Election of Speaker 
Election of Speaker 
[Volume:623;Page:18945] 
Thursday 3 March 2005 
The House met at 2 p.m. 
The Clerk at the Table (David Graham McGee CNZM QC) informed the House that the office of Speaker was vacant. 
Election of Speaker 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Leader of the House) 
: 
 I am requested by Her Excellency the Governor-General to inform the House that it is Her Excellency’s desire that the House should proceed to choose one of its members as its Speaker and in accordance with section 12 of the Constitution Act 1986 present that person at Government House at 4 p.m. today for Her Excellency’s confirmation. 
MARGARET WILSON (Labour) 
: 
 I declare my nomination for election as Speaker. 
Hon CLEM SIMICH (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I declare my nomination for the office of Speaker. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (ACT) 
: 
 I declare my nomination for Speaker. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 In the interest of a democratic selection perhaps we could have a 10-minute speech from each of the candidates so that we might have some remote idea as to whether they are qualified or not. I seek leave. 
The CLERK 
: I am the Chair for the election of the Speaker and as that matter relates to the election of the Speaker I will put it to the House. Is there leave granted? There is not. 
The Clerk conducted a vote on the question of the election of the Speaker in accordance with Standing Order 19. 
Hon Ken Shirley 5 
Eckhoff 
Prebble 
Shirley 
Wang 
Hide 
Hon Clem Simich 37 
Ardern  
Goudie  
Perry  
Stewart  
Brash  
Gudgeon  
Peters J 
te Heuheu  
Brown  
Heatley  
Peters W 
Tisch  
Brownlee  
Hutchison  
Power  
Turia  
Carter J 
Jones  
Rich  
Williamson  
Catchpole  
Key  
Ryall  
Wong  
Collins  
Mapp  
Simich  
Woolerton  
Connell  
Mark  
Smith L 
Donnelly  
McCully  
Smith N 
English 
McNair  
Sowry  
Margaret Wilson 64 
Adams   
Dalziel   
Hunt   
Ririnui   
Alexander   
Donald   
Kedgley   
Robertson   
Anderton   
Duncan   
King   
Samuels   
Baldock   
Dunne   
Laban   
Smith M 
Barker   
Duynhoven   
Locke   
Swain   
Barnett   
Ewen-Street   
Mackey J 
Tamihere   
Benson-Pope   
Fairbrother   
Mackey M 
Tanczos   
Beyer   
Field   
Maharey   
Tizard   
Bradford   
Gallagher   
Mahuta   
Turei   
Burton   
Gosche   
Mallard   
Turner   
Carter C 
Hartley   
O'Connor   
Ward   
Chadwick   
Hawkins   
Ogilvy   
Wilson   
Choudhary   
Hereora   
Okeroa   
Yates 
Clark   
Hobbs   
Parker   
Cosgrove   
Hodgson   
Peck   
Cullen   
Horomia   
Pettis   
Cunliffe   
Hughes   
Pillay   
Margaret Wilson was elected as Speaker. 
Madam SPEAKER-ELECT 
: Honourable members of the House of Representatives may I thank you very sincerely for the honour and the privilege of electing me as Speaker. As I am sure most of you are aware the role of Speaker can be traced back to 1258 in what was then called the “Mad Parliament” from which emerged a plan of reform designed to ensure that Parliament controlled the executive power of the King. Since that time of course Parliament has evolved into the democratic institution that we have today and with it emerged the role of Speaker. Originally of course the Speaker was the person who communicated the views of the Parliament to the King and on occasions lost his head for doing so. Today however the Speaker ensures all those represented within Parliament are heard and dealt with fairly and impartially according to the rules agreed to by the members. I undertake to exercise the functions and powers of the office in a fair and an impartial way. 
 Parliament is the heart of our democracy. The health and well-being of our democracy is measured in many ways but one of the most visible is whether the business of Parliament is conducted in an orderly manner. It is the role of the Speaker to ensure that balance is achieved between robust debate and getting the business of Parliament done. I undertake to apply the rules fairly and justly to achieve that balance. I know I follow in the footsteps of many distinguished Speakers. They have bequeathed me much wisdom in the  
Speakers’ Rulings 
 amongst which I have found two cards—one yellow one red—and as a keen follower of competitive sport I know their function. As one who has a growing sympathy and respect for the role of referee I will use them with judgment. 
