Smith Lockwood: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Smith Lockwood: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Sitting date: 12 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7503. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: My colleagues thank you very much for your kind comments in respect of me and my team of Speakers—my excellent deputy Eric Roy and assistants Lindsay Tisch and Ross Robertson. They do a very committed job and it is much appreciated. Can I also thank you for the kind support you gave all the people who make this place operate on our behalf because there are so many of them and they do such a wonderful job for us. 
I think one of the notable features of this year has been the impact of the new Standing Orders. It is interesting that in the last parliamentary term—the 49th Parliament—a quarter of our sitting hours was under urgency. This year we have sat for a total of 543 hours 9½ of which were under urgency—that is less than 2 percent. We sat 35½ hours of extended sittings but that is a much more measured way of advancing the legislative programme. It meant that legislation with wide support across the House could be facilitated enabling much more focus on areas of difference and areas of controversy. I think the Business Committee used the new Standing Orders very effectively and I want to congratulate the Business Committee and in particular the Leader of the House the Hon Gerry Brownlee and also the shadow Leader of the House the Hon Trevor Mallard. 
I think the new Standing Orders covering members’ bills have also been pretty successful. In 2011 we had no members’ bills introduced into the House; this year there have been 34. That is a huge improvement in the opportunity for members to have their proposals considered by the House. 
The changes in the Standing Orders also provided for referral to select committees of bills where the period of referral was less than 4 months to be a debatable motion without time limit. It is interesting the impact that has had. In 2011 13 bills were referred to select committees with a report-back date of less than 4 months. This year only seven bills had a report-back date of less than 4 months. So there has been almost a halving of referral for a short period of time which must be good for the ability for the public to have greater input into our legislative programme. 
 All together I think the changes show that the House can make gradual improvement to its operations. So members of the Standing Orders Committee of the 49th Parliament who did so much work on those changes I think should be congratulated on the effort made and the thought that went into them. 
This year has been a year of consistent work in the House: 125 bills received the Royal assent five are waiting for that 1100 oral questions were answered and only two members were yellow-carded. A total of five I think have been yellow-carded in my 4 years as the Speaker and I think that is something of a record because I think in the old days that would have been about the norm on 1 day. 
One of the gems in the House this year passed right over me. I missed totally when Gerry Brownlee said in answer to a supplementary question from Phil Twyford on my left with an absolutely deadpan face that the Government would consider hiring Lyle Lanley and associates to scope the city rail link referring to the good work they had done on similar projects in Brockway Ogdenville and North Haverbrook. I thought it was an unusual answer I must say but I did not click that Mr Brownlee was into  
The Simpsons 
 and “Marge vs. the Monorail”. I guess what it means is I am getting old and it is almost time to go. 
Colleagues I am conscious that this is the last time I will speak to you in the adjournment debate and I want to take this opportunity to particularly thank the General Manager of the Parliamentary Service. The general manager carries out quite a thankless task and I think he does it with great commitment and I want to express appreciation for the work he has done. 
I want to pay particular tribute to our outstanding Clerk of the House Mary Harris and her team in the Clerk’s Office including her gem of an executive assistant Andie Lindsay. It is such a privilege to work with these two and Mary I cannot express sufficient thanks for the wonderful job you do. 
To my team in the Speaker’s office and especially my senior private secretary Beryl Bright again I want to pass on huge thanks. We now run the protocol and reception area in the Speaker’s office on one-third of the cost it used to cost taxpayers. That is a challenge to Ministers and Government departments—we run my department there now on a third not one third less but a third of what it once cost. I am not sure it runs that much worse. My senior private secretary Beryl Bright is now in her 27th year of looking after me and goodness knows what kind of cruel punishment that is but I want to thank her hugely. 
Colleagues do have a great Christmas. Enjoy your break away from this place. I think only those who have been here know how much this place can be a drain on your private lives. Through you can I pass on my thanks to your spouses your partners and your families for all they give up to support you in this work. Enjoy your Christmas with your families. Go well. 
Motion agreed to.