16 December 2004

Hon Jim Anderton MP, Progressive Leader

Margaret Wilson has enormous experience to be an excellent Speaker

Only those suffering from amnesia or ignorance would claim that Attorney-General Margaret Wilson doesn't have enough "experience" to be the next Parliamentary Speaker, Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton today.

"Gerry Brownlee should do a bit of reading on New Zealand's political history over the summer holidays.

"I advise him to keep his head out of the sun as he reads about Margaret Wilson's role as president of the Labour Party during the politically turbulent 1980s.

"If he does his research, Mr Brownlee will come back to Parliament refreshed in the New Year with a better idea of the extraordinarily capable and intelligent role of referee and leader that Margaret Wilson played as the president of a party that, in the 1980s, had as many deeply-entrenched factions as there are separate political parties in today's Parliament," Jim Anderton said.

"You would be hard-pressed to find another person in New Zealand with as much experience transforming potential disorder into order than our country's first woman Speaker," Jim Anderton said.

National's acting leader Gerry Brownlee is reported by the media to have expressed the view that Margaret Wilson's appointment to become New Zealand's next Parliamentary Speaker is "a recipe for chaos in Parliament."

ENDS

© Scoop Media