Parliament by the Numbers

Key Takeaways

• The 2025 Parliamentary year has ended, with the government passing a record number of legislation in the first two years of its three-year term.
• The opposition has been vocal in their criticism, with Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan speaking the most words in Parliament this year.
• The government has been criticized for its use of urgency and lack of careful process in passing legislation.
• Public engagement with Parliament has been high, with 73,000 people visiting Parliament in tours this year and 122,000 visitors overall.
• The number of written submissions on bills has been record-breaking, with 295,670 submissions on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill.

Introduction to the 2025 Parliamentary Year
The 2025 Parliamentary year has come to a close, and it has been a remarkable year in terms of the amount of legislation passed. According to David Seymour, the government has passed more legislation in the first two years of its three-year term than any MMP Parliament has passed in its whole three years. This has raised concerns among experts who have previously stated that New Zealand passes too many laws. The current Parliament is breaking records not only for the number of bills passed but also for the lack of careful process in passing these bills.

The Fun Side of Parliament
Despite the seriousness of the work being done in Parliament, there are also some lighter moments. The Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, revealed that the in-house cafeteria, Copperfields, sold 60,000 hot drinks, mainly coffee, during the year. Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis joked about being responsible for a large number of these coffee sales. The in-house bar has also been relocated from the Beehive to Parliament House, which is now closer to the backbenchers who are often under a heavy workload.

The Golden Throat Lozenge Awards
Using Hansard data, some rough numbers have been compiled to determine which MPs have done the most talking in Parliament. The easy winner of the Golden Throat Lozenge Award for time on their feet is Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan, who spoke 396 times and uttered roughly 194,000 words. Xu-Nan’s tactical pleonism is evident in his speeches, and he has won the award despite joining Parliament a few months late. The top ten MPs for words spoken are all from the opposition, who use their full 10 minutes every call to slow down the process and give bills the fullest possible consideration.

MPs’ Speaking Time
The largest parties get more allocated speaking slots, but only the opposition makes full use of theirs. Government backbenchers say very little to defend their own bills, while opposition MPs are wordy to slow things down. Chris Bishop, the Leader of the House, has had a number of complex bills spend lengthy periods in the Committee of the Whole and is a minister happy to answer questions and engage in that stage of deliberation. The most loquacious of the government ministers was Chris Bishop, who made 208 speeches and uttered 86,000 words.

Public Engagement
Gerry Brownlee reported that 73,000 people visited Parliament in tours this year, and 122,000 visitors overall. The public has also been engaging with Parliament electronically, with an avalanche of public feedback on bills that has stretched Parliament’s secretariat. The quality of ministerial officials’ advice to committees has also been suggested to have degraded with so many different legislative plans for departments to consider. The most written submissions for this Parliament was the massive new record of 295,670 written submissions on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill.

Legislative Process and Urgency
The current government has introduced far more bills and skipped more select committees than any of the previous five governments. The bills that did go through committees had their committee consideration time curtailed more than in any parliament except during John Key’s first government. The use of urgency has been a point of contention, with the current government using it more frequently than previous governments. The 2025 sitting year included 87 sitting days and two weeks of full-time committee scrutiny of government in lieu of the House sitting.

Oversight of Government
One of the core roles of Parliament is keeping a check on the government. This is possible because, constitutionally, governments are subservient to parliaments, though governments often try to eschew this relationship. Oversight happens in various ways in the House and committees, including the asking of formal questions of ministers. Oral questions can be a key tool, but when ministers are allowed by Speakers to avoid answering questions, they lose all potency, and written questions gain importance. The number of formal questions put to ministers during 2025 has been significant, with the opposition using this tool to hold the government accountable.