Maiden Statement

Oute faapoipoi lilia faa-alofisa o tupu nai le malae o Vavau, ma ou faatulouna le paia maualuga o le maota fono faitulafono aoao o Aotearoa nei. Tulou, tulou, tulouna lava.

Madam Speaker, it is important to me that I pay my respects to this House and its members. I have done this briefly in my mother tongue. It means I acknowledge this House and this space, and I recognise its symbolism, its spirit, its special nature, and its purpose. I recognise and pay my respects to all the members of this House. Those of us who have observed this House from afar have done so with awe, admiration, and respect. I now greet all members in the heavenly languages, as we say in Manukau City: kia ora tātou katoa, malo o lelei, kia orana tatou katoatoa, ni sa bula vi naka, taloha ni, fakalofa lahi atu, talofa lava, malo le soifua, namaste, ni hao ma. Greetings to you all. Tēnā koutou katoa. Greetings.

I extend my respects to the Governor-General, His Excellency Anand Satyanand. I acknowledge you, Madam Speaker. I convey to you my sincerest appreciation for swearing me in today as the newest Labour member of Parliament, and I thank you for conducting my swearing-in at 2 p.m., as I am told April Fool’s ended at midday.

I acknowledge the leadership of the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, and of Cabinet ministers, members of the Labour Party caucus, and the New Zealand Labour Party. I am humbled by their support. I am proud to take up my place as a member of the hard-working parliamentary Labour team. I am particularly proud to give my support to the significant new Labour-led Government policies that are realised today, 1 April 2008.

As an MP for Manukau City, I want members to know of the highest regard in which this Government is held for the leadership and the confidence it provides to all our communities. People in Manukau, regardless of their politics, sincerely appreciate the effort that is made on their behalf. I have received overwhelming support from all our communities throughout Manukau City, and that is humbling. I am a proud son of Manukau. I hope my voice will add value and strength to those voices already in this House from Manukau City.

I also wish to acknowledge the coalition and support partners, who have been an important part of the Labour-led Government. I also extend my acknowledgments to the members from the opposite side of this House and the Independent MPs. I particularly want to acknowledge all the Pacific members in this House. I thank those members for their pioneering efforts, for opening the doors and paving the way for me and the future generations who will follow.

When I learnt that I would be replacing Dianne Yates—and I acknowledge she is here; Dianne, I thank you—I felt it was important for me to return to my place of birth, to reflect on where I had come from, on the new role I would undertake, and on what I wanted to achieve in the years ahead. So during this Easter break I flew to Samoa, the home of my ancestors, where my puke, my umbilical cord, is buried. Easter celebrations are important to Pacific nations and to Christian communities, and it is an important holiday for working people.

On Easter Sunday in Samoa I was invited to speak at a church service in Satapuala. It is my mother’s village and my birthplace. If one heads east towards Apia from the international airport, one would first see Satapuala. The very next village is Faleatiu, and the sign reads “Faleatiu: David Tua Village”. I feel a sense of pride in knowing David as a proud son of Manukau City and a world champion in our eyes. The village elders gave me their blessings. The village high chief, le afioga ia Toalepaialii, also gave his blessings and wise counsel. This was important to me. Here lies my grandfather Tiumalu Alatasi. His wife, Taemanu Tiumalu, lies in the Manukau Memorial Gardens, together with my mother and my younger brother Kenneth. My uncle Toloa is also buried in Satapuala. He and a group of friends died young. They went on to the airfield, picked up a bomb lying there, and, thinking they could use it to crush cocoa beans, smashed it on the ground. It exploded. Here too lies my aunt Sene, who died young from the flu epidemic, brought over to Samoa by ships allowed to land by the New Zealand colonial administration.

On Easter Monday I visited my father’s village of Matatufu, in eastern Upolu along the Aleipata strip, where the best beaches are. I received the blessings of its mayor and elders. Our Matatufu village rugby team play without rugby boots or socks. I watched them thrash the Vavau village team. Then we visited the Hon Fiame Naomi Mataafa, the high chief of our Lotofaga district, and received her blessings and best wishes. My nephew Jared, who travelled with me, could not get over how slender and muscular the young people in Samoa were, compared with some of his nieces and nephews here in New Zealand. Some of these boys will play for Manu Samoa or the All Blacks in the future.

