Shirley mounts challenge for Speaker

By FRANCESCA MOLD political reporter

Act's deputy leader Ken Shirley will today challenge Labour MP Jonathan Hunt for Parliament's top job as Speaker of the House.

The Speaker is Parliament's most powerful elected official and administrator, responsible for controlling the business of the House and ensuring MPs stick to the rules during debates.

Mr Hunt was elected unopposed as Speaker when Labour came into power in 1999.

Labour has confirmed it would support Mr Hunt for re-election when Parliament was officially opened today. Northcote MP Ann Hartley was expected to be elected Deputy Speaker and Manukau East MP Ross Robertson and National's Clem Simich as Assistant Speakers.

The election of Speaker will take place after Parliament is officially opened this morning and MPs are sworn in.

Members put their own choices forward for the position of Speaker and if there is more than one candidate, a vote is held.

Mr Shirley surprised other political parties with his announcement yesterday that he would contest the top job.

He said that under MMP there was no reason the Speaker should automatically come from the governing party.

"This argument is reinforced by the fact that the Labour Party has formed a minority government with opposition parties collectively holding the balance of power."

Mr Shirley said the Speaker must be independent and impartial.

He claimed Mr Hunt's friendship with Prime Minister Helen Clark and regular attendance at Labour Party caucus meetings detracted from his independence.

Mr Hunt declined to comment on Mr Shirley's comments, except to say that he would be seeking re-election as Speaker.

It appeared yesterday that Mr Shirley would receive little support from other political parties.

Both United Future and the Greens indicated they would vote for Mr Hunt as Speaker.

United Future leader Peter Dunne said he was surprised to hear Mr Shirley had decided to contest the position.

Greens co-leader Rod Donald said he did not think Mr Shirley had the right qualities for the job.

He also questioned whether Mr Shirley's bid for the Speaker's job meant he had given up on ever becoming the Act party leader.

Mr Donald said that in principle the Greens thought it would be appropriate for the Deputy Speaker's job to go to an Opposition MP. But no one had put their name forward, despite an invitation from the Greens.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said he would need to talk to his colleagues before a decision was made about who to support.

The last time there was a contest for the Speaker's job was in 1996 when Act's Derek Quigley challenged National MP Doug Kidd. Mr Kidd was elected.