Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Leader of the House) Link to this
I move, That Hon Marian Leslie Hobbs be appointed an Assistant Speaker. With the resignation of Ann Hartley, who is now pursuing a mid-life career on the North Shore City Council, the House, of course, has the need to appoint a new Assistant Speaker to replace her. A process of consultation has occurred with other parties, on the basis of the Government nominating the Hon Marian Hobbs to be an Assistant Speaker for the remainder of the term of this Parliament.
I gather that there was widespread support for her appointment, and I think that that is well-based. Marian brings to the job some extraordinary qualities and a great background. She of course is best known in this place as having been a Minister in the Government for a number of years, but previous to that she was a teacher, and a highly successful principal of Avonside Girls’ High School in north-eastern Christchurch—an institution not unknown to me from my own journeys to that part of Christchurch as a teenage boy. And anybody who can succeed at Avonside Girls’ High School can certainly succeed in keeping this place under control.
There is one thing I need to warn members about. My colleague Ross Robertson has established a strong reputation for his formulaic approach to calling members—that is, “I call the honourable member Ross Robertson.”, or, in his case, it should be “H V Ross Robertson”, which I long thought was some kind of honorific title acquired from some strange German principality, but subsequently found out was actually his first two initials. I have to warn members that Marian Hobbs may not actually achieve that. She is well known in our caucus for simply calling people “Tuppence” or “Thingummy”, so it is possible that on occasions when a member hears “I call the member Tuppence.”, he or she must recognise that it is he or she who is being summoned at that point, and not one of the other many Tuppences who happen to be around the place at that particular moment. But I have every confidence that Marian will do the job exceptionally well, and I warn people that behind that very pleasant exterior, that very soft velvet glove, there is a fist of steel.
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) Link to this
I am pleased to speak to the motion that nominates Marian Leslie Hobbs to be an Assistant Speaker, and in so doing I will take a moment or two to consider just what the role requires. I will also indicate that it was the Government’s prerogative to make the nomination from its number, or of someone in the House its members were prepared to give their support to. I guess that is where the Labour Party had some difficulty, because we note that, so far, 12 of its number have said they are not coming back voluntarily, another six have indicated they are thinking about it, and 19 are actually terrified about the prospect of not being sent back. When we look at the situation that presents for the Labour Party now, we see that the options, it seems, are somewhat limited. If we go through the list and look at who is likely to be returned in a seat—and, please, let me assure the House that we are not certain that any of these members will be returned in a seat—we see there is, of course, the Prime Minister. Assuming she does contest the election—and that appears to be somewhat in doubt—she would be returned in her seat, but of course the Assistant Speaker position would not be open to her.
Going down the list, there is the Hon Clayton Cosgrove. Well, he in recent days has become one of those “maybe”s, and is now in a very precarious, dicey position. But he has also been elevated recently to the ministry, and is now one of the great hopes for the Labour Party’s future. So to have him in a situation where his seat looks to be a little precarious, cannot give anyone over there any comfort, whatsoever—particularly those like young Darren Hughes. He was somewhat relying on Mr Cosgrove coming though as a sort of saviour for the Labour Party, therefore giving him a longer political career than he might naturally expect.
Mr Hughes himself was considered for the role of Deputy Speaker, but recently he has been promoted into the ministry. He is now the Minister of Statistics, and he takes that job very seriously. In fact, members will see that he has on his desk a 24B exercise book. It is one of the ones he did not finish in his last year at secondary school—just a short time ago—in which he records all sorts of statistics, usually about his colleagues. It saves him having to walk around with one of these volumes in his back pocket as he tries to calculate who will be the next leader of the Labour Party.
There is also Ruth Dyson. She is a Minister so is no good for Assistant Speaker. Lianne Dalziel has been a Minister, then was not a Minister, then came back as a Minister. She also, interestingly, is in a seat that now looks to be under a little bit of pressure.
Ah, well—members laugh over there, and they guffaw. But Aaron Gilmore is out there, day by day, knocking on doors, and people are coming out to him and saying “Aaron, we just need you, sir, in Parliament to represent us, because we are not getting the deal we need at the moment.”
