Election of Speaker 
Election of Speaker 
[Volume:651;Page:2] 
Election of Speaker 
Hon Dr LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
: 
 I declare my nomination for the office of Speaker. 
Hon Dr Lockwood Smith was elected as Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER-ELECT 
: Honourable members of the House of Representatives I am deeply honoured that you have elected me as your Speaker. We who are elected to serve in this House are privileged to work at the very heart of our democracy. In our hands we hold the responsibility of protecting the rights and freedoms of all New Zealanders. As your Speaker I commit today to upholding the privileges of this House and of its members and to defending your rights and freedoms on which are built the hopes and aspirations of those we represent. Working here day after day week after week and month after month we can sometimes forget that our forebears paid a grave price that we might live and work in a free democracy. Lest our behaviour might at times fall short of that which those we represent expect of us it is worth reflecting on the places named on the walls of this Chamber: Gallipoli Passchendaele Messines and many others. We honour the men and women who died in those hallowed places when we respect the freedoms they fought and died for. 
Honourable members I succeed 28 distinguished former Speakers and most recently New Zealand’s first woman to hold the office of Speaker Margaret Wilson. I am privileged to have served in this House under eight of them and I hope I may have gleaned a little from their collective wisdom. One achieved a remarkable double in throwing out at the same time both the then Prime Minister David Lange and the Opposition leader Jim Bolger. Although Speaker Sir Gerard Wall’s achievement is not one I would seek to emulate our honourable leaders might note that it is not without precedent. Those amongst you with as many grey hairs as I have may also recollect the occasion when Speaker Wall commenced a session by praying: “Almighty God humbly acknowledging Thy need for our guidance in all things …”. For such mistakes which will inevitably be made I seek your forbearance and apologise in advance. 
Honourable members I will be your Speaker; my door will always be open. As Speaker-Elect I will at 4 o’clock obey the instruction and go to the Governor-General and I invite those of you who are able to accompany me there to do so. Again I thank you all. 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 Mr Speaker-Elect on behalf of the New Zealand Labour Party I congratulate you on your election today and wish you well for your tenure in office. I must say that as you came up to your seat you looked nowhere near as reluctant as your predecessors traditionally have looked knowing the fate that would befall them should they displease the executive. On this side of the House we hope you frequently displease the executive. 
The office of Speaker as you have pointed out is critical to the effective functioning of this House and to our democracy. I am sure that although the role of Speaker is not an easy one you will do your utmost to carry out the functions and the powers of your new office in a fair and impartial way and in a way that reflects your role as Parliament’s person rather than the representative of any particular party. I do not know whether this role was your preferred role in the House but I do know that you come to it with extraordinary experience. I must say that those of us who remember Sir Gerard Wall are glad that you have not chosen him as your role model in your current position. 
I know that you will work extraordinarily hard to find the balance that you must find between allowing robust debate protecting the rights of the minority of the House and getting the business of Parliament done. In return we as members have a responsibility not to try your patience too far and to strive to do our best to maintain the Standing Orders. I congratulate you once again on your election and wish you well for your term in office. 
Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Mr Speaker-Elect it is my great pleasure to congratulate you on your election as Speaker of this House. We look forward to working with you and to observing your rulings and guidance over the next 3 years. You come to the job with 24 years of experience in this Parliament. I am sure you will show all the wisdom of those years as you guide the House through what will be obviously some interesting debates and some interesting times. You come to your job unopposed. I think that that speaks volumes of a House that believes in your skills and in the talents that you bring to the job. We wish you the very best. 
JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 Mr Speaker-Elect the Green Party is happy to add its congratulations to those of others on your election as Speaker. We wish you well in trying to control the at times boisterous behaviour in this place. As you know the Green Party has long expressed the view that at times the behaviour in the House goes somewhat beyond what the public finds acceptable and what is conducive to good debate. We offer you our support in trying to maintain high standards of behaviour at all times. That is not to say that we are in any way opposed to robust debate; we are opposed to merely those behaviours that sometimes get in the way of good debate. As you know we—along with other MMP parties—wrote to the previous Speaker Margaret Wilson to express our support for her using her office to attain those ends and to make sure that in the spirit of MMP the parties on the cross benches were able to be heard and to hear which is sometimes difficult from down here. I repeat that offer of support to your office for those same ends and wish you all the best in your term. 
