Appointments — Assistant Speaker

A point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek leave to move a motion without notice on the appointment of an additional Assistant Speaker.

💬 SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.

I move, That this House appoint Ian McKelvie as an Assistant Speaker, with effect during any sitting of the House that is held with members able to participate remotely.

Mr Speaker, this is an historic day for Parliament, with members participating remotely in the proceedings in the Chamber for the first time. You and the other presiding officers, I know, are going to considerable lengths to ensure that you can preserve your own health and wellbeing and that you’re able to be in the Chamber when required. But after discussions at the Business Committee, I think it has been agreed that it would be wise to have an additional presiding officer on the team so that we can ensure that we have a presiding officer available for the duration of any remote sitting.

So I have great pleasure in nominating Ian McKelvie for the role of Assistant Speaker. He’s a very experienced member of the House, having been member for Rangitīkei since 2011. He’s the chairperson of the Governance and Administration Committee, a role that he performs, I’m told, with good humour and fairness. He is a respected and liked member across the House. He has a very calm and genial approach—qualities that I’m sure will serve him and us very well in the Chair. And so I thank him for agreeing to take on this role of Assistant Speaker, and commend his appointment to the House.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. It gives me great pride and pleasure to stand and support the motion moved by the Leader of the House nominating Ian McKelvie to serve as a temporary Assistant Speaker, and I want to echo the remarks of the Leader of the House in complimenting Mr McKelvie on his good humour and his good cheer and his experience.

💬 Hon Simon Bridges: Does he get a pay rise?

He does get a pay rise, Mr Bridges, I think I’m right in saying. I don’t want to mislead the House. Mr McKelvie has—

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: No, he doesn’t.

💬 Hon Simon Bridges: He’s doing it for free?

Mr McKelvie has served as an MP—

💬 SPEAKER: It’s the same rate as a chair of a select committee.

Oh well, there you go.

Mr McKelvie has served as an MP since the 2011 election as the MP for Rangitīkei, in addition to being the current chair of the Governance and Administration Committee, which is a reasonably bipartisan committee—it is a small committee and reasonably bipartisan in nature; just with National and Labour members on it—and he does a good job of keeping good order in that committee. He has also previously served on the Finance and Expenditure Committee and is a former chair of the Primary Production Committee.

I don’t think any member of the House would disagree with me in saying that he commands respect across the House for his wise contributions on a range of legislation, some of which is non-controversial and some of which is controversial, but he’s someone who I think everyone in the Parliament always listens to. Because of that, there can be no better criteria to bear in mind when you’re considering a presiding officer, because, ultimately, it is the respect of the House that is the most important in that role, and Ian will certainly command the respect of the House. So I’ve no hesitation in commending this motion to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise in hearty support of this glorious motion to appoint Ian McKelvie perhaps temporarily to the Speaker’s Chair. I think it would be fair to say that Ian McKelvie is a man of maturity, quite considerable maturity, and he’ll use that very well—

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: What other qualities?

—in the Speaker’s Chair. Gerry Brownlee asked, “What other qualities?” Well, Ian McKelvie’s someone I’ve got to know and like over the years that we’ve both been here in the House, and he’s somebody who has great humility. He has great magnanimity, he has great judgment, and I think that those are wonderful qualities to have in a Speaker. The only thing I can say is that it might be bit of a shock for some members to get used to seeing those qualities return to the Chair, but I think we can welcome them. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Motion agreed to.