Smith Lockwood: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Smith Lockwood: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Volume:659;Page:8639] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Honourable members I thank you all for the kind comments that you have made this evening and thank you also for the way you have acknowledged the hundreds of people who work so hard to make Parliament function. I particularly thank my Deputy Speaker Lindsay Tisch. Lindsay has worked enormous hours in this Chamber and I think he deserves acknowledgment for that. He has done a wonderful job in coordinating the work of the presiding officers’ team here and I just acknowledge the tremendous job he has done. I also thank my Assistant Speakers the Hon Rick Barker and Eric Roy for the way they have maintained the style that I have wanted to see brought to this House. I think the team has done a great job. Thanks so much. 
To the Leader of the House the Hon Gerry Brownlee and the shadow leader the Hon Darren Hughes can I thank you guys for the constructive approach you take to the work of this place and the whips of all the parties and the other members of the Business Committee. The public does not see that vital work that you people do but I certainly appreciate the way you contribute to the functioning of Parliament and I have to say it is a privilege and a pleasure to work with you. 
I thank very much the Clerk of the House Mary Harris. She does a superb job. She has earned my enormous respect and I think she carries on the outstanding traditions of the Clerks whom I have been privileged to serve with over many years in this place and I just want to thank Mary so much for that. 
To the Clerk’s Office staff: they keep this House functioning and sometimes under quite challenging circumstances. I thank them for that. The select committee clerks the Hansard team the outstanding Parliamentary Library people our loyal Chamber and gallery officers the interpreters the messengers the security staff the reception and visitors people the Travel Office Bellamy’s and behind the scenes Geoff Thorn and the Parliamentary Service team all do so much to make this place work. 
I acknowledge the courtesy with which the press gallery have treated me and thank them very much for that. I also acknowledge the work of the radio and television technicians. It is interesting for the television technicians; the new pace that I have brought to question time as Speaker has been quite a challenge for televising question time for Parliament. They have done a great job and the technical challenges have been quite significant for them. I thank my Serjeant-at-Arms Brent Smith who has done a wonderful job. My own office staff work so hard to run my office on just half the budget that it ran under previously. So I thank Roland Trish and the incomparable Beryl. Beryl is now in her 24th year working with me and goodness knows why she puts up with me. But she is a living legend in this place and I want to thank her most sincerely for that. 
Members you have worked very hard this year—565 hours and 49 minutes to yesterday. That is 88 hours more than the same year in the previous electoral cycle of 2006. I am advised that 66 Government bills have been passed but interestingly no members’ bills have been passed this year or at least no new members’ bills have been passed. There have been 19822 questions for written answers which is pretty typical. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: That was after yesterday. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: OK that was after yesterday. One record that I would not want to see members try to break in future years was the 30046 amendments to the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Bill passed in May under urgency after 33 hours in the Committee stage. Only 16 of those 30046 amendments were agreed to; 29084 of them were ruled out of order; 946 were defeated which meant an awful lot of voting. I have to confess that the public actually thought that our television system had gone on the blink and was just recycling the same vote. They did not realise the date was changing by 1 day. But I am not sure that the outcome was ideal and I think the Standing Orders Committee will be looking at that issue. 
This last year has seen two of our longstanding members retire. The Rt Hon Helen Clark and the Hon Dr Michael Cullen first elected to this place in 1981 both distinguished members of the New Zealand Parliament retired this year. I want to acknowledge their retirement. The previous Controller and Auditor-General Kevin Brady retired after 38 years at the Audit Office 7 years as Controller and Auditor-General. I acknowledge the integrity and professionalism that he brought to that work. In doing so I acknowledge Lyn Provost the new Controller and Auditor-General who took up her position on 5 October. Lyn had a long career in the Audit Office herself and at the State Services Commission and Archives New Zealand before her recent role as Deputy Commissioner of Police. We also of course welcomed this year our new kaumatua Rose White-Tahuparae who handles the Maori protocols of Parliament with enormous integrity warmth and great dignity. 
Finally I thank you all my colleagues here at Parliament. The challenge this year of the release of members’ expenses I realise has put huge pressure on your spouses and on your families. I just promise you that I will continue to work to try to smooth out the wrinkles that are still inherent in that arrangement because I feel very deeply for some of the stresses that I have caused you. You have treated with great good grace my ruling on the new Standing Order 368 covering the tabling of documents. I also acknowledge the constructive way that Ministers have responded to my re-emphasising the requirement in Standing Order 377 for an answer to be given to a question if it can be given consistent with the public interest. You have all made this House and its proceedings more worthwhile better humoured and of greater public interest and for that my thanks to each and every one of you. It is a real privilege to serve as your Speaker. Have a great Christmas enjoy the New Year go safely. I look forward to seeing you all in the new year. Go well! 
Motion agreed to.