Dunne Peter: Election of Speaker 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dunne Peter: Election of Speaker 
[Sitting date: 31 January 2013. Volume:687;Page:7685. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Minister of Revenue) 
: 
 Mr Speaker-Elect can I warmly congratulate you on your election to this role. In fact I think I have probably known you longer than anyone in this House. Our association goes back to Loreto College in Christchurch—primary school days—and then the years at St Bede’s. You are not unfamiliar with centre stage. You after all I recall graced the boards at one stage as the lead in  
HMS Pinafore 
 and showed deft singing and acting skills while I at the time along with your brother was left to be a mere hornpipe dancer in the chorus. Although some things have changed what has not changed is the sense of fairness and compassion and genuine interest that you have shown over all those years. When you take on the role of the Speaker of our Parliament that set of virtues will be more and more in need than ever before. 
 I should also say that you are part of the reason I left the Labour Party. Your election in 1994 in the Selwyn by-election precipitated within the Labour Party a series of moves that led to my departure a few months later so I am grateful to you for that as well. 
Mr Speaker-Elect you bring to this Parliament a background of many years’ service a wide range of community and other contacts a real feel for the average New Zealander a decent sense of what is right and a good judgment of fair play. Although you might wish to be a referee in the sense that some others have been in the past I caution you if I may on this occasion about emulating your predecessor Sir Gerard Wall. Sir Gerard had a particular way with questions. I recall on one occasion seeking to ask a supplementary question getting up to my feet calling on Mr Speaker and being told “The member may not ask that question.” even before I had actually asked it. When I protested he said the question was out of order. I think that there are some things that he did that are worth preserving; there are some that are not. I am confident that you have the sense of judgment the experience and the wisdom to do extremely well. I congratulate you on your appointment. 
Can I also acknowledge Dr The Rt Hon Lockwood Smith. He is one of the few survivors now of the class of 1984 and an outstanding member of Parliament in his own right. He is a man who when he became a Minister—first of education and then later of agriculture and international trade and Associate Minister of Finance—showed a huge capacity for hard work and a real commitment to and flair for the job. He is one who sometimes in unpopular circumstances made lasting and durable decisions. I think many of the features that my colleague to my right Tariana Turia referred to earlier in respect of Maori education and also education generally have their genesis in the tenure of Dr Smith as Minister of Education and that is after all a tribute to his judgment as well. 
As Speaker he has been one of the outstanding Speakers. He actually allowed the game to flow. He installed a sense of authority about what his expectations were of Ministers and members and I think he has set—perhaps unwittingly—a very high bar for his successor and future Speakers to follow. He will be a fine representative for New Zealand in London and I wish him extremely well in that regard. He may well find of course that his door is traversed by visiting members on a number of occasions but I am sure he will always have a few moments to at least catch up with the news from home that they might bring. 
So Mr Speaker-Elect can I conclude by warmly congratulating you again acknowledging the role of your predecessor and looking forward to serving under you during the balance of this Parliament.