As the Speaker-Elect I will now obey the instruction and go to the Governor-General at 4 p.m. and I hope some of you will accompany me there. Thank you. 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect I rise on behalf of the Labour Party in the House to congratulate you on your election today and to wish you well for your term of office as Speaker. Later this afternoon you will as you said go to visit the Governor-General at Government House and you will make three requests of her. The first is to be confirmed by her in your new office as Speaker the second is to ask for the right of all members for free speech in Parliament and the third is to ask for a favourable construction to be put on the proceedings of the House. These are very important elements of our constitutional framework. 
In the House of Commons from which we derive so many of our parliamentary traditions members fought for the right to free speech with the Speaker often at the forefront of those struggles and Speakers did on occasion encounter difficulties when they conveyed the views of Parliament to the monarch—such difficulties that history records that seven serving Speakers were actually beheaded and another was murdered. Eventually Cromwell backed by Parliament ordered the execution of the King himself. No such blood has been spilt since. Nor do we expect any here although the occasional eviction from the Chamber is expected. In respect of the request for a favourable construction being placed on the proceedings of the House this too lies at the heart of the convention and practice of parliamentary sovereignty in New Zealand. 
Madam Speaker-Elect your career has taken you from the law schools of Auckland and Waikato universities to the Law Commission to the office of chief of staff in the office of the Prime Minister to the board of the Reserve Bank to association with many other organisations prior to your appointment as Attorney-General Minister of Labour Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and many other portfolio responsibilities and now to your election as Speaker today. 
You are this country’s first woman Speaker in a nation where there are not many more firsts for women to achieve. You have been a pioneer for women in the law in education and in Government office and you have achieved every position you have ever held on merit and because of your tenacity and determination to succeed in whatever you undertake to do. I have no doubt that those same characteristics will serve you well in this job as you rule in a way that is firm but fair uphold the privileges and freedoms of Parliament and protect the rights of minorities in the House. 
I suspect also that many members are about to find out that you have a particularly strong and keen sense of humour. 
No doubt there will be a settling in period as members test both your limits and your patience. It has been ever thus—and not only in settling-in periods for Speakers. But I have no doubt of your capacity to deal with these challenges as you have with every other challenge that has presented itself in your life. I wish you all the best in your term as Speaker. 
Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect may I on behalf of the National Party also offer warm congratulations to you on your elevation to this important role. Today you have become Parliament’s person and as the Prime Minister has said you will shortly go to the Governor-General to seek from her the privileges of Parliament and you have our unconditional support in doing that. Parliament is a place of robust and sometimes provocative debate within and sometimes at the very edge of the Standing Orders and that is the nature of our democracy. We hope and expect that you will have oversight over that role and ensure that that debate is well conducted. 
You come to this role with broad ministerial experience although not having experienced the joy of being a back-bencher—or perhaps the joy of being on the Opposition benches—but with your distinguished legal background we have no doubt at all that you will exercise your judgment and your authority without fear or favour. Perhaps uniquely in this House I myself have been subject to your guidance when you were on the board of the Reserve Bank and I can testify to your objectivity and perspicacity. 
Today you also achieve the trifecta in being the third woman in the order of precedence. We have a Governor-General who is a woman we have a Prime Minister who is a woman and we now have a Speaker who is a woman and I think that those three take priority in the order of precedence. I am not quite sure what the fourth equivalent of a trifecta is but Her Majesty the Queen is also in that line so we have an extraordinary list of prominent women in our democracy. 
I congratulate you Madam Speaker-Elect on being the first woman in this role. More generally I conclude by adding our congratulations to those of the Prime Minister and we wish you every success in your new role. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect we in New Zealand First wish to congratulate you on your successful election today and we want to wish you well in your new role and all the best in your new role. We want to sort out some misconceptions with the passing of one of our longest serving MPs as the previous Speaker right now. According to the authority of John Parker who wrote a book called  
Father of the House: Fifty Years in Politics 
 the role of mother of the House now passes to one Helen Clark that being the first person to nominate with an unbroken record—and we wish her that title as well! Richard Prebble and I were saying the same thing to ourselves: “Thank heavens for that!”. 
