Daniel Hurst Political correspondent Monday 10 August 2015
Former incumbent Bronwyn Bishop resigned a week ago after becoming embroiled in an expenses scandal
Tony Smith has been nominated by the Liberal party to be the new Speaker. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Victorian Liberal MP Tony Smith has been elected as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives after the resignation of Bronwyn Bishop from the key parliamentary post over a travel expenses scandal.
Smith, a former staffer to Peter Costello and until now the chair of the joint standing committee an electoral matters, pledged to give all MPs a fair go but also called for an improved level of discourse.
Smith, the MP for Casey since 2001, also promised to stop attending regular party room meetings – a gesture of independence that the Labor party and some within the government had suggested as a way to draw a line under Bishop’s partisanship.
“It’s my view that the Speaker should not only be but also should be seen to be independent of the partisan day-to-day foray,” Smith told parliament after his elevation to the role.
“I think the decision is symbolic but it’s also practical.”
Smith was one of four MPs to seek the position at a Liberal party room meeting in Canberra on Monday morning, prior to the resumption of parliament.
The house met at 10am to elect the new Speaker as its first item of business after the winter parliamentary recess.
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Smith was nominated by the MP for the neighbouring seat of Deakin, Michael Sukkar, and the motion was seconded by the MP for Robertson, Lucy Wicks.
Sukkar said Smith had the experience, temperament and strength necessary to instil respect and trust in the institutions of parliament.
“He is a Holden man through and through,” Sukkar added.
There were no other nominations from the floor of the parliament, leading to the declaration that Smith was elected as Speaker.
Tony Abbott, who had vowed to avoid another “captain’s pick” in the Speaker selection, congratulated Smith on assuming “this high and important office”.
The prime minister said he was confident Smith would maintain order in the house by commanding the respect of both sides of the chamber.
Abbott, who moved the motion to nominate Bishop after the 2013 election, also praised the former Speaker for being “a warrior for the causes that she believed in”.
“Despite some admitted errors of judgment, she has served this parliament, our country and her party with dedication and distinction for over 30 years,” he said.
The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, called on the new Speaker to apply standing orders fairly to both sides of the house and to ensure straightforward questions led to straightforward answers from ministers.
Shorten welcomed Smith’s pledge not to attend party room meetings and said he brought to the role “a proud tradition of advocating for a more accountable, more representative Australian democracy”.
“For all our clashes with the former Speaker, we wish her well,” Shorten said.
The leader of the house, Christopher Pyne, added his voice to the tributes to Bishop, but said Labor parliamentarians’ comments were inconsistent with their “not-so-generous remarks not long ago”.
“I seconded her nomination two years ago to be Speaker,” Pyne said. “She has been felled in most unfair circumstances by politics today.”
Smith recognised Bishop for being “a wonderful servant of our party”.
“Can I thank the house for the confidence you have placed in me. There is no greater honour in the parliament than to be elected by one’s peers. I’m a servant of this house and all of its members.”
Smith said he would give a fair go to all MPs in the chamber, but in return he expected a level of discourse that reflected that.
He said while parliament should be a robust place because it was the arena for the battle of ideas and ideals; “it needn’t be rude and it needn’t be loud”.
“That is something I’d like to see improved,” he said.
Smith said he had friends on both sides of the chamber and he would seek to meet periodically with the leader of the house, the manager of opposition business and independent MPs to discuss the operation of parliament.
Earlier, Smith said he had been humbled by the support he received from the party room.
He also thanked the three other Liberal candidates for the speakership – Russell Broadbent from Victoria, Andrew Southcott from South Australia, and Ross Vasta from Queensland – saying they were his friends.
“I think that friendship amongst the four of us was reflected in the civility of this contest,” he said after the party room meeting. “That’s all I’m going to say. The house begins in about 15 minutes so I’m just going to go off and prepare for that.”
The final vote in the Liberal party room was between Broadbent and Smith. Smith won that contest by 51 votes to 22.
Abbott left the party room meeting together with Bishop, whom he kissed on the cheek in front of the cameras.
The Greens MP Adam Bandt urged Smith not to forget independent and minor party MPs, saying over 20% of Australians did not vote for either Labor or the Coalition.
Tony Smith chosen as new Speaker of the House of Representatives | Australia news | The Guardian
