Speaker Gerry Brownlee in his office on Monday. Photo / Mark Mitchell
THREE KEY FACTS
It was common knowledge when Gerry Brownlee was made Speaker that he never wanted the job.
And he confirms that now, with such emphasis, it suggests he hasn’t changed his mind: “I never ever wanted to be Speaker.”
With today being the last sitting day of the year, he won’t say he enjoys the role but concedes, with a fractionally different meaning, that it is an enjoyable role.
“What has been fascinating for me after so long in politics is the removal from the cut and thrust of politics takes quite a bit of getting used to,” he says.
“It takes a bit to get your head into the space that you’re there to make sure that the system that is central to democracy works.”
We are sitting in his stately wood-panelled office in Parliament on Monday afternoon to reflect on his first year as Speaker, before most MPs have descended on Wellington,
He is in his casual gear, at the giant desk in his office which was used as a cabinet table under the Seddon Government, with a pot of tea as his companion.
Brownlee, an MP for 28 years and a minister in the Key-English Government, is known for his quick wit but he is equally known for his potential for grumpiness.
That was on display last week when he gave the Treasury a blistering review for having put the kibosh on plans to give Parliament greater autonomy over its own operations.
Parliament’s role is to scrutinise Government and the Parliament Bill was supposed to recognise that but, as Brownlee told the Government administration select committee last week, Treasury has limited that to operational spending (still subject to final sign-off by the Government) and not capital assets.
“The problem is you’ve got this competent building team [in Parliamentary Service] spending a terrific amount of time and money engaging is discussion with a group of people from the Treasury who don’t give two hoots about democracy or the way in which the governance of the country is constructed,” he told the committee.
“The book-keepers run the place and that is a problem of Government, not of the Parliamentary Service,” he said.
“The place is held together with sticking plaster, effectively. Everything is at the point of being buggered. The ability for MPs to have the sort of services by way of accommodation they should have is fairly compromised.”
He acknowledges it is a pedantic point but he is no less grumpy about it.
As Speaker, he is responsible for the two arms of Parliament, the Office of the Clerk that runs the House and select committees, and the Parliamentary Service that supports MPs in their roles inside and outside Parliament and runs the buildings.
What goes on in the House is the most visible part of the job and the part that is subject to most scrutiny and criticism.
Labour last week said it had lost confidence in Brownlee over his decision to affirm the Fast-track approvals bill as a public bill, not a private bill, thus allowing 149 named organisations and people to be able to apply for fast-track consent under the legislation.
Labour has lodged a motion of no-confidence on the order paper but it does not have the numbers to advance it.
The place is held together with sticking plaster, effectively.
Brownlee said most Speakers he could recall had similar moves against them and he did not take it personally.
“I think if you take anything personally in politics, it’s the day you pack your bags and go.”
I’m forced to point out that would be a surprise to those of us who have found him relatively thin-skinned over the years.
“That is only when it comes to the media and I often believe to be the media not actually grasping what is going on.”
Brownlee himself has served under seven Speakers since 1996 – Sir Doug Kidd, Jonathan Hunt, Margaret Wilson, Sir Lockwood Smith, Sir David Carter, Sir Trevor Mallard and Adrian Rurawhe.
He won’t comment on any of them but acknowledges that his approach to the job is to show good humour and to have a high threshold for grumpiness.
“I’ve long held a view that the Westminster system with its adversarial approach – Government on one side, Opposition on the other – keeps us safe.
“We have our arguments with words and expression rather than bullets and bombs.”
He said he sometimes gets letters from people saying the standards in Parliament were terrible.
“They are missing the point. I don’t think they understand that when people walk out of the House, they aren’t aggressive towards one another or dismissive of one another.
“They are allowed to stand in the House and express themselves as they see fit. If you lose sight of that, you are starting to get into a kind of group-think that is ultimately destructive of democracy.”
Part-way through the year when things got difficult between parties, he enforced the rules more strictly.
“You are going to fluctuate a little bit but it is determined largely by the mood of the House.
“When it was a little bit fractious at one point there, I think it was necessary to pull everyone into the hard interpretation of the rules.
“I made the statement when I first became Speaker that I considered the Standing Orders as the guide for the House, not a black-letter set of rules and I still believe that.
“It’s useful, when things get a bit ropey, to fall back to that position fairly quickly.”
But mostly, Brownlee tries to use wit to defuse arguments in the House.
On the first day back to Parliament this year, Winston Peters took on Brownlee for calling Labour leader Chris Hipkins before Peters, when Hipkins had already asked three questions.
Peters: Point of order, Mr Speaker. Let’s get things started right in 2024.
Speaker: Well, that’s what I’m trying to do, and, believe me, I’m going to be the one who wins here.
