The Shadow Leader of the House, Michael Woodhouse, talks us through how questions are allocated and who gets to ask them on Question Time.
For an opposition party in Parliament, Question Time is one of its prime opportunities to regularly grill the government in public.
For anyone following multiple Question Times, various patterns emerge whereby certain MPs ask certain ministers questions sometimes repeatedly, sometimes spontaneously, and sometimes over a period of weeks whereby an issue is fleshed out gradually.
The House had a chat with the Shadow Leader of the House, Michael Woodhouse, on how the questions are allocated and who gets to ask them, at least from the National Party's point of view.
Of the twelve questions allowed at each Question Time, each party is allocated a set number of those questions according to the proportion of non-executive MPs they have.
"For us that's meant that every day we have about 4 or 5 primary questions. And then there is a set number of supplementary questions that we can use at our discretion, on either those questions or any of another party's questions," Woodhouse explained.
"So we would have about 22 or 23 questions each day, supplementary to the main questions that we ask."
Pecking order
In each party the questions are allocated broadly in relation to pecking order.
"So the leader (of the Opposition) would possibly have 7 or 8 supplementary questions to follow his question to the prime minister which is a set piece every day.
"Nearly every day the finance spokesmen will ask the Minister of Finance. So that leaves a relatively small number of questions - only 2 or 3 each day - for other spokespeople to examine the issues that go on in their areas."
Of course, the way supplementary questions are used is fluid. Sometimes, for instance, the opposition leader may use one or two more than anticipated, which of course impacts the number of questions for fellow party members who make subsequent primary questions in Question Time on that particular day.
"But if you've got the prime minister on his feet and under pressure on a certain issue, then you wouldn't want to constrain the leader of the opposition from continuing to examine that issue," Woodhouse explained.
Whip it
The party whips, who typically sit behind the leader in the chamber, keep a tally of the number of questions to make sure the subsequent questioners know how many they have to work with…