I feel a great sense of gratitude in knowing that New Zealand, through Prime Minister Helen Clark, has apologised to Samoa for injustices that occurred during colonial times. I add my voice to the gratitude expressed by His Highness Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese and the people of Samoa in thanking this Labour Government for that apology.

Pacific communities have come a long way since the first arrivals in the Land of the Long White Cloud. We have faced many challenges on our journey, and we continue to move forward. New Zealand’s future depends on how well our young people do today. I am so grateful to my parents and all our elders who came to New Zealand so that we, their children, could have a better future in the land of opportunity. As a community our challenge is to take up these opportunities and to leave the old ways and embrace the new, whilst at the same time protecting those things that are sacred to us.

Last Thursday I arrived in New Zealand to the news of the death of my uncle Ralph. My family asked that I fly to Gisborne and provide support and comfort to his wife, Faauuga. Her daughter Suni flew in from Washington state, USA. Other relatives arrived from Alaska and Wellington, and we conducted a brief service and shared the sadness of our loss.

My family is important to me, not only my immediate family but also my extended family. Many of them are here tonight, and others will be listening or watching these proceedings from afar. My family is an international family, with relatives living in Australia, Hawaii, mainland USA, and in other islands of the Pacific. Language, culture, and genealogy are important to us. We stay connected through the Internet, Bebo, and our family website.

Government initiatives to promote the use of Pacific languages are celebrated by Pacific communities. We must challenge our children to speak more than just one or two languages.

The family unit is a fundamental unit of any democracy. I am grateful that Labour has policies that provide support for hard-working families who need assistance with housing, cheaper doctors’ visits and prescription costs, and the Working for Families tax relief.

I am grateful for the jobs that we have and the opportunities to earn a living in New Zealand. I celebrate the lifting of the adult minimum wage to $12 an hour. I feel as though I have bragging rights to make this happen today. As part of a pattern of this Government, the minimum wage has been increased every year since 1999. I acknowledge those employers who pay their staff well above the minimum wage and make significant contributions to the local community. Some of them are here tonight. New Zealand businesses need to change their approach to competition. Investment in the workforce should be the priority.

Business succeeds where communities are strong. I am from Manukau City, which Sir Barry Curtis describes as “a microcosm of New Zealand society today and into the future”. He is right. If our Government departments are able to work closely with all our community organisations, our country will be the better for it. If this House gets things right in Manukau, we can then use that template to succeed in meeting the challenges of the rest of our nation.

Pacific communities other than the Samoan community dream of representation in this House. The 15 stars of the Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, and the other New Zealand Pacific communities all have the same aspirations. Labour is the only party with Pacific members of Parliament. We are working hard to ensure that more come through the ranks. It is also a dream shared by Asian communities throughout New Zealand. I believe that all political parties in this House must embrace diversity in the make-up of their teams. This is a noble goal, and I will do my part in making it happen.

Last Saturday at Manukau City’s TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre we celebrated with the Prime Minister the first showcase of the winning performances from each of the stages that competed in the ASB Polyfest. This is a festival started by my old school Hillary College in Ōtara—the capital of Manukau City. It came from a 1976 idea by a sixth form kid by the name of Michael Rollo. The showcase was a wonderful experience. Even the singing Mayor of Manukau was humbled by the talents. I am proud to say to this House that Manukau City is truly the land of the young, the beautiful, and the gifted. I am grateful to this Government for the support it provides to the arts and creative industries. We have some of the most gifted and talented people in Manukau—and indeed throughout all New Zealand—and this House needs to celebrate that and brag about it.

I have heard the concerns that members across all political parties have about our youth. It is right that we be concerned; the youth of today will become the leaders of tomorrow. The young people of today are on the rollercoaster journey of life and will make mistakes. I have seven children. I am also responsible for numerous nieces and nephews. Some of them are in the gallery today, and I am proud of all of them. These young people are the future leaders of our families, community, church, and Government. This House should do all it can to prepare the youth of today to take up their rightful leadership roles in the future. We ought to be slow in condemning them to jails or boot camps, and instead challenge them to realise their full potential. We must challenge ourselves to see young people for what they can become, not for what they are now.

