Parliament’s question time was back in full swing on Tuesday, with barbs, burns and bickering back on the agenda - with a bit of laughter too.
It follows a much more sombre sitting week last month - the first full sitting week of the year - which was less feisty than usual, with all parties conscious of the immediate impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins stood to correct the record on an incorrect statement he made on February 22.
In response to a question from ACT Party leader David Seymour, Hipkins had incorrectly claimed Government tax revenue as a proportion of GDP had declined under the current Labour Government.
“It hasn’t.”
This drew smirks and laughter from National across the aisle, before leader Christopher Luxon stood for the first oral question of the day.
He laughed as he asked Hipkins if he stood by all of his Government’s statements and actions.
Hipkins, also chuckling, said: “Well, most of them… except for the ones I’ve corrected.”
Luxon then asked Hipkins if it was still the Government's policy to reduce the reliance on consultants and contractors in the public service "as he promised in 2018".
Hipkins said it remained his position there were some occasions where consultants were "justified" but overall he believed there was too much use of consultants and contractors on work the core public service could do itself.
Luxon referenced memos on consultant spending that Hipkins claimed he had sent Government departments and asked if he had ever "stopped and asked himself why his memos were being so blatantly ignored?"
"Did [Transport Minister] Michael Wood get the memo when he spent $51 million on consultants for a cancelled bike bridge and $53m on consultants for a non-existent light rail?"
Hipkins said it was "clear that not everybody got the memo", which was met with a roar and clapping from the National party.
Hipkins continued: "For example, I'm aware that the chair of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Council spent money employing consultants to write the one substantive report the council managed to come up with".
Luxon was the chair of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Council, appointed by former prime minister Jacinda Ardern before Luxon entered politics.
National's Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown was heard chanting "show me the memo" repeatedly.
The beginning of the session was markedly more demure, with all MPs standing for a minute's silence to mark the death of former MPs Chester Borrows and Georgina Beyer.
MPs also sang He Honore in their honour.
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