The last episode of The House for this year is an opportunity to look back at some of the goings-on in Parliament that we covered in 2022.
The year has gone ridiculously quickly and yet it still feels like a very long one, which may have something to do with the way it began at Parliament.
Disruptive events unfolding on the very first week when Parliament sat for 2022 played a part in wearing people down early in the piece. Still, as the dust settles on the year, quite a lot of work has been done on precinct.
A fire is lit under the largest pohutukawa on Parliament's front lawns as a 23-day occupation of the grounds by anti-vaccine mandate protesters draws to a violent conclusion, 2 March 2022.
People participating in an anti-vaccine mandate protest decided to occupy an area on and around the Parliament precinct, particularly its front lawns, plus a main road and junction, over three and a half weeks in February and March before police forced them out. The occupation culminated in unrest and violence that caused significant damage to the precinct and - according to some of those in the firing line at Parliament - a range of human costs.
That experience left a lot of people who work on Parliament precinct with a renewed appreciation for the work of security staff, who keep this place secure day and night. They're just one of various components who work on precinct at night. The business of Parliament regularly continues into night time, when the precinct has been likened to an industrious ant hill.
In 2022, a total of 85 bills were passed, the same number as in 2019, the equivalent year in the three-year parliamentary cycle from the previous term. The legislation ranged from the major health reforms and the Fair Pay Agreement Act to the creation of a new public holiday for Matariki, and the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation ACT which drew a record-breaking 107,000 written submissions.
Don't forget, someone has to do the hard yards of drafting all these bills to turn a policy idea into law. That would be the Parliamentary Counsel Office. It was also a busy year for the staff of the House Office, the hub of information that MPs and the presiding officers of the House require to conduct the work of Parliament.
The Queen's death in September prompted the adjournment of Parliament for a week, and the change of Speaker lost another day, but the Government ensured it later made up for lost time. The legislative agenda picked up pace in the second half of the year with an extra morning's sitting on each sitting week…