Kumbayah, now take that!

The House began a new sitting block sharing a little love over the Paris Olympics results, but the sudden outbreak of amity didn't last.

On Tuesday, after a week off, and after a number of politically contentious and combative weeks, Parliament began with something that presumably everyone could agree on; a motion to congratulate New Zealand's Olympic athletes. This kind of motion, where every party gives a speech brimming with heartfelt superlatives, is not rare in Parliament, but not enormously common either.

They are (and this will probably not surprise you), almost always about a sporting outcome. I say almost, but I can't actually remember a motion of this kind for anything other than sport in the seven years I have been here. A little research revealed an equivalent round of speeches when The Lord of the Rings won a clutch of Academy Awards twenty years ago.

Listen to the radio version of this story with audio from Parliament.

There were some genuinely accolade-worthy outcomes though. Dame Lisa Carrington alone was worthy of the speeches - now being just one gold back from the most medalled female Olympian ever, from anywhere - out-medalling American gymnast Simone Biles.

The way these things go, the person initiating the motion - almost always a government MP - gets an initial speech, and then the other parties chip in as well. Often it would be the Minister for Sport kicking it off (and Chris Bishop visited Paris in that capacity), but he was gazumped by his boss. Politically, it's hard to pass up an opportunity to connect yourself with the happy buzz of success.

There was a speaker brimming with praise from every party except, for some reason, New Zealand First. These kinds of speeches always threaten to become a list of names and medals and can end up sounding like everyone cribbed from the same Wikipedia article.

To avoid that, the follow-up speakers usually look for some unique angle to add to accolades.

Labour's Peeni Henare looked forward to the next event - the Paralympics, Green MP Scott Willis noted that women were particularly successful and credited Grant Robertson's "strategy to address the inequities women and girls experience in sport and recreation -the Women and Girls in Sport initiative" for that. …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details