Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence—and I will be very quick because I really have not had time to think about this, given the magnitude and the quickness of what transpired this morning: I put on the record my gratitude and thanks to the former Speaker, Harry Jenkins. I learned a great deal under him in the previous parliament. It was an honour to serve with him. I remind the opposition that the Westminster tradition is very robust and there are many parliaments that do not have a Speaker from the government presiding over them at this time. You need only look at many of our state parliaments to understand the Westminster tradition extends to democracy that turns up many variations of parliaments. I am deeply honoured to be doing this role and I look forward to working with everybody in the House.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to make a few remarks on my election as Speaker of the House of Representatives. At the outset, I thank my nominators: the honourable member for Banks and the honourable member for Melbourne Ports. I also thank the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition for their very kind remarks and also the honourable member for Lyne and the honourable member for Melbourne. It is a great honour to be elected unopposed as the Presiding Officer of the House of Representatives.

I also place on record my tribute to the former Speaker, the honourable member for Scullin. I first served in this house when his father, Dr Harry Jenkins, was Speaker. I had a very high regard for Dr Harry and I have an equally high regard for the former Speaker, with whom I worked very successfully as Deputy Speaker following my election after the last poll. I saw the honourable member for Scullin smile when I mentioned his father. When I was first elected as a member of this place I was a member of what they used to call 'cockies corner'—that is, the National Party. We used to sit approximately where the honourable member for Denison and the honourable member for Lyne are currently sitting. I do not know what that means, but I was very vocal and I was regularly warned by the honourable member for Scullin. I never knew how he fully recognised that it was I who was interjecting. When I was elected as Deputy Speaker I found out that Mrs Wendy Jenkins, Harry's mother and Dr Harry's wife, used to sit in the Speaker's Gallery and apparently point me out as the offender.

During the time I have been in this parliament I have been ejected from the House on five occasions—not as often, of course, as the Leader of the House at I think 34 times or the member for Sturt at 32 times. I do not know whether the honourable member for Dickson is looking to add to his 18 times. This is a robust place, but I would like to see members be as well behaved as possible.

I am not offended by the fact that my friend the honourable member for Sturt saw fit to nominate numerous other people. I have a very high regard for his ability, and I am looking forward to working with all members of the House, regardless of where they stand. I do intend to be an independent Speaker in the Westminster tradition and I hope that this is establishing a principle which will be followed by Speakers in other parliaments. I am doing this for a number of reasons. I strongly believe that the Speaker ought to be independent. In this parliament the Speaker has not attended party room meetings and the Deputy Speaker followed a similar practice. I think we have moved a long way towards an independent Speaker. I will, in fact, be an independent Speaker in the Westminster tradition. I noticed that on four occasions in September 2010 the Leader of the Opposition said that that was his preference as far as a model for the Speakership is concerned. Consequently, after 17 years membership of the National Party, 19 years membership of the Liberal Party and three years membership of the Liberal National Party, I will be relinquishing my party membership. I must say that I have been encouraged in this opportunity to serve the parliament in a new way by the actions of some people in the Liberal National Party in recent times.

I will endeavour, as I did as Deputy Speaker, to discharge my duty as Speaker in a nonpartisan manner. Frankly, I have got to admit that I am not perfect and I have made some mistakes, as some of the colourful stories about me reveal. But I pledge to serve the parliament and the institution and its members to the best of my capacity.

I would like to thank my wife, Inge, and my children, Nicholas and Alexandra. I would like to thank my staff. I would also like to thank colleagues on both sides of the House for their support over my 21 years service as a member of the Australian parliament. It is a very great privilege to serve in this parliament representing the electorate of Fisher on the Sunshine Coast and I am looking forward to continuing to serve that electorate in the future.

