Earning their salaries

On Thursday, the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade committee started hearing submissions on John Key's (or maybe I should just call it Rebecca Kitteridge's) Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill. Normally MPs get to go home on Thursday evenings for constituency work and to see their families - but the select committee didn't. They sat all day on Friday, until nine or ten at night, then were back at 8am on Saturday morning for more. And they're still at it today, calling back the SIS director and Inspector-General to hear their thoughts on the views of submitters.

This has been forced on them by the ridiculously tight timeframe the government has set for the bill - they need to report back tomorrow. But still: the committee has worked very hard here and done their best so we can have our say. MP's work incredibly long hours, and the committee has gone even further. They have definitely earned their salaries.