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Download AudioIntroduced in 2023 via a shake-up in Standing Orders, Scrutiny Weeks occur twice annually (once post-Budget, once in December). During these weeks:
- The House doesn’t sit; instead, select committees hold full-day hearings.
- Ministers and senior officials must attend in person, with a 2:1 question allocation favoring the Opposition
- The aim: shift from brief Question Time to deep, sustained accountability, centered especially on spending and departmental performance
Key Highlights So Far
Public Service Spending Scrutiny
- Nicola Willis (Public Service Minister) faced tough questioning from the Governance & Administration Committee. She defended cuts to back-office roles, asserting frontline services benefit — citing a 0.6% reduction in public sector staffing (~416 FTE roles) since March
- Opposition challenged potential impacts on child safety, environmental monitoring, and hospital workloads — but Willis emphasized frontline prioritization and projecting ~$400 million in contractor/consultant savings
Science & Innovation Sector Pressure
- Judith Collins (Science & Space Minister) appeared before the Economic Development Committee. She confirmed the winding up of National Science Challenges and scrapping projects like Wellington Science City, citing inefficient resource overlap.
- Collins instead announced a Science System Advisory Group to streamline research roles and regulatory frameworks, while stepping cautiously into gene-editing based on Australia’s experience
Law-and-Order & Transport Issues
- The Justice Committee grilled Police Commissioner Andrew Coster and Minister Mark Mitchell about transferring non-violent family harm/mental-health 111 calls to other services — with no clear alternative in place yet
- The Transport select committee (dominated by Government MPs) pressed NZTA officials on regional tolling, questioning the rationale behind tolls on Tauranga roads compared to toll-free Transmission Gully
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