Analysis: The first Question Time of the new Parliament has given us a taste of what's to come over the next three years, writes political editor Jessica Mutch McKay.
Question Time is the quintessential political test.
It's the Government versus the Opposition, on their feet defending and prosecuting the big decisions — and today's hour of combat offered a glimpse of what we can expect over the next parliamentary term.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon played it straight today, repeating his lines on tricky issues like the Middle East ceasefire, smoking laws, climate change and te reo.
He did get into the spirit of things though when asked if he agreed with former Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon, saying "I agree, he is a smart man."
His team will clock up that performance as pretty solid — not a lot of excitement, but no mistakes either.
Luxon didn't get any of the patsy questions (questions the party can ask itself to highlight things it wants to talk about) himself, perhaps wanting to limit the long list of topics he needed to be across on his first outing.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was playing the role of the knight in shining armour, swinging in to try and help his side by asking his own patsy questions to disrupt the flow of the Opposition and to help feed them tidbits of information.
It was about 50/50 as to whether he was helping the minister in question or making life tricky for them, but he was demonstrating to new MPs the importance of being confident in the House.
Peters diligently ticked off the questions as they went through and was invested in the debate, especially when the PM had to head out, leaving him in charge.
Labour back on the Opposition benches
Question Time is where Labour will come to play.
Grant Robertson, Chris Hipkins and Megan Woods were the three amigos of interjections, living their best lives, chipping in with commentary, firing challenging quips and eating from a container filled with pick'n'mix to keep them energised.
They spent a lot of time questioning the Speaker. Hipkins even winked at him when Gerry Brownlee gave him a mild telling off. Woods also loudly offered her advice to the new Speaker and her South Island political foe, saying "loose ship" when he let things slide.
We also got a flavour of Gerry Brownlee, the Speaker. He was funny, quick to apologise and is across the rules. He hasn't quite learnt all 123 MP names yet but it's only day one.
Sparks flew once again between Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Robertson — their match-up continues.
Willis had a calm, measured take in the House and she went off script easily when she needed to. But Robertson was in her seat a few weeks ago, so he will know how to keep her on her toes.
It was interesting to note which MPs the parties put up to ask questions, as it's a sure sign they have impressed behind the scenes. Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd, Northland MP Grant McCallum and ACT's Laura Trask were all given the nod.
On the other side of the House, Te Pāti Māori threw all its new MPs in the deep end. They took turns asking supplementary questions and all performed well. Labour didn't get patsy questions but left it to their tried and tested MPs Ayesha Verrall, Camilla Belich and Willie Jackson.
It was a fiery hour, with challenges to policies and flashes of personality, showing Question Time will offer plenty of tasty morsels over the next term.
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