Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I also want to congratulate Mr Slipper and Mr Scott on their election to the Deputy Speaker positions. Mr Slipper, the member for Fisher, was previously on the Speaker’s panel and therefore has experience in managing this House. I am sure that that experience will be a valuable asset to him in his new role. Mr Scott also was on the Speaker’s panel. He has been active in the chair for a long period of time and is the retiring Second Deputy Speaker. He has prepared a number of papers on parliamentary reform, so I am sure he will be very interested in progress and development on the standing orders, and the way in which they can be better used and managed to achieve a fairer and more balanced parliament. I congratulate them on their election.

We are told there is a new paradigm, but the government’s nominee has been elected to the Deputy Speaker position—something I think has happened in every parliament since 1901. So, in fact, there is no change; the government’s nominee is the Deputy Speaker. The Second Deputy Speaker is the man who was elected to that office in the last parliament, so he continues in that role. Therefore, the differences that some people are seeking to highlight and champion may not be quite so apparent.

Both the member for Fisher and the member for Maranoa are neighbours of mine electorally, so I have got to know them quite well over the years. Indeed, Mr Scott and I came into parliament on the same day and sat together in this place for some time. I have a very high regard for his integrity, his ability, his diligence and his determination, and as a colleague and a fellow National particularly I congratulate him on being re-elected to and continuing in the position of Second Deputy Speaker. We wish the new team in the chair every success, and the opposition will do what it can to help make sure that the new parliament works as smoothly and as constructively as possible.

See this speech in context