22nd Conference for Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth

E nga mana, e nga reo e nga iwi o nga hau e wha tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.  Nga mangai o nga paremata o te ao, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou.  Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I offer greetings to you all.  I especially extend my warm greetings to the Speakers and Presiding Officers from throughout the Commonwealth.

I acknowledge: Rt Hon David Carter, Speaker of the House of Representatives of New Zealand; Your Excellency Caroline Chretien, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and fellow members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps – tēnā koutou katoa.

At the outset, I want to say to our guests from overseas – te manuhiri tuarangi - nau mai haere mai rā ki Te Whanganui-a-Tara me Aotearoa – welcome to Wellington and New Zealand.  I trust you will have the opportunity to see more of our country before you head home.

I am delighted to be here to open this Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth conference.  Your gathering highlights both the diversity and the unity of the Commonwealth.  These things give the Commonwealth its essential character and strength. 

Some of you are from the Commonwealth Realms – the 16 nations like New Zealand that have Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as our Head of State.  Others of you are from independent monarchies like Tonga.  Most of you are from republics, some with non-executive presidents like India, and some with executive presidents like South Africa.  Across all this diversity – realms, independent monarchies and republics are a mixture of unicameral and bicameral legislatures, federal and unitary states, and nations that vary in size from ten thousand people  to more than a billion people.  

The unity of the Commonwealth is based on the free and equal status we each hold and our shared ideals of parliamentary democracy, adherence to the rule of law and respect for human rights.  Language, history, civil societies and allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth provide further points of solidarity.  To these features, many have added a perverse interest in a gladiatorial game where a hard ball is propelled, often at dangerously high speeds, at a player who defends three sticks in the ground while wearing a helmet and flannel-clothing and armed only with a wooden bat!

Another feature common throughout the Commonwealth is the role of the Speaker or Presiding Officer of each nation’s Parliament or National Assembly, and the connection with their Head of State.  It is a relationship that is steeped in history and substance.  The first presiding officer at Westminster was appointed more than 750 years ago.

Historically, the position carried some risks.  No less than seven speakers of the British House of Commons, who had to deliver unpalatable news to a Monarch, were executed between 1394 and 1535.  Accordingly, we still witness newly-nominated Speakers, in the Commonwealth Realms, showing some hesitancy in taking up the role - apparently a quick dash for the door has been known to occur!

Over time, the role of Speaker has evolved from one of being the Head of State’s representative to the House; the Speaker is now very much the representative of the House to citizens and the Head of State.  The change in the relationship was aptly demonstrated by Speaker William Lenthall in 1642 when King Charles I, with an armed guard, entered the House of Commons to arrest five Members of Parliament for treason.  Lenthall’s refusal to say where they were, famously telling the King that: “I have neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak in this place, but as the House is pleased to direct me” established a far-reaching precedent.  No Sovereign has set foot in the House of Commons since that fateful day.  Indeed, in this realm as in others, neither the Queen nor the Queen’s representative sets foot in the House of Representatives.  Charles I paid for his intrusion when Parliament won the English Civil War and executed him.  Albeit quaint in an historical sense, in these modern times it’s a tradition I am pleased to follow!

The legislature choosing its representative is another development in our Westminster-constitutionally based framework.  It was an important step in the devolution of powers from feudal monarchies ruled by kings and queens who it was decreed had a divine right to rule, to constitutional states where power lies with the people and their elected representatives.

Regardless of whether you are from a Commonwealth Realm, an independent monarchy or a republic, the Speakers and Presiding Officers play a central role in your nation’s constitutional fabric.  Yours is a truly representative role.  In upholding the rules of your “House” - Parliament or National Assembly - in an impartial way, you represent the rights of its members and ensure and assure the primacy of the democratic principle and the rule of law.  The dignity and gravitas you bring to the proceedings of your legislatures ensures the Executive of Government and the House of Representatives work properly. 

However, more compelling is your role ensuring citizens’ rights are properly represented.  I note from reading the programme for your conference that many of the issues you will discuss are directed there.  Openness, transparency, accountability and connecting Parliament with the public and keeping the institution relevant in the digital age are issues that are most relevant for a democracy in the 21st Century.  All arms of government – the legislature, the executive and the judiciary – and the House and its members need to be cognisant of these things if they are to uphold our parliamentary democratic tradition and represent the will of citizens. 

In conclusion, I want to again welcome you all to New Zealand.  I trust your discussions will be fruitful and that useful contacts and relationships across the Commonwealth are either renewed or established.  There is a Kenyan proverb that notes: “having a good discussion is like having riches.” 

The Commonwealth is a rich and diverse group of nations.  Our diversity rests, in part, with the arrangements in our parliaments, national assemblies and legislatures that sit at the heart of each of our nation’s constitutional arrangements.  And yet that diversity contributes to our unity.  By looking for those things that unite us, through discussion we can often see the solution to issues and problems that individually and collectively confront us. 

On that note, it gives me great pleasure to declare the 2014 Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference officially open.  No reira, kia ora, kia kaha huihui tātou katoa - I wish you all good health and fortitude for your conference.