Page 591 - Week 02 - Thursday, 18 February 2016
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MADAM SPEAKER: Does the member accept the nomination?
MS BURCH (Brindabella) (11.03): Yes.
MADAM SPEAKER: There being no further proposals, the time for nominations has expired. In accordance with standing order 2(d) debate may ensue, and members may speak to the issue of who should be elected Deputy Speaker for a maximum of five minutes each.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (11.04): Madam Speaker, following some of the excellent words said by everybody in this place about Ms Porter, I think we need to make sure that we elect a Deputy Speaker who can emulate the job that she has done so professionally in that position, someone who will be regarded with the same respect and someone who will conduct themselves with the same professionalism, dignity and bipartisanship in the chair that Mary Porter did. As you heard from our side of politics, from Mr Rattenbury and from her colleagues in the Labor Party, Ms Porter certainly did that. It is important that we select somebody with the same attributes who can fill those shoes.
It is my view that Ms Lawder has many similar attributes. She is respected both in this place and across the broader community as someone who cares deeply about what they do and is not here just to score political points. In many ways she does not come with the baggage that some of us do. Some of the combatants in this place have been battling away for some time. As both Mr Coe and Ms Fitzharris said, I think Ms Lawder gives politicians a good name.
It would be good for this Assembly if we were to have Ms Lawder in that role. She is thoughtful, Madam Speaker; she is considered in her judgements from the chair. It is clear that she is across the standing orders. I have on occasions sat here and listened to her through debates and she has done the very difficult job of controlling me—I fully acknowledge that—and others, and I think she has done it very professionally. She has done it in a bipartisan fashion. There is no question that she is as quick to rule on a member of the opposition as she is on a member of the government, and she does so with authority.
I think it has been litigated that we have concerns on this side with regard to Ms Burch’s nomination. I do not need to reiterate all of those points here today. If we are going to bring dignity to the chair, if we are going to respect Ms Porter and the role that she provided and continue that with someone who can emulate that, then I would make the point: let us do that on merit. Let us make sure that we are putting partisan politics aside, as many have done in their speeches today, and say, “Who is the best person for this job here today?”
Mr Rattenbury has sat in the chair as Speaker. He understands that it does not matter whether you are Liberal or Labor or Green in that chair; you have a job to do on behalf of all members of the Assembly. I say to Mr Rattenbury, through you, Madam Speaker: let us have this position elected on merit. If it is to be elected on merit, it is clear to me and it is clear to my colleagues—as I am sure it is to those on the other side—that the person with the most merit for this job is Ms Lawder.
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