Motions — Academy Awards—Achievement of New Zealanders

I move, That this House place on record its admiration for, and pride in, The Lord of the Rings team’s achievement in gaining a record-equalling 11 Oscars; congratulate, in particular, Peter Jackson on winning the Oscar for best director; note the contribution that many New Zealanders have made in respect of these achievements; and congratulate Keisha Castle-Hughes on being the youngest-ever nominee in the category of best actress in a leading role.

The National Party Opposition joins with the Government in this expression of support. Our congratulations to Peter Jackson and all who were associated with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I also congratulate Keisha Castle-Hughes, who has been a wonderful role model for young New Zealanders. Seeing her in the last couple of weeks, particularly in the last couple of days, behaving in such a natural manner and appearing to be quite underwhelmed by the circumstances she found herself in has been somewhat inspirational. Peter Jackson is a man with great vision, enormous passion, and determination, who has undoubtedly changed a lot of things for New Zealand, and has exposed this country to many opportunities that I am sure we will see younger New Zealanders avail themselves of in the future. We are very, very proud of them. They deserve our congratulations.

On behalf of New Zealand First, I endorse the remarks made by the Prime Minister. When I watched the show on television yesterday it really made me as proud to be a New Zealander as I was when New Zealand won the America’s Cup. It was a wonderful moment, and Peter Jackson and all of his crew deserve the congratulations of this House, as does Keisha Castle-Hughes.

The Greens add their congratulations. The arts are very often the thing we do when the kids have gone to bed and the dishes are done—we push a button. Last night I think we all felt good about our place, because we saw it there. When we see other people feeling good about our place, maybe it makes us a little more likely to look after it. If ever anybody had any doubt about the value of spending on the arts, last night was an example that the arts do indeed have value—not just a monetary value but a value in terms of making us feel proud about ourselves, making us care about ourselves, and having us take pride in the achievements of other New Zealanders. The Greens add their congratulations on this remarkable achievement.

The ACT party is also very pleased to join with everyone here in the House and express our great pleasure and joy that we did so well at the Oscars ceremony. On special occasions like this, the whole country joins in the celebration. Someone made a comment at the Oscars that every New Zealander had been thanked; there is one New Zealander I would like to thank now who, in all the reflected glory, has not been thanked, and that is the guy who first approved the regime that allowed it all to happen—one Bill Birch.

United Future joins in the sentiments that have been expressed by others and congratulates Peter Jackson and everyone associated with The Lord of the Rings trilogy on their outstanding success at the Academy Awards yesterday. We also pay a special tribute to Keisha Castle-Hughes for the quiet dignity she showed throughout a remarkable time, particularly the last tumultuous week. For anyone who doubted the capacity of our young people to foot it in today’s world, she proved to be an absolute role model for how well adjusted our young people are, and I congratulate her on that. The final observation I would make is that at a time when many New Zealanders feel set one against the other, it is gratifying to think that, on this issue at least, we all come together as one, celebrate achievements, celebrate the richness of our nation, and wish it all the best for the future. They have done us extremely proud.

Motion agreed to.