Beehive Diaries: National Party shrinking pains, Greens take a leap

The Herald analyzes what happens in Parliament during the week. This week, the Green and Labor talks continued, as the National Party adjusted to its smaller size.

Leap of faith or flying leap?

Green Party co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson have spent the week in “talks” with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern about what role, if any, they will assume in the next government.

The talks have gone from being called “negotiations” to “discussions” to “talks.” Next will be “exchanges of courtesies.”

Media surveillance is a far cry from 2017, when it dragged on for weeks as New Zealand negotiated with Labor and Nationals for the first time.

So the big question was who would be the prime minister.

This time, it’s more about waiting to hear who will clean the board.

Nonetheless, both sides are trying to give it an air of 2020 suspense by keeping the discussion topics under wraps.

The only bit of information that came out peeked from the top of Marama Davidson’s folder, a note that read “leap of faith.”

It’s unclear who was making the leap, but given the power imbalance, perhaps Davidson had managed to negotiate things based on Ardern’s suggestion that the Greens make a big leap.

Shrinking pains for National:

The result of the National Party elections has seen its parliamentary budget slashed by about 55 percent, and staff cut in half from a team of about 34 to about 17.

It is understood that Judith Collins recruited her trusted friend and former ministerial staff member Megan Wallace as her chief of staff. Wallace is expected to replace current chief of staff, Megan Campbell, in November.

Campbell moved from his home in Hamilton to work for Todd Muller, but stayed with Collins until after the election.

Collin’s campaign press secretary Janet Wilson’s contract ended in the election and she fled happily back to Hawke’s Bay. Former journalist Michael Forbes is the acting press secretary for a press team of just two, though it is likely to increase.

Worth bastion of man:

A former male-only government building in Parliament will soon be dismantled: the billiard room.

The need to fit MPs and staff in tight spaces after vacating Bowen House will cause the billiard room to be reused. It could be converted into the new government meeting room so that the current meeting room can be used for staff offices.

The room is for the exclusive use of parliamentarians, unless the Speaker gives permission for mere mortals to enter. In the old days, it was also only for male MPs, although in the 1980s an area with curtains was installed for women.

It was moved in the 1990s from the Great Hall to its location near the Debate Chamber, and since then its popularity has reportedly risen and fallen in parallel with the popularity of NZ First.

A veteran of Parliament said it was popular between 1996 and 1999, when NZ First was in an unstable coalition with National. It has had a resurgence in the last three years while NZ First was in coalition with Labor.

There is something right about the disappearance of the pool tables coinciding with the disappearance of NZ First.

Curse of Copperfields:

Parliament’s Copperfields Cafe had a Halloween theme on Friday, which included strips of “caution” tape along the front of the buffet.

There was some confusion as to whether it was part of the decorations, or part of the ongoing induction for new MPs, a warning about the so-called “Copperfields Curse”, 5kg newcomers to Parliament tend to show off over-indulgence in the cafeteria.