There are others, like Pete Hodgson. He has a reasonably solid seat down there in Dunedin, but Mr Hodgson is one of the six who is on the list of “Maybe I will; maybe I won’t.” There are others here, like the Hon Annette King. Under the circumstances I think her seat is now looking pretty dodgy, as well. That is a seat that has long, long promised to be a National seat. It is only her commitment to the right of the Labour Party that has kept her there. And as Labour goes back to kind, and becomes a lot more left going into this election, then I think we can expect that she herself will decline this opportunity.
One of the things I cannot understand, though, is that Labour had an opportunity to appoint Lynne Pillay to this position. Lynne Pillay has a very solid seat out there in the west of Auckland, and no doubt she will be one of the contenders for Labour leadership positions should the Labour Party survive in reasonable sorts of numbers beyond the next election. But for some reason she has been overlooked. I do not understand that. That is another one that surprises me a little bit. Obviously, with so many leaving—12 going, six considering, and others still thinking about it—they are going to have to work at it a little bit. And there is Lesley Soper, for example. She was last in, and will probably be first back in. But, no, no consideration was given there.
I know that Labour has a little trouble in the Māori seats at the present time. And I would have thought they might have turned to someone like Mahara Okeroa, to put him in the Chair here and to give him the sort of status and gravitas that he needs, because I know that the Ngāi Tahu voting base have deserted him. It is all over. They are not going for Mahara any more. He is a nice chap, they say, but, no—“We can achieve more for Ngāi Tahu by voting for the Māori Party.” So I guess they have said to him: “No, you’ve got to go out all around that huge Te Tai Tonga area and round up a few more votes.”
Mita Ririuni is a list member, so he would have had the time to do it. But, no, they do not want to let someone like that get in there. No—there are inexplicable reasons for that, and I do not really want to go into them. There is someone like Dave Hereora, who has recently been dumped as the chair of the Māori caucus in favour of Shane Jones, who would have made an excellent candidate—an excellent candidate—but they have put poor old Dave on the back of the cross benches. He is a very capable fellow but is shut down at the present time because anyone with a shining light in the Labour Party at the moment is not given any encouragement, whatsoever.
So we come to the compromise candidate, everyone’s friend, Marian Leslie Hobbs. I want to reveal in the House this afternoon that I have known Marian Hobbs, or known of Marian Hobbs, for almost 30 years. Throughout that time I have seen her in numerous situations. She was once a firebrand unionist with the Post Primary Teachers Association. I remember her giving an impassioned speech in the late 1970s in which she persuaded the gathering to vote in favour of a particular strike action, which was a little unusual. When the vote was taken and the result declared, and after the chair of the meeting referred momentarily to Marian Hobbs, she simply stood up and said “Thank you, darlings. I’m proud of you.” In the vein of Michael Cullen’s warning to the House about names like “Tuppence”, and I am told by people who serve with her on select committees that “Blossom” is another one, I think we need to say to her—
Sue MoroneyEvery time I see Marian Hobbs in the hallways, she is a very pleasant person. She always smiles and she always says “How are you going today, darling?”. I have never misconstrued that, perhaps because I am so used to hearing it from people—I am not sure. But I have never misconstrued that. I just think that in the heat of parliamentary debate it would be a little inappropriate if people were called to their feet in that way. So with that small warning, that small hint of reservation, can we offer our congratulations to Marian Hobbs and our assurance that we will give her the respect that is due to someone who holds this sort of parliamentary office.
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) Link to this
That was all very interesting. Finally the member got to the point of the Government motion. I was wondering whether I was in the right debate, at one point.
I would like to say on behalf of New Zealand First that we are supportive of the Hon Marian Hobbs becoming an Assistant Speaker. A question that we perhaps would put to her is whether she really knows what she is getting into. I imagine that the Chair is not a very comfortable seat to sit in, from time to time. It will call on all of her expertise as a teacher and as a high school principal. She will need it all, from time to time.
