Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives

In New Zealand the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the individual who chairs the country's legislative body, the New Zealand House of Representatives (often also referred to as 'Parliament'). The Speaker fulfils a number of important functions in relation to the operation of the House, which is based upon the British Westminster Parliamentary system. The current speaker is David Carter.

Role

In the Debating Chamber

Lockwood Smith, Speaker from 2008 to 2013

The Speaker's most visible role is that of presiding over the House when in session. This involves overseeing the order in which business is conducted, and determining who should speak at what time. The Speaker is also responsible for granting or declining requests for certain events, such as a snap debate on a particular issue. An important part of the Speaker's role is ruling on matters of procedure known as 'Points of order' based on Standing Orders and previously made Speakers' rulings. This has a large bearing on the smooth running of each parliamentary session. Included in these rules are certain powers available to the Speaker to ensure reasonable behaviour by MPs, including the ability to remove disruptive MPs from the debating chamber.

The Speaker presides over the business of Parliament from the elevated 'Speaker's Chair' behind The Table in the debating chamber.

Outside the Debating Chamber

The Speaker is also responsible for directing and overseeing the administration and security of the buildings and grounds of Parliament (including the Beehive, Parliament House, Bowen House and the Parliamentary Library building), and the general provision of services to members. In doing so, the Speaker consults and receives advice from the Parliamentary Service Commission, which comprises MPs from across the House. The Speaker also presides over some select committees, including the Standing Orders Committee, the Business Committee, and the Officers of Parliament Committee. The Speaker also has some other statutory responsibilities, for example under the Electoral Act 1993. In this role a portion of the Parliament Buildings are given over to the Speaker. Known as the Speaker's Apartments these include his personal office, sitting rooms for visiting dignitaries and a small residential flat which the speaker may or may not use as living quarters.

The Speaker is third in the New Zealand order of precedence behind the Governor-General and the Prime Minister.

Neutrality

The Speaker is expected to conduct the functions of the office in a neutral manner, even though the Speaker is generally a member of the governing party. Only three people have held the office despite not being from the governing party. In 1923, Charles Statham (an independent, but formerly a member of the Reform Party) was backed by Reform so as not to endanger the party's slim majority, and later retained his position under the Liberal Party. In 1993, Peter Tapsell (a member of the Labour Party) was backed by the National Party for the same reason. Bill Barnard, who had been elected Speaker in 1936, resigned from the Labour Party in 1940 but retained his position.

Historically, a Speaker lost the right to cast a vote, except when both sides were equally balanced. The Speaker's lack of a vote created problems for a governing party - when the party's majority was small, the loss of the Speaker's vote could be problematic. Since the shift to MMP in 1996, however, the Speaker has been counted for the purposes of casting party votes, to reflect the proportionality of the party's vote in the general election. The practice has also been for the Speaker to participate in personal votes, usually by proxy. In the event of a tied vote the motion in question lapses.

Official dress

Originally, Speakers wore the traditional court dress, wig and robes that are virtually the same as their counterpart in the United Kingdom. This practice has in recent years fallen into disuse as the Speaker now generally wears what they feel appropriate, usually an academic gown of their highest held degree or a Maori cloak.

Election of the Speaker

The Speaker is always a Member of Parliament, and is elected by the House at the beginning of a parliamentary term. If the office of Speaker becomes vacant during a parliamentary term, the House must elect a new Speaker when it next sits.

The election of a Speaker is presided over by the Clerk of the House. It is not unusual for an election to be contested. If there are two candidates, members vote in the lobbies for their preferred candidate. In the case of three or more candidates, a roll-call vote is conducted and the candidate with the fewest votes eliminated, with the process continuing (or reverting to a two-way run-off) until one candidate has a majority. Members may vote only if they are present in person: no proxy votes are permitted.

After being elected by the House, the Speaker-elect is confirmed in office by the Governor-General. At the start of a term of Parliament, the newly confirmed Speaker follows the tradition of claiming the privileges of the House.

Holders of the office

The current Speaker is David Carter, a member of the National Party, which is the largest party in Parliament and governs as a minority.^[1]

Since the creation of Parliament, 29 people have held the office of Speaker. Two people have held the office on more than one occasion. A full list of Speakers is below.

† indicates Speaker died in office.

