Point of Order: Essay competition winner might opt for the money and surrender the bag.....

......but that would be to eschew a robust chat with MPs

As the general election approaches, the Association of Former Members of the Parliament of New Zealand has organised an essay competition to to foster democracy. Secondary school students are being challenged to identify the important elements of a successful democracy, explain their value and consider whether they can be improved – in New Zealand.

The association – chaired by former Ohariu MP and Cabinet Minister Peter Dunne – is made up of MPs who either have retired gracefully or been given the heave-ho at an election by disgruntled voters.

John McDonald: All I want for Christmas is a new Local Government Minister

All I want for Christmas is a new Local Government Minister. Because, as far as I’m concerned, Nanaia Mahuta has blown it.

And I don’t think I can believe a word she says anymore. I suspect some of her government colleagues might be starting to feel the same.

It’s all to do with revelations that she continued to consider entrenching part of the Three Waters legislation despite Cabinet ruling it out back in May. More than six months ago.

Chris Trotter: Parliament’s Collective Failure To Defend The Constitution.

While we may be reasonably confident that the attack on New Zealand’s constitution will be repelled, it should never have happened. That it was legal scholars who sounded the alarm over the entrenchment of a section of the Three Waters legislation, should cause all 120 of our parliamentarians to hang their heads in shame. Their collective failure to grasp what Green MP Eugenie Sage was doing points to a woeful lack of political and constitutional awareness among those whose first and most important duty is to protect the integrity of our democratic system.