Principled leadership is what these future leaders expect from us and from this House, and we must rise to that challenge for the sake of future generations of our nation. Alcohol, drugs, street gangs, smoking, gambling, sexual abuse, prostitution, and family violence all contribute to the demise of our young people and stop them reaching their full potential. I am grateful to the many community-focused organisations that work extremely hard to provide leadership and opportunities for our youth. Youth projects such as 274, the Genesis Youth Project, and Mangare Making a Difference provide face to face engagement, with positive results. The Gifted Kids Programme, Turn Your Life Around, the 274 computer clubhouse, Project K, the churches, and many more organisations make a big difference for our young people.

Primary schools such as Rongomai School, which my children attend, or my old school—Mayfield School in Ōtara, or Mountain View School, located at the foot of the Māngere mountain—all work extremely hard to provide a high-standard learning environment at an early age. We appreciate the Government’s efforts in supporting the education of our children and providing affordable health care.

In recent months Manukau’s mayor, Len Brown, and I have been spreading a message of dreams to our 8, 9, and 10-year olds. We have asked them to dream big dreams, and to believe that they can achieve whatever they set their minds and hearts on. We want them to dream not just of becoming doctors, lawyers, and teachers, nor of becoming plumbers, mechanics, or builders, and electricians. These are all worthy aspirations, with quality programmes provided by Manukau Institute of Technology, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, and many other providers in our city. But we want them to dream big dreams: to dream of finding the cure for cancer, of solving poverty, of bringing about peace in the war-torn parts of the world, or of cleaning up the environment of people’s pollution. I will work with all members of this House to ensure that we deliver our duty to provide the leadership and inspiration to our young people. They expect it of us; they are the future.

This Parliament has a special spirit of its own, and I want to acknowledge all those members who have served here and are now gone to the other side—the Hon Sir Māui Pōmare; Sir Apirana Ngata, who comforted the Samoan Mau leaders incarcerated in Mount Eden Prison by the colonial Governments of 1916. I acknowledge members of past Governments, especially those of the first Labour Government of 1935 who recognised the desires of the Samoan people for self-governance. They set in motion a process by which Samoa became the first independent nation of the Pacific in 1962. My family celebrated that event by naming one of my sisters Tutoatasi, meaning “independence”.

I see this House as a gathering place of the collective knowledge and wisdom of our great nation. From here that knowledge and wisdom is woven to create a vision of a better tomorrow for all our communities. That must be a vision to inspire us for years to come; a great legacy for those yet to be born; a vision to stretch and challenge all of our communities to realise their fullest potential; a vision to unite us as a secure and confident nation accepting of our diversity; and a vision where nobody is left behind. I was raised by my extended family to believe that leadership is about serving people, and that holding public office is the highest level of serving one’s fellow human beings, a stewardship given by the people. One ought to treat it with the respect, care, and dignity it deserves. I pray that I will be able to make a contribution to the House that upholds the dignity and mana of this place, and to leave a legacy that my family, my friends, my community, and especially my children will be proud of.

As I close my remarks I want to thank my friends and colleagues from the trade union movement who are present tonight and the Komiti Pasefika in particular. I acknowledge union matriarchs Liz Lilo Smith and Fili Fiu, and many others. I thank them for all their friendship and their ongoing support. I will continue working with them all. I announced tonight that I will resign as Deputy Mayor of Manukau City. I thank His Worship the Mayor, Len Brown, councillors, community board members, and city staff who have made the time to attend tonight. I know how demanding our city is and I appreciate their presence. I thank the community leaders who are present this evening, all the traditional leaders of the Pacific nations for their encouragement and best wishes, and all our church leaders for their spiritual counsel and support. I express my appreciation to members of the Labour Party from Manukau East and Mangere for all their support. I also acknowledge the Pacific Sector Council.

I thank the members of my extended family and friends and colleagues who have travelled from Auckland and Wellington and Christchurch for the sacrifice they have made to be here. I acknowledge all of those here tonight and those listening and watching these proceedings from a distance. I especially acknowledge my late mother, Sene, and my father, who is here, le Afioga ia Aupito Sio, lau afioga ile Sao Usoalii. I thank them both for their love and support. Finally, I want to thank my wife, Jean, and our children. Some are here and some are observing from home. I really appreciate their ongoing support. I love and appreciate them all. Ia soifua ma ia Manuia. Thank you.