Speaker declines to relax Parliament’s dress standard

WELLINGTON: Male politicians will continue to wear jackets and ties in Parliament’s debating chamber, after Speaker Trevor Mallard rejected a plea for dress standards to be relaxed.

Greens coleader James Shaw made a cheeky request to abolish the antiquated rule while Maori Party coleader Rawiri Waititi called ties a ‘‘colonial noose’’.

Mr Waititi was rejected from Parliament last year after refusing to wear one and in his maiden speech to Parliament said in te reo: ‘‘Take the noose from around my neck so that I may sing my song.’’

At the end of last year Mr

Mallard invited MPs to write to him with their thoughts on the change.

‘‘A significant majority of members who responded opposed any change to dress standards for the debating chamber.

‘‘Having considered those views, I have decided that no change in current standards is warranted. Business attire, including a jacket and tie for men, remains the required dress standard.’’

Mr Mallard said the 2017 review of the standing orders supported MPs dressing in formal wear of the cultures with which they addressed.

‘‘I do not propose any change.’’

Mr Mallard did opt to relax the dress code in the Speaker’s Gallery — which looks down on the House — because enforcement of the standards was ‘‘uneven’’. — The New Zealand Herald