Adrian Rurawhe after the Labour Party caucus meeting on 17 October 2023. Photo:
Former Speaker Adrian Rurawhe has delivered his valedictory speech to Parliament, with an admission he "wasn't too keen" on a presiding officer role when it was first offered to him.
Rurawhe is retiring from politics after more than a decade in Parliament.
He said when informed his colleagues of his intention to retire, he had also told them he would leave quietly and not do a valedictory.
"I can tell you, if you want to upset 33 Labour MPs, tell them you're not doing a valedictory speech," he said.
"I don't think I've ever upset so many people so quickly."
Rurawhe was convinced by Labour leader Chris Hipkins to deliver a speech after all, but admitted he had not written one.
Speaking off-the-cuff, Rurawhe said he had not written a speech.
"I will deliver a speech, but I did not write a speech. So whatever comes out of my mouth, and there are plenty of stories I can tell, just from the people sitting in this room."
Rurawhe said one of his biggest honours was to serve as Speaker, though admitted it was not a position he had ever imagined he would hold.
"If you had told me when I came through these doors in 2014 that I would be the Speaker of the House one day I would have a good old laugh and wonder what the hell is that one on?"
Adrian Rurawhe. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The former Te Tai Hauauru MP also spoke about the work in his electorate, the largest in the North Island.
Rurawhe opted not to contest the seat in 2023 and go list-only. Te Pāti Māori Debbie Ngarewa-Packer ended up winning the seat.
Naming all the iwi in his "vast" and "diverse" former electorate, Rurawhe said it was "challenging" to engage with such a wide range of people and he was sure Ngarewa-Packer was "finding out that very fact".
"Even Tariana [Turia] was criticised at not being everywhere in the electorate. It's a tough electorate to get around."
Rurawhe said he was originally offered the Assistant Speaker role in 2017, but opted for the Junior Whip position instead as he "wasn't too keen".
He then took up the role a few days later after Hipkins, then Leader of the House, rang him to say Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asking him to reconsider.
"I'm thinking, pull that Jacinda card eh?"
Rurawhe spoke of a rough "baptism" to the role, in which he accepted a closure motion at 12:50 in the morning during urgency, to a "mini meltdown" from the opposition as the part of the bill being debated had 30 minutes worth of voting on it.
"Maybe a more experienced presiding officer, rightly or wrongly, might have looked at the clock and thought 'let's do that after Question Time'. But being new and diligent, the debate's over, it's over."
Three years later, Ardern asked him to be Deputy Speaker, which after admitting his initial disappointment he did not have a ministerial role, was assured there was a pathway to that or to become Speaker.
Rurawhe took up the Speaker role in 2022, following Trevor Mallard's retirement.
"I pinch myself almost every day, wonder how this guy from Rātana Pā gets to be the Speaker of this House."
Thirty minutes into the speech, Rurawhe's successor Gerry Brownlee rang the bell to inform him his time was up.
"Thank you Mr Speaker. I don't have any speech notes, I don't have anything to finish," Rurawhe said.
"I was just helping you out," Brownlee responded to laughs around the House.
Rurawhe's last day as a MP will be Waitangi Day.
He will be replaced by Georgie Dansey off Labour's list.
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