From Lobby Fodder to Leadership: New Zealand Parliamentarians and Select Committees

New Zealand's Members of Parliament have seldom been credited with significant opportunities to display leadership in an environment dominated by a strong executive and highly disciplined political parties. The select committee system has been identified as one setting in which Parliament might be able to gain greater autonomy vis-à-vis the executive, giving MPs opportunities to make a distinctive contribution to the law-making process. This article considers factors influencing MPs in the altered select committee environment brought about by New Zealand's multi-party parliament and ‘mixed member proportional’ electoral system.