Colour key (for political parties)
Independent     Liberal     Reform     United     Labour     Democratic Labour     National

No.		Name	Portrait	Term of Office		Prime Minister
	1	Sir Charles Clifford		31 May 1854	12 December 1860		Sewell
							Fox
							Stafford
	2	David Monro		28 March 1861	13 September 1870		Fox
							Domett
							Whitaker
							Weld
							Stafford
							Fox
	3	Dillon Bell		23 February 1871	21 October 1875
							Stafford
							Waterhouse
							Fox
							Vogel
							Pollen
	4	William Fitzherbert		29 January 1876	11 August 1879		Vogel
							Atkinson
							Grey
	5	Maurice O'Rorke		24 September 1879	17 September 1890		Hall
							Whitaker
							Atkinson
							Stout
							Atkinson
							Stout
							Atkinson
	6	William Steward		23 January 1891	8 November 1893		Ballance
							Seddon
	(5)	Maurice O'Rorke		21 June 1894	3 October 1902
	7	Arthur Guinness		29 June 1903	10 June 1913
							Ward
							Mackenzie
							Massey
	8	Frederic Lang		10 June 1913	31 October 1922
	9	Charles Statham		7 February 1923	1 November 1935
							Bell
							Coates
							Ward
							Forbes
	10	Bill Barnard		27 November 1935	25 September 1943		Savage
							Fraser
	11	Frederick Schramm		25 September 1943	12 October 1946
	12	Robert McKeen		24 June 1947	21 October 1949
	13	Matthew Oram		27 June 1950	25 October 1957		Holland
							Holyoake
	14	Robert Macfarlane		21 January 1958	28 October 1960		Nash
	15	Ronald Algie		20 June 1961	26 November 1966		Holyoake
	16	Roy Jack		26 April 1967	7 June 1972
							Marshall
	17	Alfred E. Allen		7 June 1972	26 October 1972
	18	Stanley Whitehead		14 February 1973	10 October 1975		Kirk
							Rowling
	(16)	Roy Jack		22 June 1976	24 December 1977†		Muldoon
	19	Richard Harrison		24 December 1977	14 July 1984
	20	Basil Arthur		14 July 1984	1 May 1985†		Lange
	21	Gerard Wall		1 May 1985	15 August 1987
	22	Kerry Burke		15 August 1987	27 October 1990
							Palmer
							Moore
	23	Robin Gray		27 October 1990	6 November 1993		Bolger
	24	Peter Tapsell		7 November 1993	12 October 1996
	25	Doug Kidd		12 October 1996	5 December 1999
							Shipley
	26	Jonathan Hunt		5 December 1999	3 March 2005		Clark
	27	Margaret Wilson		3 March 2005	8 November 2008
	28	Lockwood Smith		8 November 2008	1 February 2013		Key
	29	David Carter		1 February 2013	Incumbent

Deputies

Three other chair occupants deputise for the Speaker:

• Deputy Speaker: Chester Borrows (National)
• First Assistant Speaker: Lindsay Tisch (National)
• Second Assistant Speaker: Trevor Mallard (Labour)^[2]

Between 1854 and 1992, the Chairman of Committees chaired the House when in Committee of the whole House (i.e., taking a bill's committee stage) and presided in the absence of the Speaker or when the Speaker so requested. These arrangements were based on those of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.^[3] Until 1992, the Chairman of Committees was known as the Deputy Speaker only when presiding over the House. That year, the position of Deputy Speaker was made official, and the role of Chairman of Committees was discontinued.^[4] The first Deputy Speaker was appointed on 10 November 1992.^[5]

See also

• Constitution of New Zealand

Notes

1. Fairfax NZ News reporters (31 January 2013). "Carter elected Speaker of the House". The Press. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
2. Radio NZ News reporters (21 October 2014). "Speaker named as Parliament sworn in”. Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
3. McLintock 1966.
4. "Members’ Conditions Of Service". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
5. "Speaker of the House of Representatives". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 19 February 2011.

References

• A. H. McLintock, ed. (1966). "Meeting of Parliament". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand (updated 22 April 2009 ed.). Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
• Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer.

External links

• Office of the Speaker - New Zealand House of Representatives (Official)
• NZ Speakers of the House of Representatives, ©1986 Air New Zealand Almanac