Madam Speaker-Elect we expect that your performance in your new role will be a model of independence and neutrality: forsaking the former party role that you once held and upholding the privileges and the rights of Parliament and above all the rights of parliamentary minorities for democracy is what is at stake here. We wish to indicate straight away that you will have every cooperation from New Zealand First and in particular its leader. 
Government Members 
: Yeah right! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I mean that. To use a cliché but it is true I mean that most sincerely. It is simply not in our interests to do otherwise. It will be a very very difficult job following on from an excellent Speaker with a long record of experience—a lot of which you also bring yourself—and we will not make it harder. So we in New Zealand First wish you all the best. 
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect I rise on behalf of the ACT party to congratulate you on your election. It is no mean feat to be elected Speaker. It is a proud day for New Zealand in the sense that we now have women who have succeeded in the top three posts in our country: Governor-General Prime Minister and now Speaker and that is something that we should all be very proud of.  
 I hope that you will still see a place for men in this House but we certainly realise that you have got here on merit. We on this side of the House are pleased that you have promised to apply the rules and to be fair. In doing so I am afraid that you will have to leave your friendships and colleagues behind. No longer will you get the sense that you are on that side protecting the Government from the sometimes trivial sometimes zany but oftentimes serious questions of the Opposition MPs. 
Parliament is as the Prime Minister said the heart of our democracy. The executive has to come to the Chamber and answer to Parliament and in that way to the representatives of the people. That is a huge check and balance on the use of Government power and taxpayers’ money. I hope you will remember all the back-bench MPs all the Opposition parties and especially the smaller parties that have brought so much colour to this Parliament and may I say on behalf of us all so much insight. 
I believe that you have a good model to follow in the previous Speaker the Rt Hon Jonathan Hunt in the sense that he applied the rules and he applied them fairly. We often had cause to object but we know now with your observance of the Rt Hon Jonathan Hunt and our questioning of him that you will go further down the track of supporting Opposition MPs in their questioning of Ministers. I think that this in particular is an opportunity to thank the Rt Hon Jonathan Hunt for his contribution and most important for his love of Parliament his support of all MPs and his great sense of humour. I know that you bring those qualities to the Chair as well. On behalf of the ACT party I would like you to remember always that each and every one of us views you as Parliament’s lady and we are here to help. 
ROD DONALD (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect on behalf of the Green Party I would like to add our congratulations to those of other party leaders. Your election as this Parliament’s first woman Speaker is a milestone in our evolution as a democracy and will I hope encourage even more women to participate in the democratic process. 
Although Jonathan Hunt has been a list MP in recent years your election also marks the beginning of a new era as you are our first truly MMP Speaker. We look forward to your bringing your sharp legal mind your sense of humour and your strong commitment to good parliamentary process to the job at hand. 
You have some big challenges ahead of you. I hope you will help MPs to significantly improve our standard of behaviour in this Chamber and lead us in restoring respect for Parliament to the level this institution deserves. I am confident that as a former university lecturer and as president of the Labour Party during turbulent times you will keep us under control and focused on debating the substance of the issues before us instead of indulging in personality politics. 
I also look forward to your energetic chairing of the Business Committee the Standing Orders Committee and the Parliamentary Service Commission all vital roles that ensure Parliament effectively represents the people of New Zealand. May you do well in your time as Speaker. 
Thank you also to the Rt Hon Jonathan Hunt for his time as Speaker. As I have said publicly he was very helpful to us as a new political party in 1999 with many new MPs and we are forever grateful for that. 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect on behalf of United Future I want to extend our congratulations to you on your election. I want also to bring you our best wishes for the difficult role that lies ahead. You start with some extraordinary natural advantages: your background in the law your time in this House but particularly I think your time as the president of the Labour Party because you were remarkably successful in that role at a very difficult time. If you were able to keep the factions there under control I think you will do extremely well in managing less difficult forces in this House. 
You made an observation in your opening remarks about your love of competitive sport and your increasing empathy with referees. I make the return observation that there are as you well know two types of referees. There is the referee who sees the role being one of allowing the game to flow—enforcing the rules but making sure the game flows effectively with minimal interruption but nonetheless with discipline and strength. And then there is the referee who has to blow up at everything—who has to intrude so much into the affairs of the game that nothing ever happens. Madam Speaker-Elect I plead with you to be in the former category: firm forceful and fair but essentially an arbiter or referee who allows the game to flow and the various sides to make their moves and take their tackles and their hits as the circumstances permit. 