She has been a hard-working member of this House. The New Zealand First members have known her since she came to the House. We all arrived at the same time—new boys on the block together. We know she has a great sense of humour, and she will sit there with some trepidation and with a sense of fair play. It is fair to say that we believe that the honourable member has all the qualities to do a first-class job in the role, but perhaps one quality will be tested. We know she has an abundance of tolerance, but does she have the patience to deal with this House when it really shows its wild side? New Zealand First will support the member in her role. We will give her our best shot—that is a promise we make. But we also make another promise: that from time to time we will add a little bit of spice, and make her life as interesting as possible. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
NANDOR TANCZOS (Green) Link to this
The Green Party welcomes this Government motion for the Hon Marian Hobbs to become an Assistant Speaker. Unlike Mr Brownlee I did not know Marian Hobbs before I came to this House, but ever since I have been in this House she has always been a very warm, pleasant, and very human person, and that is a trait I particularly value in this place, which can become pretty hostile at times.
I have had a working relationship with Marian Hobbs only since the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill has been before the Local Government and Environment Committee. During deliberations on that bill she has made a very valuable, welcome, and important contribution based on her experience as Minister for the Environment, and I thank her for that. Let me say that judging by the speech made by Mr Brownlee I think that a commitment to waste minimisation will be incredibly important as an Assistant Speaker. It will be most useful to try to minimise some of the waste in this House. Mr John Carter has often talked about resource recovery, and I think Mr Brownlee’s speech, in particular, demonstrates the difference between the need for waste minimisation and the need for resource recovery. I am not sure that there was much resource to be valued or recovered from his contribution.
We welcome this motion. We welcome particularly seeing another woman in the role of an Assistant Speaker. We think that is enormously useful, and we wish her all the best in the role.
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki) Link to this
Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. Kia ora tātou i tēnei pō. When this Government notice of motion appeared on the Order Paper I noticed an increased interest in the proceedings of the House from the honourable member for Te Tai Tokerau, Mr Hone Harawira. For someone who enthusiastically studies the Standing Orders, I can say that Standing Order 30 really got him going. It describes the criteria for the appointment of an Assistant Speaker as being limited only by the constraints that no member who is a leader of a party or who holds office as whip is able to be appointed to this role. In the case of the Māori Party, that meant we had only one potential nominee for the role, Mr Hone Harawira. I come to the debate today obviously disappointed that the expertise of Mr Harawira has been overlooked, but also on behalf of the Māori Party to express our best wishes to the Hon Marian Hobbs for the opportunity she has been given to hold office during the remaining term of this Parliament.
In doing so I want also to convey our appreciation to Ann Hartley for the contribution she made to the Chamber when she negotiated, cajoled, conducted, and directed the proceedings of this House. We wish her every success in her role as a North Shore City councillor. Her experience as a former Mayor of Birkenhead and her last 8 years in national politics will no doubt be of huge benefit to regional politics and we wish her and her whanau well.
Regarding the motion, the Māori Party is happy to support the proposal for Marian Hobbs to take the role of an Assistant Speaker. It is always interesting for me, as a former school principal, to see the influence of educationalists in this Chamber. As I understand it, Marian has been involved in playcentre management, she has been a principal of girls’ colleges in Christchurch and Wellington, she was a co-founder of the Four Avenues Alternative School, she has been a member of the Canterbury University council, and has also been involved with countless community ventures. I believe that presiding over the debate in this Chamber will pretty much come as a breeze to anyone who has been charged with motivating secondary school students to stay awake during class.
We have watched Marian working alongside Mr Mark Blumsky on Wellington issues, such as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, and hope that the capacity to put aside party political positions will be a priority for her in her role as an Assistant Speaker. We hope too that the varied life experiences she brings to the floor, including her association with the Chippenham commune and the Quaker movement, will be influential in encouraging peaceful and respectful debate in the House.
Tēnā koe, Marian. Nei rā ngā mihi o te Tōrangapū Māori ki a koe kua eke ki tēnei taumata o te Whare Pāremata. Māku a Hone e kōrero kia tau tana wairua, kia ngāwari ai te ngau o mamae nā tana kore whiwhi i tērā o ngā tūru. Kia kaha rā.
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.]
[Congratulations, Marian. These acknowledgments to you from the Māori Party for reaching this pinnacle of Parliament House. I will speak to Hone to settle him down and to ease his disappointment at not securing that seat. Best of luck.]
