WEDNESDAY, 25 NOVEMBER 2020
COMMISSION OPENING OF PARLIAMENT
The Fifty-third Parliament opened at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 25 November 2020 in the City of Wellington pursuant to a Proclamation, dated 6 November 2020, issued by Her Excellency the Governor-General.
Sandra McKie, Acting Usher of the Black Rod, announced the presence of Her Majesty’s Commissioners. The Bar was raised and the Commissioners took their places at the head of the Table.
CHIEF COMMISSIONER (Rt Hon Dame Helen Winkelmann):
E te Whare Pāremata e tū nei
E ōna rangatira katoa
Kia tahuri mai ō koutou taringa
Members of the House of Representatives:
Her Excellency the Governor-General not thinking fit to be present here in person, has caused Letters Patent to be passed under the Seal of New Zealand appointing me and my fellow Commissioners to open this Parliament of New Zealand. This is more fully set out in the Letters Patent which I ask that the Clerk of the House now read.
Letters Patent
CLERK:
PATSY REDDY
Elizabeth The Second, by the Grace of God Queen of New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith:
To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting!
Whereas, by a Proclamation made on the 6th day of November 2020, Our Governor-General of New Zealand, The Right Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, GNZM, QSO, proclaimed that the Parliament of New Zealand should meet in the parliamentary precincts in the City of Wellington at 11.00 am, on the 25th day of November 2020:
And Whereas Our said Governor-General does not think fit to be present at the opening of the said session:
Now, know that We, trusting in the discretion, fidelity, and care of Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor
The Right Honourable Dame Helen Diana Winkelmann, Dame Grand Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit
and Our Trusty and Well-beloved
The Honourable Sir William Gillow Gibbes Austen Young, Knight Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit, and
The Honourable Dame Susan Gwynfa Mary Glazebrook, Dame Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit
do by these presents give and grant unto them, or any two of them, full power in Our name to open the said Parliament in Our behalf, and to do all things necessary to be done in Our name, or in the name of Our Governor-General of New Zealand, in and about the opening of the said Parliament, commanding also all whom it concerns to meet in the said Parliament, and that the said
