The new Assistant Speaker

Labour list MP Ann Hartley retired earlier in the month, creating a vacancy which will be filled by Louisa Wall. But she also created a vacancy for the position of Assistant Speaker, one of the people who routinely keeps order in the House (the other Assistant Speaker is Ross Robertson; the Deputy is Clem Simich). According to the draft Order Paper out today the position will be filled on Tuesday. The new incumbent? Labour's Marian Hobbs. Not the first person I would have thought of (actually, I'm not sure who the first person would have been), but she has as much Parliamentary experience as Hartley, so she's not exactly unqualified. What's surprising is that they're planning to appoint someone who has already announced their intention to retire at the election; couldn't they have given the job to someone who was actually planning to stick around?