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Trevor Mallard has bowed out of Parliament with a final speech to the House saying some MPs have become “lazy, petty” debaters and the “era of sweeping matters under the carpet is coming to an end”.
“I’ve always had poor popularity ratings, and never got too anxious about it. I accept that I’m not a good politician. I closed over 200 schools,” Mallard said, in a valedictory speech on Thursday afternoon.
“I will never forget being ridiculed by members opposite for undertaking to partner with RocketLab. I was described as a space cadet.”
Mallard resigned as Parliament’s Speaker in August and ended a near four decade long career as a Labour MP on Thursday afternoon. A polarising Speaker, a longstanding electorate MP for Hutt South, and a Labour minister of education and sports, he was the longest serving MP in the House.
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The public galleries were full of supporters. Labour Party and Green MPs turned out in numbers, and a scant collection of National and ACT MPs remained in the House to watch.
“Others will judge whether New Zealand is a more inclusive, prosperous and better country and my role in that. But looking around me, I know that the people who are here will make it better in the future.”
Mallard, who was first elected to Parliament in 1984, spoke of arriving at Parliament on his first day and coming across Prime Minister Robert Muldoon in a corridor.
His 2-year-old daughter, Beth, called out: “Daddy, daddy, there is piggy Muldoon.”
Mallard, giving an impression of Muldoon’s now-famous slurring voice, said the prime minister responded: “What’s your name little girl?”.
As Speaker, Mallard led a review of Parliament’s culture. In his speech, he thanked Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – the Labour colleague which had “made the biggest difference” – for setting clear expectations for MPs.
“The era of sweeping matters under the carpet is coming to an end,” he said.
He said Ardern’s competence was a contrast to the “lazy, petty high-school debating style” that had become “too common” in the debating chamber, and Opposition leaders – including former leaders he called friends watching his speech – had also fallen short of the mark.
“With the exception of John Key everyone who has assumed that role in the last quarter of a century has seemingly lost the ability to listen in the House and respond with spontaneity and nimbleness,” he said.
Reform isn’t hard, Mallard said, giving his recommendations: The Government should provide advances to beneficiaries to help with house deposits, KiwiSaver should be bolstered by raising the employer’s contribution, and the Reserve Bank should be able to tackle inflation by turning up or down the contributions to Kiwisaver.
PARLIAMENT TV
Departing Labour MP Trevor Mallard shares a “leftfield” idea about how KiwiSaver accounts could be used to help stop home loan repayments from increasing.
He was critical of Parliament’s select committees, in which MPs scrutinise Government legislation, as he said some had become “rubber stamps” for Governments, and he inferred that minister’s offices had too much influence on the cross-party committee.
“Submitters to committees need to know that their submissions will be treated on their merits by committees and not vetoed by a political adviser in a minister’s office who is often breaching privilege by merely being in possession of committee material.”
Among many anecdotes Mallard told was a story about returning from sailor Sir Peter Blake’s funeral in England. He was seated next to Prime Minister Helen Clark, a confidante during his career, in first-class seats that lay down for sleeping.
”I woke in the middle of the night … I was in what might be described as a compromising position.
“We hadn’t put the barrier up between the beds. I gently extricated myself, and if Helen noticed she was kind enough never to mention it.”
He said he had experienced all the “highs and lows” of politics. Many memorable moments and controversies of Mallard’s career went unmentioned in the speech, including his throwing a punch at National MP Tau Henare in 2007, and his more recent battle with protesters who occupied Parliament’s grounds.
Ardern said Mallard had built up a “particular” public perception over many years.
“Privately, he’s an incredibly generous person. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone in our caucus who hasn’t at some point benefited from the work he’s done to try and make Parliament a little more family-friendly,” she said.
National MP Chris Bishop, who battled Mallard in the House and for the Hutt South electorate, said he first gained an “interesting” impression of Mallard when meeting him as a 13-year-old, in 1993.
His parting words for the opponent: “See you later.”
Former deputy prime minister Winston Peters also sent Mallard an indirect farewell message on Thursday. He made public a court judgment that re-stated the outcome of a dispute over a trespass order Mallard placed on Peters for visiting the illegal occupation of Parliament’s grounds earlier this year.
Peters took court action and won out. Mallard’s successor, Speaker Adrian Rurawhe, had apologised for the “irrational” order.
Mallard has been appointed New Zealand’s ambassador to Ireland.
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