KEY POINTS:
UPDATE: Lockwood Smith has been elected Speaker unopposed after the swearing in of all MPs and it was an occasion for all to be gracious about it.
It seems the least gracious person about Mr Speaker is me for having dredged up recent painful memories for him and questioning whether he has the right instincts to do the job.
Lockwood himself in a brief speech to MPs invoked the memory of the Speaker from Hell - No, Smith did not call him that - or should we say the person that most people would agree was the least suited to the post in recent years, Sir Gerald Wall, who in the same day threw out both the Prime Minister of the day, David Lange and the Opposition Leader, Jim Bolger.
The opening of Parliament was preceded by John Key's post-cabinet press conference after which I was upbraided by TV'3 Duncan Garner over my blog.
Duncan says that TV3 and TVNZ invited Lockwood Smith to dinner at Logan Brown not the other way round and the two television channels split the bill evenly.
TVNZ also says that while Lockwood had been 'very emotional' before the interview referred to in the blog they did not have film of him in tears.
Apologies all round.
Earlier post
Word had it that TV One had footage of Lockwood Smith in tears at his home when it was pursuing him about the fruit-pickers comments he made during the election campaign - Asians with small hands preferred over Pacific Islanders some of whom needed lessons in basic bathroom skills.
Smith had gone to ground and was talking to no one, probably in the hope that the next big story would come along soon and that his offences would be quickly forgotten.
Who knows what the tears were for. Shame? Self-pity that he was being called racist? Or fear that after nine years in Opposition he had just screwed up his chance of getting a big job back in Government?
We never saw any tears from Smith on the day in question and he gave One News a composed interview with an unreserved and what appeared to be a very sincere apology for his comments.
He was told he would have to kiss goodbye to any prospect of getting Immigration, which was probably a cause for celebration for him. And his offences have been quickly forgotten. Today he will be elected Speaker of Parliament at the Commission opening of Parliament.
Whether or not the Speakership is a big job is open to debate. To my mind, it is one of the biggest. It is very important and influential especially under MMP with so many more parties.
Smith's appointment was a risky one for John Key. A Government has got to ensure the House is run competently and Smith is totally untested for the role.
It may, however, be a job that is suited to his vanity. He will be supersensitive about how he is seen to handle it.
To that end, last week Smith took television political editors, TV3's Duncan Garner and One's Guyon Espiner and the bosses from their respective mother-ships to dinner at Logan Brown restaurant in Wellington [TV3 paid apparently].
I don't see the Smith risk in terms of partisanship. He will try to be fair to a fault - if Labour lets him. He will also learn the rules well.
The risk will be that he approaches the job too correctly, too technically, and too clinically, that he will be unbending when flexibility, patience, and gut instinct are called for. I'm not sure that Lockwood has gut instinct (or even abs instinct).
The result for a Parliament steered by someone who does not know when to give and take is brittleness and an environment where people snap easily.
The Speaker has to make fine judgments calls quickly. Smith is better known as a careful planner, finessed in his forensic approach to the Ingram report on former Labour MP Phillip Field.
I am not saying Lockwood will be hopeless. But I don't have confidence he will be a success.
On the plus side, he is pathologically polite and will doubtless be restrained in the chair.
The other factor in Smith's favour is that he does not start out with gravitas or high expectations about his ability which can be such a hindrance in politics.
And it has to be said that the Speaker's job - whoever it had turned out to be - has been made demonstrably easier by the removal of the vexatious Winston Peters from Parliament. Margaret Wilson's greatest weakness was her pursuit of the path of least resistance when it came to Peters which meant letting him get away with whatever he wanted.
It is unlikely that Smith will be seriously tested this week or in the next couple of weeks - and Labour has to give him a fair go to start with.
There will probably be only one questions time this year as the House goes in to urgency to introduce and pass some of the new Government's priority legislation.
One of the big decisions facing Smith will be what to be called. He has a PhD in some aspect of ruminant behaviour and has insisted on being called by previous Speakers as "Dr The Honorable Lockwood Smith." Which has been a challenge considering that the other Dr Smith in the National caucus, Nick, has opted for the more conventional "The Honorable Dr Nick Smith."
So will it be Dr The Honorable Mr Speaker? Or Mr The Honorable Dr Speaker? Dr Speaker? Mr Speaker? Or just plain Lockie?
Smith no doubt is already keeping an eye on what is happening in Britain at present, which exemplifies the importance of the Speaker's job.
The editorial in yesterday's Observer newspaper called for the resignation of The Speaker of the British Parliament, Michael Martin, in the wake of the search and arrest of a Tory MP.
The Observer joined a chorus in criticising his handling of the affair, not least his admission that he hadn't realised the police did not have a search warrant before allowing them to make off with the MP's office computer in an investigation leaked sensitive information.
'"The Speaker's office is vital to British democracy and yet the interests that Mr Martin has most diligently served are his own," the editorial said. " He has shown himself unable to protect the dignity of Parliament and should relinquish the chair to someone who can."
The opening of Parliament today and tomorrow will be televised either by Parliament's webcast or on Freeview 22; Sky 94 or TelstraClear 94.
