Gerry Brownlee elected Speaker of the House at opening of Parliament

Public Policy / news

The 54th Parliament will hold its first debate on Wednesday after the Governor-General delivers the Speech from the Throne

5th Dec 23, 1:50pm by Dan Brunskill

Gerry Brownlee is named Speaker of the House

The Speaker-elect is traditionally led, or even dragged, to the chair by their colleagues.

Senior National Party MP Gerry Brownlee has been named Speaker of the House at the Commission Opening of the 54th Parliament.

Brownlee was elected unopposed after Adrian Rurawhe, a Labour MP and the former Speaker, declined a nomination from Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

The Speaker-elect will now travel to Government House to be sworn in by the Governor-General and referee the first Parliamentary debate on Wednesday.

In his acceptance speech, Brownlee acknowledged the seven Speakers he had served under during his 27-year career, including Rurawhe.

“You brought calm and dignity to the House at a time it was needed. I know many members here today very much appreciated that”.

Standing Orders, a set of rules which govern Parliament, were “just a guide” and wouldn’t be treated as being “absolute”.

“Be here. Learn from the environment. Don’t get too hung up on the rules. Recognise it is free flowing debate and participate as reasonably as you can,” he said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon thanked Brownlee for being willing to serve in the role and noted he was the longest-serving MP in Parliament.

“You are known to us in the National Party as the father of the house, paternal but not paternalistic, knowledgeable but not know-it-all.”

Chris Hipkins, leader of the opposition, said Brownlee’s experience as a Parliamentarian made him a “very appropriate” nominee.

“You understand the importance of what goes on here in a way that very few people actually get to understand.”

Rawiri Waititi, co-leader of Te Pāti Māori, joked that the first Speaker he served under had him kicked out of the house several times.

“[Then] the last Speaker had me suspended. I’m looking forward to seeing what you and I can achieve together,” he said.

Waititi, and other MPs from his party, first swore an oath to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi before taking the official oath and swearing allegiance to King Charles III.

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17 Comments

by False economies | 5th Dec 23, 2:04pm 1701738277

As Chris Trotter sort of predicted, TPM playing silly buggers with the oaths...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/301020244/live-te-pti-mori-mp-appears-to-insult-king-charles-in-parliament

" there may be trouble ahead...."

by Advisor | 5th Dec 23, 2:51pm 1701741087

Ferris pledged allegiance to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, tikanga and mokopuna

And here I thought elected MPs were meant to serve the interests of the country and all its people first and foremost. This kind of clown behaviour could get you dismissed and even jailed in many countries. Not in good ol' NZ, we do not expect you to take your role as an elected official seriously.

by solardb | 5th Dec 23, 3:13pm 1701742394

He also pledged allegiance to the king.

by kiwikidsnz | 5th Dec 23, 4:42pm 1701747747

Apparently he called the king a scab

by KH | 5th Dec 23, 7:10pm 1701756640

Ferris doesn't even know what is in the treaty. eg. It unifies, not divides.

And. It requires allegiance to the Crown.

by Foxglove. | 5th Dec 23, 3:00pm 1701741605

Mr Rurawhe has been an excellent speaker but it would be unusual to reinstate him. The last speaker from the opposition, again Labour, was Peter Tapsell. TPM & the Greens have been returned to parliament with increased representation but beyond the use of the debating chamber and select committees no increased political power at all. From utterances, even before parliament resumed, that does not appear to be either satisfactory or acceptable to TPM in particular and it is likely that the protocols and disciplines traditional to the operation of parliament are going to be well and truly tested.

by Oldfart | 5th Dec 23, 4:23pm 1701746631

Every circus needs to have a troupe of performing chimps. Well done TPM for providing ours.

by powerdownkiwi | 5th Dec 23, 5:26pm 1701750379

No - they believe they have a genuine grievance, as does Hamas. And - if you look back far enough, both have a case.

The oxymoron comes in trying to partake in something which is not of their culture. And of course, we are indignant when their values don't align with outs. Making it messier, the sins were of our fathers...

I'm more interested in the Speaker - will Gerry do the Mile High thing in the chair? (Tom Scott's memoir alludes....) Hope it's strong enough.

by Oldfart | 5th Dec 23, 6:04pm 1701752645

I hear what you are saying but it always surprises me how the Maoris and the Hamas seem to be able to produce a renta-mob for the cameras at a moments notice. I suspect that most of our renta-mob are benes and the Hamas lot have little option.

by Baywatch | 6th Dec 23, 7:09am 1701799793

Wow...could you trot out one more cliche?

by facepalm | 5th Dec 23, 8:22pm 1701760976

Maori and Hamas - that is a long bow to draw to say there are any similarities there....

