combined ability and firmness, impartiality with dignity and good temper. Now, some might say for me that’s slightly aspirational, but it’s something to work towards and I will do that for as long as the House has confidence in me.
My interpretation of the Standing Orders will not always be the same as all members’. I hope that we have some good discussions in here on it, and my door will always be open for members to come and seek my reasoning or to dispute my interpretation in a way that is less public.
As your Speaker-Elect, I will comply with the request of the Governor-General and attend on her this afternoon to seek her confirmation and at that time claim on all of our behalf the rights and privileges of this House. Thank you.
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Mr Speaker-Elect—or, as one of my front-bench colleagues muttered, “You again.”—may I be the first to congratulate you. May I also be amongst the first to acknowledge that there is a big difference between being elected as a first-time Speaker full of hope, full of promise, as Parliament’s person and being re-elected with the reality amongst those of us who have been in this House that when you’re everyone’s person, sometimes it can feel like you’re no one’s person. But that is as it should be. And that, Mr Speaker-Elect, does a disservice to what you have achieved in your last term as Speaker.
You have brought about significant change. In some ways it has been in small acts. I will for ever remember when we reopened a session of Parliament after the 15 th of March and you chose to begin it with a prayer delivered by a member of the Muslim community. Never underestimate the power and effect of that one simple act for every New Zealander, or of the work that you have done on behalf of families in this place. It has not just been a matter of making this Chamber open to those who are parents in this place to be able to have their newborns nearby; it’s been the policy changes that you’ve made, and in this increasingly diverse Parliament, reflective of age across the House where we will often have parents here, I want to thank you for the work that you’ve done in that area too.
Alongside presiding officers, you worked on the Francis review, which has been an important act in creating a workplace here that models the standard of workplace that we would expect within Aotearoa New Zealand generally. And I know, Mr Speaker-Elect, that we share a view that it’s not just what you do but how you do it that matters. And, at the end of last term, as you’ve rightly pointed out, the work that was done on the Standing Orders changes will make a significant difference. Whether it’s ministerial statements, the way we conduct the committee stage of bills, each has been designed to be a check and balance of this system, and those are checks and balances that we in the Labour Government support and we acknowledge the work you did on those.
Mr Speaker-Elect, you have a true commitment to this place, to the people within it, and ultimately a love of the people that it serves. What more could we ask for in a Speaker. We wish you well.
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition): Mr Speaker-Elect, I would like to echo many of the words of the Prime Minister, who has resumed her seat, but I will add a few more. The National Party supports you in your role as Speaker of the House, and we welcome the words that you have given today regarding holding the executive to account, because we believe and know that that is actually very important for your role.
You have been a member of Parliament for 33 years, starting off in 1984, with three years out from 1990 to 1993, and you have been a member of Parliament since that time. Those three years out of Parliament will, I think, have made it very clear to you what an utter privilege it is to be a member of Parliament. And seeing our fellow members of Parliament sworn in today, it has, yet again, reminded me what an important process this is and what an important and privileged place this is, that should never be taken lightly.
