Most questions this session

Who has had to answer the most questions in Parliament at Question Time, during the last three week session?

You would think it would be the Prime Minister or the Minister of Finance?

But no, Labour has asked an extraoridnary 20 questions to David Bennett – who isn’t even a Minister.

Many people are unaware that you can ask a question to a Select Committee Chair, as well as a Minister. And it does not come out of your normal allocation – they are supplementary. However they can only be on issues relating to the processes of a Select Committee.

So a relatively obscure backbencher has answered more primary questions than both the PM and Minister of Finance. Why? Labour seems convinced they will get Bennett to contradict something Nick Smith said about why Nick turned up to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee instead of ACC Chairman John Judge (who was out cycling).

You would think after 20 primary questions and several dozen supplementaries they would have realised they weren’t getting what they wanted.

I thought targeting Bennett was a smart idea intially for a few days, as he did look a bit flustered, and it kept the issue alive. But now three weeks on, absolutely everyone has lost interest and no longer cares.