I don't think any culture, Maori, Hamas, European, or any other for that matter can sit on their high horse when it comes to their historical actions. We just wash some clean and others not depending on the lens of history and the "side" you happen to identify with in the present day...

by Nzdan | 5th Dec 23, 10:08pm 1701767297

It's just some cultures simultaneously have an index finger pointing in all directions and a palm firmly placed in the outwards position.

You see it even today, the crime stats, babies being brutally murdered, and the default is to figure out who else can shoulder the blame. The so called "atrocities" these people claim to suffered pale in comparison many of today's victims of their thuggish behavior.

by kiwikidsnz | 6th Dec 23, 9:28am 1701808083

Hamas's grievance is now irrelevant as they have committed crimes against humanity. Their cause is lost.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67629181

by In Vino Veritas | 7th Dec 23, 12:08am 1701860882

They have a grievance in your humble opinion powder. If they do, exactly what is that grievance? And in terms of their “culture”, how many of the TPM party are more Maori than European? And with regard to those who are more European than Maori, exactly which culture are you referring to?

by pacifica | 7th Dec 23, 8:56am 1701892591

Leave Hamas and the Israeli conflict out of comments. There is little room for manipulating and using the horror of human torture for your own political point scoring gain in anyone's conscience except yours powerdownkiwi (a conscience which seems exceedingly loose and absent). If you want to score points try using financial relevant ones instead. This is a finance and investment website after all and while war is a great driver for investment the conflict overseas has very little impact on NZ historically and to date. In fact the last time it had significant impact was more than half a century ago. If you want to talk about social impact it has very little of either outside of the families directly related and again using their lives and trauma for your own political point scoring is disgusting and dishonourable. At best this makes you seem like a narcissist at worst a sadistic psychopath who revels in the horror for how you can use it for your own benefit.

I also add Swarbrick to the list of exceedingly narcissistic as she directly used the conflict as a political ad and for views so she could go into media interviews while she holds an increasingly irrelevant opposition position. She used the horror for her own benefit and actually enjoyed the publicity for her own gain rather than doing anything for other people. If she cared at all it would not be her on the podium and it would not be empty words and soundbites she offers. If anything the use of other peoples trauma to increase her popularity then turn around and doing nothing real so long as she could collect the large paycheck is disgusting. Even worse it did nothing for the families who were affected, they were made invisible by her posturing; we remember Chloe for her empty political posturing but cannot name a single person affected at the event. The empty soundbites by Chloe did not do anything to direct actual real support instead it turned a lot of people against her "cause" and caused more acts of extremism, racism, intentional damage and assaults against NZders who have nothing to do with the conflict in NZ; again this has been done for Chloe's benefit & media position. Thanks for that, creating more victims of trauma in NZ is such a great idea for her political benefit (sarc).

Only through actual trauma support services and international & migrant support services is anything real being done for those affected by the war and sadly none of those in protests or the MPs are donating or volunteering significant efforts to those services.

At best this use in your arguments is literally disgusting at worse it is concerning enough that those around you would be at risk.

If you actually cared you would be supporting those trauma support services and international & migrant support services directly and giving them the stage. You are not; it is purely your own benefit and ego and the more trauma that flows from it the more you eagerly use it for your own gain in political financial commentary.

by Wrong John | 5th Dec 23, 7:29pm 1701757783

Well done TPM. You behaved yourselves. Almost.

by pacifica | 7th Dec 23, 5:14am 1701879290

The outcome was inevitable as none of those involved could suck up their own ego and work towards a positive consensus. It is a demonstration of Hanlon's Razor in action. It is not malice but pure stupidity and a lot of human faults and endeavors fail through ignorance. No parties could see beyond their own media profiles and stirring up the masses in pointless drama while real and critical actions & bureaucracy ticks along behind the scenes.

Truly it is hard to vote for any of them as they are all such empty vapid hypocrites with little real morals or honesty. At best they may have private lives vastly different to the public images they craft where they can be real people... but sadly I doubt many are much different from how they portray themselves in the media because none of them had a career in acting or dark comedy prior and they all have very bad aptitude in both.

It is interesting to note the best political polls and measure for each election is always the gambling and betting websites with odds clearly closer than all NZ media & poll orgs put together.