Smith Lockwood: Adjournment 
Smith Lockwood: Adjournment 
[Volume:676;Page:21855] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: My colleagues we come to the end of the forty-ninth Parliament. It has been a busy one. You have sat for 1650 hours approximately which is 150 hours more than the forty-eighth Parliament. I must say though that a quarter of those hours were under urgency and I hope that the proposals to amend our Standing Orders adopted by this House will facilitate less reliance on the use of urgency to advance the legislative programme in the future. Only two members’ bills received the Royal assent and I again hope that the proposals in the Standing Orders amendments will just help the House see and consider a few more members’ bills than that. It was three in the forty-eighth Parliament so the decline in those numbers is not recent. The busiest select committee of the House during this last term was the Finance and Expenditure Committee closely followed by the Commerce Committee in terms of reports presented to this House. But the big change from the forty-eighth to the forty-ninth Parliament in the statistics was in questions for written answer. They went up by 40 percent to 73181 which is becoming quite a load on Ministers’ offices. I am sure the Opposition would say however that that means they are a very hard-working Opposition. Interestingly despite 17 fewer sitting days more oral questions were asked reflecting I think positively on the practice of allowing question time to take place even during urgency. But enough of figures my colleagues! 
My thanks to you all for the kind comments that so many of you have made about those who support us here in this place—from the cleaners to the committee clerks from our loyal Chamber and gallery officers to our librarians. I will not mention the entire list for fear of leaving some out but I just want you to know how much we value you all; you all help to create the special character of this place and we are very much indebted to you. I do however thank the security team and in particular Dennis Laplanche. Our thanks go to Dennis for his speedy and courageous actions yesterday that saved what could have been an unthinkable outcome. Our best wishes go to Dennis for his speedy and full recovery. 
My colleagues this term our nation has had to cope with the twin tragedies of Pike River and the Canterbury earthquakes. I thank Geoff Thorn and the Parliamentary Service team and our electorate agent staff who have been involved in all of that for the support they have provided to our colleagues in this House in helping them to continue serving their constituents through these tragic circumstances. I thank those involved in that big effort because it was a huge effort. 
This House is very fortunate to have as our Clerk Mary Harris. The clear thinking of her incisive mind is something I have valued hugely. Mary it has been a privilege to work with you and your gem of an executive assistant Andie Lindsay. 
I thank the members of the Standing Orders Committee the Hon Simon Power the Hon Trevor Mallard the Hon Rick Barker Chris Tremain Dr Kennedy Graham the Hon John Boscawen Te Ururoa Flavell the Hon Peter Dunne the Hon Jim Anderton and of course those who also served on the committee Lindsay Tisch my Deputy Speaker and Chris Hipkins. I think you guys did a superb job and I really do believe that the new Standing Orders should help this House progress legislation in the future more effectively and in a more measured way and provide for improved public input and scrutiny of legislation that passes through this House. 
Undoubtedly the proposed changes to the Standing Orders will add some new responsibilities for the Business Committee and I congratulate that committee too on the growing effectiveness that I believe it has exhibited this term. In particular I thank the Acting Leader of the House the Hon Simon Power and the shadow Leader of the House the Hon Trevor Mallard. I believe both of you have provided outstanding leadership to the Business Committee. But I also thank the other members of the Business Committee. It has been great working with you and I think you have done a great job. 
To my Deputy Speaker and my presiding officer team Lindsay Tisch does an extraordinary job. I do not have to worry at all about the rosters about the chairing of the House at all. Lindsay just handles all of that in an absolutely efficient way. I have not lost one second’s sleep over it in my 3 years as Speaker and at times I have observed that Lindsay himself has spent fairly significant hours in the Chair. To my Assistant Speakers Eric Roy and H V Ross Robertson they have done a great job too in maintaining the kind of style I wanted to see come to the Chair of the House. I am deeply indebted to my presiding officer team. 
To my own office team my thanks. To our kaumatua Rose White-Tahuparae she is an amazing kaumatua for us. She and her colleagues do a wonderful job in organising the protocol and ceremonial occasions that make us all feel so proud when people visit this Parliament. To my Serjeant-at-Arms Brent Smith thank you Brent and also to my own office staff Roland here Trish and Beryl my Senior Private Secretary who is now in her 26th year of continuously looking after me. I do not know Beryl what kind of perverse thing it is that keeps you doing that but I am so indebted to Beryl for that. I must say that she is pretty efficient. I say to Ministers in the House that she has run the Speaker’s office this term on less than 50 percent of the cost of the Speaker’s office during the previous term. There is a challenge for Ministers in running Minister’s offices to see whether they can emulate that. 
My colleagues during this term we have had some memorable moments such as saying goodbye to Sir Anand and Lady Susan Satyanand and of course swearing in our new Governor-General Lieutenant General The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae. We have had the first address to this House by a visiting Prime Minister the Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard. It was a very special occasion. We have had some significant legislation during the term: the Auckland super-city and the Canterbury earthquake legislation were very important legislation. If we count debating hours there has also been something to do with the Royal Society that must have been important legislation given the hours that were put into debating it in this House. 
We have also had though some wonderfully humorous moments. I will never forget the response of the Hon Gerry Brownlee to the attractive invitation from the Hon David Parker for Mr Brownlee to explore the natural delights of the South Island back country alone with Mr Parker. It was an exquisite response in this House an exquisite repartee and one of the moments that one never forgets. Probably the moment when I do not know why I lost control so much was when my colleague—I think he is still here—the Hon Tau Henare interjected something to do with someone called Linda Lovelace. You my colleagues seemed to understand what that meant; I had no idea what he was talking about! The Speaker could not possibly have had any idea of what the Hon Tau Henare was on about! But even to today’s consideration of the possible horrible fate of Happy Feet they are all moments that bring a lighter touch to this House. To me it is important that among the important and serious business we conduct we do maintain at all times the best possible humour. 
In recent days we have heard some wonderful valedictories. To those of you my colleagues retiring my best wishes go with you as you reclaim your lives. To those of you heading out to face the voters good luck to all of you. As Speaker I have kind of developed a fondness of all of you and I wish you all the very best as you face the voters. My colleagues you have treated me as Speaker with extraordinary courtesy these last 3 years and I am humbled by that. It has been a special privilege to serve as your Speaker in this forty-ninth Parliament. Go well I thank you all and go the mighty All Blacks. 
Motion agreed to.