Hon RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 Mr Speaker-Elect I rise on behalf of the ACT Party to congratulate you on your new role as Speaker and to pledge to you our support. You were elected unanimously. I note that although you did not go reluctantly to the Chair you did not positively run which I remember the Rt Hon Jonathan Hunt doing when he took the Chair on being elected. The thing that we all I believe admire about you is that you have been a member of Parliament who has respected this place and its value in our society and that you have been a member of Parliament who has respected other people’s points of view even if you did not share them and their right to speak out. I think it is fitting that you reminded us and the country of the enormous sacrifice that was made by our forebears so that we and future generations can stand in this House free to speak out in a free and democratic society. I wish you all the wisdom that you will require in the time ahead; I have no doubt that you will have it. Thank you. 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
Kai te manu korero o te Whare nei te mangai o te Whare tenei au e mihi atu mo matou o te Pati Maori ki a koe i tenei wa. Na te mea ko koe anake te mea e tu ana he tautoko tena mai i nga pati katoa mou. Na reira tenei matou e mihi atu. Ka hoki aku mahara ki te wa ko koe te Minita Matauranga mo nga kura i te wa o te kawanatanga o Nahinara i tera wa. Nau ano te Minita e tautoko ana i a matou e whakatu kura kaupapa Maori i tera wa. E rima kura ia tau ia tau kua whakaturia i raro i a koe. Na reira kai te mihi atu ki a koe mo tena. Na reira ko te tumanako kia pai to noho i tena turu anei ra te Pati Maori e tautoko ana ki a koe tena koe tena koe tena tatou katoa.  
[ 
I acknowledge you on behalf of us of the Maori Party venerable sir and Speaker-Elect of the House. Because you were the only one proposed that to me indicates the total support for you by all parties. So we congratulate you. My thoughts go back to the time when you were Minister of Education for schools when National was the Government. While we sought to have Maori-medium schools established you supported us. Five Maori-medium schools each year were established under your watch. How grateful we are for that! So we wish you well in your role as Speaker. You have the support of the Maori Party. Greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to us all 
.]  
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Leader—Progressive) 
: 
 Mr Speaker-Elect I want to wish you well and to congratulate you on your election to high office. Experience in Parliament is not the only qualification to be Speaker but it is one of the most important ones. You will have seen in your time here—and I think you came into Parliament the same year that I did—many occurrences that you will not want to repeat. When you started quoting Gerry Wall I remembered that he threw out 11 members of the Opposition on one famous day. I hope that is not something that will have to be emulated in your term. The office of Speaker is important particularly for the smaller parties in this Parliament. You uphold the rights of the minority here you are the person to whom we look to have our rights upheld and we will respect the office that you hold as you would want us to and expect us to. Congratulations. 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 Mr Speaker-Elect as a fellow survivor of the class of 1984 I congratulate you on your election to the high office you now hold and wish you well in the execution of your duties. You said that we are all human and like others you may occasionally make mistakes and you quoted the example of Sir Gerard Wall transposing words in the prayer. Mr Speaker-Elect I need to assure you that in his case he was not making a mistake. He genuinely believed that to be the case. Be that as it may I know that you will uphold the standards of this House. You bring to it a very deep experience and I think a deep affection for the place and you will certainly ensure that all members whether they be new members or somewhat more geriatric members will get a fair go in this House and will be listened to; order will be upheld and Mr Speaker-Elect in return you will have the respect of this Chamber. 
Mr SPEAKER-ELECT 
: Honourable members for your kind words thank you—thank you very much. I hope that I can live up to the confidence you have shown in me. Again I thank you for the honour. I will certainly endeavour to do my best to live up to that confidence.