Parliament's Clerk has just published a new edition of Parliament's own bible, a vast and fascinating compendium of our democracy - Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand.
In Parliament's debating chamber, sitting at a desk in front of the Speaker presiding, there is always a clerk - a member of Parliament's secretariat. They are the team that administer the House and its many committees, the brainy worker elves of democracy's legislature.
They are also the experts on all things Parliament. They attend the chamber to take official note of everything that occurs and is agreed, but also to offer expert advice on the many and complex mysteries of parliamenting.
Listen to the Sunday edition of The House with this story, and a story about MPs' Maiden Speeches.
The Clerk of the House, David Wilson sitting at the Debating Chamber's Table, with reference volumes at hand.
Thankfully this knowledge is not part of a hermetic mystery cult, known only to the initiates. It is freely available.
The Clerk of the House of Representatives and his staff regularly update Parliament's very own bible, explaining all the many rules, practices and precedents, in a volume called Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand (PP). More than 700 pages of information about everything from how MPs are chosen (e.g. did you know the Clerk still has your physical election ballots under lock-and-key); through to how MPs can lose their jobs again (yes, MPs can be sacked for a variety of reasons). And everything in between.
Without Parliamentary Practice and the clerks' help MPs would be lost in the byzantine ways of democracy, doomed to blindly stumble through their parliamentary careers making endless mistakes. You might think some do that regardless.
Parliament's bible, Parliamentary Practice has now been updated, with a new 2024 edition published.
It is available as a physical volume but can also be found on the Parliament website: in its entirety here (good for searching), or by browsing its many sections here.
Last week the new edition had the kind of glitzy launch party that one might only dream about in a cash-crunch - i.e. there was a brief comms email to announce its existence. Heady with imaginary champagne I sat down to chat with its editor, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, David Wilson.
He calls Parliament Practice "a really comprehensive guide to how Parliament works" and it is. It's a weighty tome, but without bumf.
It fills a necessary troika with its sister volumes: Standing Orders (Parliament's procedural rules), and Speakers' Rulings (Parliament's compendium of precedent). …