Laughs as Wilson takes Speaker's role

Parliament's first female Speaker Margaret Wilson was voted in yesterday. Picture / Mark Mitchell

It was with good humour that Parliament elected its new Speaker yesterday as Labour MP Margaret Wilson beat off two challengers.

Ms Wilson - Parliament's first female Speaker - was confirmed in the role by Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright at Government House.

Never expected to lose, she won 64 votes while National MP and Assistant Speaker Clem Simich got 37 and Act MP Ken Shirley got five.

A total of 106 MPs cast votes, the rest being absent. Labour, United Future and the Green Party voted for Ms Wilson while National and New Zealand First voted for Mr Simich.

Maori Party co-leader and former Labour minister Tariana Turia caused murmurs around the chamber by supporting Mr Simich.

Later she left the chamber, avoiding the polite congratulations being offered by other party leaders. Her spokeswoman said she would have made a speech but had to go to a tangi in Rotorua.

Act MPs supported their candidate, although nearly half their number - Muriel Newman, Heather Roy, Deborah Coddington and Stephen Franks - did not turn up to support their man.

Later, party leader Rodney Hide said nothing should be read into the absences, which were because of other commitments.

"We figured Ken was not going to get that close so I told them it was business as usual."

Ms Wilson replaces Jonathan Hunt who takes up the job of High Commissioner in London.

Promising to be a fair and impartial Speaker, Ms Wilson told the House one of the most visible measures of the health of a democracy was whether the business of Parliament was conducted in an orderly way.

"It's the role of the Speaker to ensure the balance is achieved between robust debate and getting the business of Parliament done.

"I undertake to apply the rules fairly and justly to achieve that balance," she said.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said in the British House of Commons, from which the New Zealand Parliament derived many of its traditions, MPs fought for the right of free speech and the Speaker was often at the forefront of those struggles.

"Speakers did on occasion encounter difficulties when they conveyed the views of Parliament to the monarch ... history records that seven serving Speakers were actually beheaded and another was murdered."

Helen Clark said she expected a settling-in period as MPs tested Ms Wilson's limits and patience.

National leader Don Brash offered his party's congratulations and said she had its "unconditional support" to seek the Governor-General's blessings.

"With your distinguished legal background we have no doubt at all that you will exercise your judgment and your authority without fear or favour."

No-one has tested Mr Hunt's patience quite as much in the past five years as NZ First leader Winston Peters in his raising of points of order and challenges to rulings.

To raucous laughter, Mr Peters (grinning) told Ms Wilson: "You will have every co-operation from New Zealand First and particularly its leader ... and I mean that ... most sincerely."

Margaret Wilson

* Age: 57

* Born in Gisborne

* Studied law at Auckland University. Appointed foundation Dean and Professor of Law at Waikato University in 1990

* Labour Party president 1984-1987

* Chief political adviser and head of the Prime Minister's Office 1987-1989

* List MP from 1999. Has been Attorney-General, Minister of Labour and Minister responsible for Treaty of Waitangi negotiations

The Speaker's role

David McGee, the Clerk of the House, is the Speaker's adviser and sits directly in front of the Speaker's chair in Parliament. Explaining the transition a minister has to make to become an effective Speaker, he said the person had to:

* Develop a way of thinking from a parliamentary point of view rather than the group he or she used to belong to.

* Empathise with what the various components of Parliament want from Parliament.

* Ensure he or she does not appear to be speaking for the Government or the Opposition.

* Ensure people have a fair go and a chance to contribute.

* Develop ways to show disapproval of conduct, even if that conduct is not strictly something the Speaker can act against.

* Develop senses outside the rules.

Mr McGee said that while the Speaker would always be judged on the visible role of running the Parliament, there were other important aspects to the job, such as representing Parliament to the community and to overseas visitors.

The Speaker was also effectively a minister in charge of five departments: the Office of the Clerk, the Parliamentary Service, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Audit Office, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

"There is more to the job than just chairing the House."

Mr McGee has worked at Parliament since 1974 and seen nine Speakers come and go.