Finally, Madam Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to welcome the new list MP to this Chamber, Louisa Hareruia Wall. Ko Tongariro te maunga, ko Taupō te moana, ko Tūtemohuta te hapū, ko te Pākira te marae. Ko Ngāti Tūwharetoa te iwi, ko te Heuheu te tangata. E te uri o Ngāti Tūwharetoa, o Tainui hoki, nau mai, hara mai. He kitenga kanohi, ka hoki ngā mahara ki tō matua, ki a Les, ki ō mātua kēkē, a Nick, a Te Whakapūmautanga, arā, ko rātou kua ngaro atu nei ki tua o te pae.
Hoi anō, waiho rātou kia moe. Ko koe tēnei e whai nei i ō rātou tumanako. E te uri o Tūtemohuta, e rarau, nau mai. Nau mai e te Rau Hiriwa, nau mai e te Rau Pango. Kua tau mai ki roto i tētahi kāhui toa mō te hākinakina, ā, he mema Pāremata anō hoki. Ara, ko Te Rangi Hīroa tērā, toa o Aotearoa o te motu mō te peke tawhiti. Ko Puti Wātene, kāpene o te tīma rīki o te motu. Ko Ben Couch rātou ko Grahame Thorne, ko Chris Laidlaw o te Tīma ō Pango. A Tūtekawa Wyllie nō te tīma Māori, a Paul Adams, taraiwa motokā nei. Tae rā anō ki tēnei Pāremata, arā, ko Colin King, toa mō te kuti hipi mō ngā wā e toru. Ko Bob Clarkson o te tīma hōki me te toa o te motu mō te taraiwa waka whīroki nei. Ko ahau hoki, arā, mō te tīma o te motu o ngā whare wānanga, tīma o te motu mō ngā kura māhita mō te whutupōro. Ko te tīma hoki i raro o te tekau o Ngongotahā. Kei te mihi atu ki a ia kua eke ki ngā taumata o te motu ā-hākinakina nei, kaua mō te wā kotahi noa iho engari, mō ngā wā e rua.
Nō reira, e te Whare, koi nei te mihi o Te Tōrangapū Māori ki ngā mea e rua, arā, a Marian Hobbs mō tana ekenga ki tērā taumata, otirā, ki tēnei kanohi hōu kua tau mai ki roto i te Whare Pāremata. Tēnā kōrua, tēnā kōrua, tēnā kōrua. Nō reira, ka hoki rā anō ki te kaupapa kōrero, he mihi ki tēnei ki a Marian Hobbs, he mihi anō hoki ki tēnei kanohi hōu kua tae mai ki roto i te Whare Pāremata. Otirā, ki a Louisa Wall mō tana ekenga mai ki te Whare Pāremata. Nō reira, tēnā kōrua, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou.
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.]
[Tongariro is the mountain, Taupō is the lake, Tūtemohuta is the subtribe, and Pākira is the marae. Ngāti Tūwharetoa is the tribe, and te Heuheu is the man. To the relative of Ngāti Tūwharetoa and of Tainui, as well, welcome, welcome. To see the face brings back memories of your dad, Les, your uncles Nick and Te Whakapūmautanga, all of whom have passed beyond the veil.
Enough, leave them there to rest. It is you, indeed, who is present here pursuing their aspirations. Welcome the descendant of Tūtemohuta, draw near. Welcome the Silver Fern, welcome the Black Fern. You have landed here amongst a band of former champions on the field of sport, as well as members of Parliament, such as former MPs Te Rangi Hīroa, a New Zealand long-jump champion; Puti Wātene, captain of a New Zealand rugby league team; and people like Ben Couch, Grahame Thorne, and Chris Laidlaw, all former All Blacks; Tūtekawa Wyllie, former Māori All Black; and Paul Adams, a New Zealand Rally champion. And down to this Parliament, to Colin King, three times New Zealand Golden Shears winner; Bob Clarkson, an Olympic hockey champion and seven times winner of New Zealand titles in dragster racing; myself included as well as a New Zealand universities and New Zealand teachers representative in rugby, right down to being a Ngongotahā under-10s representative. My congratulations to her on achieving national status in sport, not once but twice.
So I say to the House, the Māori Party acknowledges these two, Marian Hobbs for becoming an Assistant Speaker; the new member as well, taking her place in Parliament. Greetings to you two, thrice over. Again, I go back to the purpose for this address, which was to congratulate Marian Hobbs and Louisa Wall. So, greetings to you two, greetings to the assembled and us .]
Madam SPEAKER