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Opening Parliament Down Under

I’m a fan of state openings of parliament, so it might be a surprise that I’ve never been to one. I did see some of the practice run-through for the State Opening in Cape Town (which involves a delightful parade of the Cape Town Highlanders and other units from the Castle to Parliament) but unfortunately a social occasion kept me from the actual opening itself. As my luck would have it, I managed to return to live in Blighty again the one year the blasted Government decided not to have a State Opening. Roll on, 2012! Anyhow, down in the Antipodes, the New Zealanders have just had their State Opening of Parliament in the realm’s capital city of Wellington. Above, the judges process up the steps of Parliament House, two of them bedecked in the rather handsome New Zealand Order of Merit.

Since the Queen of New Zealand spends most of her time in Great Britain, she is represented by Lieutenant General Sir Jeremiah Mateparae GNZM QSO, the twentieth Te Kāwana Tianara o Aotearoa, or Governor-General of New Zealand. (We mentioned one of Sir Jerry’s predecessors in the blogpost The Would-Be King of New Zealand). Here, His Excellency is greeted in the traditional Maori manner.

He then gets to review the guard of honour…

…before heading up into Parliament House himself.

New Zealand abolished its upper house of parliament over a half-century ago, but the former Legislative Council chamber is still used for the State Opening. The Governor-General sits on the throne and then directs Black Rod to summon the House of Representatives. Black Rod creeps backwards out of the chamber…

…and has to knock on the doors of the House of Representatives after they are slammed in his face, in accordance with tradition.

Then he give’s the Speech from the Throne outlining the legislative programme of Her Majesty’s Government for the parliamentary session he has just opened.

Published at 10:00 pm on Wednesday 4 January 2012. Categories: Politics Tradition Tags: , .
Comments

Andrew, I would have thought that if these proceedings are modelled upon Westminster — which is NOT the Mother of Parliaments, that is England (see John Bright) — then the gentleman exiting backwards would not be known as “Black Rod” but as “the Gentleman Usher to Black Rod”.

But, then, what would an Irish Republican from the West of Scotland know?

— Hugh McLoughlin 6 Jan 2012 5:01 am

I should have thought it obvious that it is customary to refer to the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod as “Black Rod”, Hughie!

Canada, however, has a mere Usher of the Black Rod.

— Andrew Cusack 6 Jan 2012 3:21 pm
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