Usually, a select committee is less aggressive and more harmonious than the debating chamber.
But sometimes the select committees get political, especially when a contentious issue meets an election year like the closure of the Pike River Mine.
Twenty-nine men died in an explosion in the mine in 2010 and their families have been fighting for the retrieval of their bodies ever since.
Ownership of the mine was taken over by the state-owned enterprise Solid Energy, in 2012 and their handling of the mine's closure was the focus of MPs on the commerce committee, many of whom had tagged themselves in especially for the occasion.
Radio New Zealand also met the committee, concern and empathy were expressed in the House as Christchurch suffers yet another natural disaster and the National coalition received the confidence of the House to carry out its plans.
Select committees are set up in a horse-shoe shape with the chairperson at the round end and the submitters at the open end. Photo: RNZ / Daniela Maoate-Cox
The House is produced for RNZ with funding from Parliament.
