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Presiding officer of the New Zealand House of Representatives

In New Zealand, the speaker of the House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House , is the presiding officer and highest authority of the New Zealand House of Representatives. The individual who holds the position is elected by members of the House from among their number in the first session after each general election. They hold one of the highest ranking offices in New Zealand. The current Speaker is Gerry Brownlee, who was elected on 5 December 2023. The speaker's role in presiding over New Zealand's House of Representatives is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in other countries that use the Westminster system. The speaker presides over the House's debates, determining which members may speak; the speaker is also responsible for maintaining order during debate, and may discipline members who break the rules of the House. Aside from duties relating to presiding over the House, the speaker also performs administrative and procedural functions, and remains a member of Parliament (MP).

The speaker's most visible role is that of presiding over the House of Representatives when it is in session. The speaker presides from an elevated chair behind the Table in the debating chamber. This involves overseeing the order in which business is conducted, and determining who should speak at what time. The speaker is also responsible for granting or declining requests for certain events, such as a snap debate on a particular issue. An important part of the speaker's role is enforcing discipline in the House. The speaker defers to 'Standing Orders', which are the written rules of conduct governing the business of the House. Included in these rules are certain powers available to the speaker to ensure reasonable behaviour by MPs, including the ability to order disruptive MPs to leave the debating chamber. By convention, speakers have traditionally been addressed inside the debating chamber as "Mr Speaker" or "Madam Speaker".

The speaker is expected to conduct the functions of the office in a neutral manner, even though the speaker is generally a member of the governing party. In the event of a tied vote the motion in question lapses.

The speaker is always a member of Parliament (MP), and is elected to the position by other MPs at the beginning of a parliamentary term, or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position (via a vote of no confidence) intra term. It took 73 years for the second contested vote for Speaker in 1996. If there are two candidates, members vote in the lobbies for their preferred candidate. In the case of three or more candidates, a roll call vote is conducted and the candidate with the fewest votes eliminated, with the process continuing (or reverting to a two way run off) until one candidate has a majority. Members may vote only if they are present in person: no proxy votes are permitted. in a practice dating from the days when British speakers risked execution if the news they reported to the king was displeasing. After being elected by the House, the speaker elect is formally confirmed in office by the governor general. At the start of a term of Parliament, the newly confirmed speaker follows the tradition of claiming the privileges of the House.

Each day, prior to the sitting of the House of Representatives, the speaker and other officials travel in procession from the speaker's personal apartments to the debating chamber. The procession includes the doorkeeper, the serjeant at arms, the speaker and the speaker's assistant. When the speaker reaches the chamber, the serjeant at arms announces the Speaker's arrival and places the Mace on the Table of the House. The office is third most important constitutionally, after the governor general and the prime minister. (See New Zealand order of precedence.)

Originally, speakers wore a gown and formal wig in the chamber. This practice has fallen into disuse since the 1990s.