Points of order

OPINION: The doors of Parliament may soon be sealed to the unvaccinated if Speaker Trevor Mallard has his way. Well, not quite. But Mallard found himself at the centre of intrigue this week after telling Newsroom on Tuesday that he was considering what measures could be put in place to ensure only Covid-19 vaccinated staffers, journalists, and visitors entered Parliament.

He was also taking legal advice on whether Parliamentary Service could create a list of who was vaccinated and who wasn’t.

This came as a surprise to many on Parliament’s precinct. Mallard has for weeks kept a tight rein on Covid19 restrictions in Parliament, and the precinct has yet to return to true alert level 2 settings. But Mallard had not previously mentioned any aspirations to make Parliament the exclusive domain of the vaccinated.

Come the afternoon, Mallard issued a Parliament-wide email that didn’t further clarify where he was heading with this, but it did say ‘‘receiving information in this manner may have caused anxiety, which was not my intention’’.

Mallard was, we understand, frustrated that One News’ report on the kerfuffle that night spoke of the unvaccinated ban as if it was going to happen.

What this might mean for Maureen Pugh is the big question. The West Coast-based MP is known for an aversion to modern pharmaceuticals, and she has so far not been vaccinated. A National Party spokesperson told Newsroom Pugh had a ‘‘flexible booking’’ with her doctor -- whatever that means -- and she was waiting on further medical advice.

Any vaccine mandate at Parliament will no longer be an issue for three party staffers, who are leaving their jobs in short order. After we reported this round of departures from the beleaguered Opposition party this week, RNZ sought to ask National Party leader Judith Collins about it during her weekly slot.

But the interview was cancelled. And Collins similarly did not front for reporters during the ‘‘bridge run’’ leading into the House on Wednesday or Thursday.

Forgoing the RNZ interview appears to have been a decision made by National’s chief press secretary John Mitchell. Newshub, that evening, reported that Mitchell cancelled a scheduled interview with the channel’s weekend programme, Newshub Nation, in a text message sent at 1.33am that morning.

In the still-quieter than usual House this week, there were a few moments of friction.

Mallard on Tuesday accused National MP Chris Bishop of loudly interjecting, so loudly it was being picked up by Collins’ microphone -presumably at least a social-distanced metre away.

‘‘When the prime minister’s being drowned out by him because he is using his leader’s microphone, then it means that people outside the building have trouble hearing as well,’’ he said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern offered to ‘‘assist with the microphone issue by no longer continuing to answer Mr Bishop’s questions’’, earning her a reprimand from Mallard. ‘‘Order! The prime minister will resume her seat. I’m sorry, it’s not appropriate for the prime minister – or any other member – to comment on the rulings that I have made. Continue,’’ he said. After all this, Mallard returned to the House with an apology for Bishop on Wednesday. It turned out Collins’ microphone had been turned off at the time he levelled his allegation. ‘‘I’ve turned my hearing aids down. So if he’s in the same position, if he [Bishop] turns his volume down, we might get the appropriate compromise.’’

A humorous moment enjoyed by all, including Mallard, came on Thursday, when Finance Minister Grant Robertson protested a question about the events and restaurant sectors being put to him as having two incongruent parts – not acceptable practice in the House.

‘‘I think the minister of finance is dancing on the head of a pin, and I feel no need to,’’ Mallard started, before he was heckled by two boisterous National MPs.

‘‘Must be a bloody big pin!’’ Gerry Brownlee said.

‘‘Well, it is about restaurants!’’ Simon Bridges followed.

Mallard said the pair may ‘‘wish to get early planes’’ out of Wellington, but their punishment for the interjection would be, instead of being booted from the House, being made to stay.