Peters is a master of using questions to make political points against the Opposition and Brownlee is often called upon to be stricter with Peters, the NZ First leader and Deputy Prime Minister.
But Brownlee defends Peters with clear respect for his political longevity.
“You’re talking about a guy who’s got a political engagement that goes back to 1975,” he said.
“You’re looking at nearly 50 years of involvement. He has seen a lot of knows a lot and some of his reference points are to past Parliaments where the way in which things might have been done are different.
“But I don’t think he gets away with anything worse than anybody else.
“Opposition parties say I should kick him out every day – that’s their default point. I actually think he is someone who knows when to lighten up and when to be very, very serious and I think he does a pretty good job of that.”
When asked if any of the new MPs have impressed him, says it is always dangerous for a Speaker to start doing that but he singles out a few: Reuben Davidson from Labour was “quite a thoughtful sort of bloke” and “one to watch”, National’s James Meager was impressive through his select committee work, Green MP Steve Abel was “a very capable politician and has got the right approach to get change”.
“Everybody comes here because they want to make life better, so he has impressed me.”
He had a lot to do with Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and she was doing well.
He had praise for a couple of ministers who have been under pressure from the Opposition this year, NZ First’s Casey Costello, in Associate Health and Act’s Karen Chhour as Children’s Minister.
“It is not easy being on the floor of the House taking that level of criticism,” he said.
He also singled out Act’s Andrew Hoggard in Agriculture as a new minister.
He acknowledges that the death of Green MP Efeso Collins in Parliament was a very hard start to the year for Parliament.
“That was very sobering for everyone in Parliament and I think everyone handled it quite well. There was a lot of grief in Parliament though nothing compared to his family. He made quite an impression in a short time.”
Big moments in Brownlee’s year have included the fallout from the recent haka interrupting a vote on the Treaty Principles Bill and the huge hīkoi to Parliament in protest against it.
Following the haka, he suspended Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke for a day and has referred three other complaints about Te Pāti Māori MPs and Labour’s Peeni Henare to the privileges committee.
And he has also initiated a discussion on the standing orders committee, which oversees rule changes, on whether the rules need to better reflect tikanga Māori as well as other issues such as whether suspension of MPs from the House is effective and whether there should be a greater incentive to attend the House.
Both committees will continue their work into next year.
If he could change something about the House, he said that while it was an imperfect system, he would like the standing orders committee to turn its mind at some time to giving greater clarity about what was and wasn’t acceptable in both questions and answers.
After a holiday with the extended Brownlee family in the Marlborough Sounds, Brownlee will return to work with further decisions to be made about parliamentary accommodation.
One of the first projects on the cards will be moving the Beehive bar formerly known as Pickwicks to the Ground Floor of Parliament House – closer to the Press Gallery.
“We wanted to be sure of a customer base.”
BROWNLEE IN HIS OWN WORDS
Duncan Webb: Mr Speaker, I would request that you take action in respect of that kind of gratuitous and outrageous swipe.
Speaker: Yes, I think it would be appropriate to withdraw that comment.
Shane Jones: Mr Speaker, I withdraw that remark, but I’ll be back to see you in your office.
Speaker: Lock the doors!
- June 25
David Seymour [facetiously in response to Labour questions]: When the Prime Minister eventually leaves office, does he anticipate spending his first year out combing the world for statistics to show how badly he buggered the economy…?
Speaker: It may surprise the member to know that the Prime Minister has no responsibility to this House for his future.
- August 20
Winston Peters: In the vein of that question, has she ever heard that famous line “I shot an arrow into the air, where it landed I knew not where”?
Speaker: Have you got any other poetry that might help the afternoon move on a bit?
- August 28
Matt Doocey: Oh, it’s very clear: people shouldn’t believe Ingrid Leary’s communications points.
Ingrid Leary: Point of order, Mr Speaker. I think you probably anticipate my point of order. I think that the member –
Speaker: – No, I can’t. I’m waiting with bated breath.
- September 19
Mariameno Kapa-Kingi: With New Zealand First making a stand to not support the bill, at a certain point, and the same with National, doing the same, where does that leave your bill – all alone with you?
SPEAKER: It’s not with me.
- November 13
Chris Hipkins: Point of order.
Speaker: A point of order, the Rt Hon Winston – the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins.
Chris Hipkins: You should withdraw and apologise for that, Mr Speaker.
Speaker: I do, immediately.
- November 6
Hon David Seymour: Well, Mr Speaker, I merely make the point that I would not and have not attempted to give direction to you.
SPEAKER: OK, it must have just felt like that!
- November 20
Young leaders drive massive hikoi, emphasising empowerment and unity in Aotearoa.