nash. (Image: Three News)<\/p>\n