Not surprisingly, Labour’s nomination of Trevor Mallard for speaker failed and National’s nomination, David Carter was successful.
He succeeds Lockwood Smith who has won admiration across the house and from outside it for his even handed approach to the role and for holding ministers to account in a way few if any of his predecessors did.
The speaker-elect is a successful farmer who has been a good minister and among his achievements was the merger of the Ministries of Fisheries and Agriculture and Forestry into the Ministry of Primary Industries.