Much has been said about the fact that you complete what some would regard as a very skilful takeover of our society by women in recent years. I note by the way that in the various combinations that have been mentioned reference to the Chief Justice has been curiously absent; I will leave members to draw conclusions about that. But I am sure Madam Speaker-Elect that as we look upon you as Parliament’s person and our presiding officer issues of gender will be secondary to issues of competence and ability. Your razor-keen mind is known to many of us. Your dry sense of humour has been observed by a significant number of us in this House. I look forward to the combination of your intellect and your wit your style and your grace as you preside over our proceedings and demonstrate that you are truly Parliament’s person and a Speaker-Elect of whom we can be very proud. 
I conclude with a reference to your predecessor. I thought it was unfortunate that one of the earlier speakers somewhat unwittingly referred to his “passing”. I think that is somewhat premature 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Very premature! 
Hon PETER DUNNE 
: It is very premature a member interjects. Madam Speaker-Elect Mr Hunt set a standard for you and your predecessors that will be extremely challenging and hard to follow. He was a great Speaker of this Parliament and a man whose love of the institution and whose knowledge of its procedures were unparalleled. I am sure that in the time he remains a member of this House he will if you seek it offer counsel. But I am equally sure knowing his extraordinary modesty that he will not offer that counsel unless it is sought from him. That is a mark of greatness. 
Madam Speaker I wish you well. 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect the Progressive Party also congratulates you on your election to this high office. I myself believe knowing you as well as I do that you bring to the office the same respect for the affairs of Parliament as your predecessor Jonathan Hunt did. I too noted with a slightly sinking feeling of inferiority that it is not just the top three constitutional positions that are occupied by women; it is now the top four. That is something for the males of the species in here to contemplate. My only comment in congratulating you on your well-deserved success in receiving majority support from the House today to become the first woman Speaker of New Zealand’s Parliament concerns the suggestion by some that you may not have the experience needed to chair the affairs of this House. Those who say that have obviously never experienced the chairing of a Labour Party conference in the 1980s. As the only other member of Parliament here today who has shared that honour I would say—and my experience will attest to the fact—that chairing Parliament will be an absolute piece of cake by comparison. We wish you well. 
Rt Hon JONATHAN HUNT (Labour) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect I want to make a very small contribution to congratulate you most sincerely on your election. I would like to thank those of my parliamentary colleagues who made kind comments about me. That is history; this is the present. 
I think the job of Speaker is to chair Parliament and to chair it so that all 120 members can have their say. Everyone in this House is democratically and properly elected and we should never forget that and never forget that this Parliament is a dedication to people who lost their lives to ensure that we today can be in our democracy. 
Madam Speaker-Elect I share the view of those who respect you for your intellect your very good and dry sense of humour and also for your ability to sum up an issue and to adjudicate reasonably quickly. The only other point I would like to make is that I do not regard as important the fact that the first four people in our precedence list are women. They are all New Zealanders and that is something we should be very proud of. I wish you all the very best for the future. 
Hon CLEM SIMICH (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect congratulations on your election to the Speakership. I look forward very much to working with you and for the members of Parliament. 
I want to thank all members for giving me the opportunity to be in the contest for Speaker. I am humbled by the process but I think all members have found it an important event. To be here in the Chamber to see that process and see the Speaker elected is very important for all of us. It shows to others the better face of this Chamber. 
Madam Speaker-Elect congratulations and best wishes in your role. I look forward to supporting you. I want to say to your predecessor the Rt Hon Jonathon Hunt that I in particular have thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I could not have had a better mentor and indeed a better friend over the time that I have been one of his workers. I also thank all members of the Chamber again for that opportunity. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (ACT) 
: 
 Madam Speaker-Elect as a fellow contestant in the vote for Speaker and one who was always extremely fearful of coming through the middle on a split vote it is with extreme relief that I warmly congratulate you on your election and wish you every success and enjoyment in the role of Speaker of our House. 
Madam SPEAKER-ELECT 
: I wish to thank all members for their very generous comments and to assure them that the game will be allowed to flow as long as the odd goal is scored from time to time. I did not think it was necessary to do so but I assure everyone that from my perspective the role of Speaker is gender-neutral. But if the leader of the ACT party has any concerns I can reassure him that he is directly in the line of sight of the Speaker.