All bills make a circuitous journey through Parliament on their way to becoming law; but Budgets really make a meal of it. Every stage of consideration is longer, bigger and more involved. Often much more. Just like a blockbuster.
You may wonder why so much effort goes into the budget bill process. It’s probably something to do with the many billions involved and the way they touch on every aspect of political and daily life. So, no biggie.
Most laws just get announced and debated. Two hours per stage, a few months in a select committee and a short stint before the committee of the whole - and done.
The 2020 budget premiere stars traverse the red carpet Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
This is the no-nonsense legislative equivalent of a small budget Art House release plodding through the cinemas. The Budget though is a big-screen movie franchise that keeps on giving. And giving big.
The Stages that Parliament goes through in considering each year’s budget are the equivalent of the movies in a blockbuster franchise.
Dawn of the Budget
The opening film in the Budget franchise gets the red carpet treatment (and also green carpet - because Parliament). Like any other blockbuster, Budget day involves late night sittings; plot guesses, photo ops; interviews with the stars and a rash of reviews that usually miss the point.
There are novelisations, various creative reinterpretations, and signed memorabilia. The memorabilia include a copy of the Minister of Finance’s budget speech tied up with red ribbon.
Unlike most films the run-time of this first debate is 13 hours. And that doesn’t even include the main act - the Minister of Finance. Even Peter Jackson doesn’t make them that long.
Grant Robertson has a look at the novelisation for young readers Photo: Dom Thomas
Revenge of the Budget: …“this time it’s personal”
Most bills get sent off to a select committee for a public run (the equivalent of six months at an art house theatre). (This is where MPs get to investigate the details before the next stage.)
Unlike most bills - the Budget gets sent to every single subject select committee. All of them. Basically, it dominates all available screens for months. Like any ensemble blockbuster there’s a huge cast and everyone wants their pound of flesh (or the decimal equivalent).
The 'Revenge of the Budget' (which Parliament insists on calling the Estimates Hearings), is an action-heavy splatter fest. A huge cast of extras (backbench & opposition MPs) face up to the budget leads and attempt to lay them low. There are duels aplenty.
But usually, come the next movie all the actors are still on their feet.
The Minister of Finance goes through the plot summary Photo: Pool / STUFF LTD
The Budget Strikes Back: trial by a thousand questions
We have now reached the ‘Budget Strikes Back’ point of the franchise. Against all reason Parliament insists on calling this a much boring name, the Estimates Debate.
This movie is an 11-hour long epic.
The plot is very similar to the 'Trail of Budget', and with all the same leads and extras, but with a different setting. The many duels and face-downs are staged in an amphitheatre-of-sorts where the other characters look on and await their time in the ring.
At this stage each of the stars (they’re called ministers - not as catchy as Sith Lord or Jedi) takes a turn in the fighting pit (at the table) and personally takes on all-comers. By the end of the film almost all of the stars will have fought numerous duels , including the budget-master himself. It’s pretty thrilling stuff.
But there’s one lead who usually doesn’t appear for the final confrontation until the series finale the following week - the Prime Minister. That film happens next week
Parliament refers to this type of movie as 'The Committee Stage'. It's usually when a bill gets debated line-by-line with editing suggestions made. For the Budget, no edits are suggested but the ministers get questioned rigorously about the plot details.
At the premier of the budget movie series players get hand-delivered memorabilia - no action figures though. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
Revenge of the Budget
The 'Revenge of the Budget' is the ultimate showdown. The main characters from all sides of the story face off one last time each before in the denouement we discover which side wins out.
Parliament refers to this stage of the franchise as the Third Reading.
It’s not a bad title, but it needs a little extra something like Third Reading: wrath of the Budget. Also, every movie needs possible a tag line - maybe “A good Budget, having a very bad day”, or “you don’t spend 500 million without making a few enemies”.
Lesser franchise titles
There are other, related titles that sometimes get double-billing with these blockbusters. They have related titles like 'Spawn of the Budget' or 'Bride of Budget'. Though Parliament calls them Imprest Supply Bills are short and boring but are where the studio actually gets its hands on the cash.
In the case of Parliament Imprest Supply Bills are where the government literally gets provided the cash.