I would like to conclude by saying that my door will always be open to all members. I look forward to working with everyone, regardless of which side of the parliament people happen to be sitting, because this institution is greater than any of us.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, before we move on to other matters before the House today can I say it is a great honour to serve in this place in whatever capacity. As I have just been re-elected as the Second Deputy Speaker I want to thank my nominators and colleagues and to thank the House. What is always important in these situations is that the rule of the democracy under which we all live is observed, and I thank those who have shown confidence in me to continue in this role.

It has been a great honour to serve as the Second Deputy Speaker with the now very humble backbencher and former Speaker, the member for Scullin. Harry, you have gained the respect not only of this House but of the population at large across Australia. Wherever I travel I find people have become avid watchers of question time and I think it is because you are in the chair. They have registered that you have a great sense of humour. And I have had people comment to me: 'The Speaker's hair was a bit ruffled today. Were you a bit rough on him?' I say that in good humour, because that is the sort of humour you have had and you have brought to this place a true sense of what it means to be fair in all your rulings. I thank you for the way your door has always been open to me and for the way you have served as the Speaker of the House.

I also have to say that after the recent visit we made to western Queensland and the far reaches of Maranoa I still get mail from people saying, 'When are you bringing the Speaker back again?' Maybe now you might like to consider a visit out there again, because they respected you and appreciated the time you gave to visit as the Speaker in the busy role you had. I thank you on their behalf as well as mine.

I congratulate the member for Chisholm. Member for Chisholm, I worked with you in the last parliament when you were the Deputy Speaker and in this parliament I have appreciated the way you have cooperated on the Speaker's panel. So I respect the work you have done in the past and I certainly look forward to working with you in this parliament.

Mr Speaker, I congratulate you on this high office you now hold. I acknowledge the comment you have just made that your door is open to anyone and that you have already indicated that you want to operate as a truly independent Speaker. I look forward to continuing to work with you as I have in this parliament when you have been the Deputy Speaker. I look forward to continuing that relationship and working in this parliament with you as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. I thank you for the indulgence.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, I congratulate you on your election to high office. As the Leader of the House I have worked well with you as the Deputy Speaker and I look forward to continuing to work with you as the Speaker—notwithstanding that so far, I note, the scoreboard reads: one point of order defeated and none carried. I hope to get the occasional win from my points of order over the years. I also want to note that the 34 occasions that you have reminded the House I have been excluded from it were prior to my holding of the high office of Leader of the House of Representatives.

Mr Speaker, I think you have demonstrated an ability to chair in an impartial fashion. I have always appreciated the fact that your rulings have been sincere. Your knowledge of the parliament and your respect for this great institution of parliament I think makes you an ideal candidate for Speaker.

I say to the Deputy Speaker, Anna Burke: congratulations on your election to high office. You are returning to a position that you held with distinction in the past and I have no doubt that you will hold it with distinction into the future.

To the member for Maranoa: I congratulate you on your re-election as the Second Deputy Speaker. I have also had the privilege of being welcomed by you into your outstanding electorate, which is very different from the inner city of Sydney that I represent. You are someone who brings credit to this parliament by the way that you carry yourself as the member for Maranoa and also as the Second Deputy Speaker. I have the utmost respect for you as a member of parliament. I say to the former Speaker, Harry Jenkins: it is often a difficult job to be Manager of Opposition Business or Leader of the House in any parliament and dealing with the Speaker. You have had, however, an extremely difficult job to preside over a parliament in which the government has not had an absolute majority in this House. You have done so with integrity. You have done so in a way that has lifted up the standards of this parliament. You were always prepared to act as an independent Speaker—even in the last parliament. You did not need a hung parliament to know that it was your task to act independently and to uphold the standards in the parliament.

I look forward now to being able to have a beer with you as a caucus colleague. It is terrific to welcome you back into the Labor family. It is a Labor family in which the name 'Jenkins' is one of the most distinguished names that we have. I congratulate you on your service to this parliament and look forward to your return as a servant not only of this parliament but also of the great party to which I belong.