Speaker to represent NZ at Commonwealth Conference

22 December 2009

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith, will represent New Zealand at the 20th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth in New Delhi early next year.

The conference brings together the Speakers and Presiding Officers of the national parliaments of the independent sovereign states of the Commonwealth. It was established in 1969 as an initiative of the then Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada.

Dr Smith is also the New Zealand Parliament’s representative on the conference’s standing committee, a position that rotates between the New Zealand and Australian Parliaments.

The conference aims to maintain, foster and encourage impartiality and fairness on the part of Speakers and Presiding Officers of parliament

The conference also aims to promote knowledge and understanding of parliamentary democracy and strengthen parliamentary institutions. The Speaker will present a paper at the conference about the importance of Question Time in a parliamentary democracy.

Dr Smith said the conference was an opportunity to forge links with the Speakers of parliaments from across the Commonwealth.

Following the conference, Dr Smith will hold meetings with senior officials from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), New Zealand business representatives in New Delhi and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mary Harris, will also attend the conference which is being held from 4 to 8 January 2010.