Valedictory Statement

It was beyond my wildest dreams when 14 years ago, in 1996, a girl born in Shanghai, China, who grew up in a Hong Kong apartment where eight families shared a single kitchen and bathroom, delivered her historic maiden speech as New Zealand’s first member of Parliament of Asian ethnicity. That dream is not mine alone, and it comes with expectation, responsibility, and hope. I have tried every single day to keep that dream alive, and to make sure that nothing should happen to dash that dream.

Recently, questions were raised about the use of my parliamentary travel entitlements. These questions related to a 2008 end-of-year trip to China and Malaysia. When these questions were raised I immediately resigned as a Cabinet Minister, and cooperated with a thorough and exhaustive independent parliamentary inquiry. This inquiry covered the use of my parliamentary travel entitlements over the past decade. The inquiry found that I had erred, and that my 2008 trip involved activity that, although unplanned and inadvertent, could be construed as being for private business purposes. I accepted the findings, apologised, and repaid the level of rebate attributable to that part of the trip. That amounted to $237.06 each for me and my husband.

That inquiry brought into sharp focus for me the fact that my political career has been an all-consuming one, right from the time I started as a list MP, servicing Asian communities throughout New Zealand, until today. I know my career would not have been possible without my husband Sammy’s unrelenting support. As a consequence, his business interests were severely curtailed, and in China were limited to Lianyungang Supreme Hovercraft, a business he became a minority shareholder in on 25 December 2008. That shareholding resulted from a historical minority interest in the Christchurch-based Pacific Hovercraft, which he was asked to help when it was going through difficult times. Both of those businesses are now defunct.

The past 14 years have passed without my having had time to stop and reflect. But the past 3 weeks have given me the opportunity to do so, and it will for ever weigh on my conscience that my continuing political pursuit has placed huge demands and constraints on my husband. I have decided that this will no longer be the case. Often my brother in Christchurch has told me that the Rt Hon John Key, our Prime Minister, is the person who can turn round New Zealand for a better future; I agree with him. It is apparent that my mistake has become a distraction to the Prime Minister and the Government. They must focus on the important and urgent economic, social, and environmental issues; it is not acceptable to me that I have become a distraction to this very important focus.

One of my political highlights in the general election of 2008 was to become the first MP of Asian ethnicity to win a general seat. I am privileged, humbled, and grateful to the constituents of Botany, who demonstrated that representation can be beyond ethnicity, and that New Zealand is a country of equal opportunity. The playing field is far from being equal, but anything is possible if one works hard for it. Together with the campaign team, we knocked on over 10,000 doors and increased Botany’s winning margin of 3,000 to over 10,000. Botany, you rock!

Between 2001 and 2006 the Botany electorate grew by 34 percent—four times the national average. It is a multiracial community, which reflects my belief that many people can live together in one community, many people with shared values. Economic and physical security, good education, and community spirit abound, and it is a great place to bring up children. Together we achieved the community desire of naming the new local board, Howick, and brought forward the opening of the skateboard park to resolve the conflict between residents and skateboarders. Schools, community groups, the police, and business associations are all working together to make Botany the best electorate in the country. I have enjoyed meeting so many good people through doorknocking and community activities, and that will be sadly missed. But Botany deserves an MP who can fully focus on its issues.

My enforced period of leave has given me the chance to reflect. I have had 14 years of unrelenting workload in the Public Service, and it is time to turn a page in my life’s journey to focus on personal and family priorities. My political pursuit has its roots in proving that my country is a land of equal opportunity, and that Asian New Zealanders can succeed in the highest office. Not being satisfied as a list MP, I set my sight on winning a seat; jumping down the 192-metre tall Sky Tower in 2002 was to show that determination. Two attempts to win the Auckland Central seat set the foundation for me to win the newly created Botany electorate in 2008. Then I was appointed to the Cabinet, the first Minister of Asian ethnicity. That year I was also named in the top 10 of overseas Chinese achievers by the international overseas Chinese media grouping based in many countries—yes, we can!

In my maiden speech 14 years ago I stated that for a long time Asian New Zealanders had not taken an active part in the planning of our nation’s future. They had not been vocal in expressing their aspirations for this country. They had confined their aspirations to themselves and their families. Our future generations need to be confident and proud of being New Zealanders, and need to enjoy the benefits of making their contributions as world citizens.

Much has changed and progressed in the last 14 years. Examinations in Chinese at Bursary level were introduced in 1998, after many years of community lobbying. Nowadays second-language learning is part of the school curriculum. Consultation documents for a code of community values first appeared in the Chinese language; nowadays official documents and communication are regularly presented in multi-language format. Immigration policy is important to ethnic communities, and consultation with them is now accepted. Celebrations such as the Lantern Festival and Diwali are held throughout the country, and people from all walks of life are participating. The early discussions of the Asian police strategy have now evolved into an ethnic policing strategy. The lobbying for Asian liaison personnel to be added into the police force has now been extended to recruiting Asian uniformed police. Workshops were held with the ethnic catering sector, with regard to major changes to food safety legislation. The first Asian health survey was launched by the then Health Minister, the Hon Bill English. Chinese traditional medicine practitioners and acupuncturists have made their views known, as accredited providers, with regard to regulation and ACC. In the establishment of the one Auckland City Council, there is a provision in the legislation to set up an Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel. Asians now participate in the policy and decision-making process.

One of the more vocal and political movements was the 8,400-signature petition against the change made to extend the citizenship qualifying period from 3 to 5 years in 2005. A compromised change was made, as a result, not to extend the change to permanent residence holders at the time. Protest meetings were held when changes were made to raise thresholds of English language requirements, and after the lapse of thousands of overseas immigration applications. In 2008 thousands of Asians marched in Botany, protesting the killing in 9 days of three Asians. National’s promise of a tough law and order policy, as well as a promise of 600 additional police, were well-received. Asian New Zealanders are no longer silent bystanders; they make their views known and voices heard.

On a more sombre note, my ongoing involvement in two high-profile domestic violence cases, when two mothers were killed by their husbands, was a chilling reminder that these cases are just the tip of the iceberg. They resulted in one 5-year-old boy growing up with his grandmother in New Zealand, and “Little Pumpkin” being looked after by her grandmother in China. She and her grandmother were the main reason for me to stop by in China in 2008. These human tragedies prompted me to ask the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to work with the Office of Ethnic Affairs to launch the intimate partner violence project in ethnic communities. My vision for ethnic New Zealanders is for them to be confident, equal, and proud.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs links up ethnic business people with mainstream businesses and relevant Government departments so they can be part of the solution for New Zealand’s economic growth. It is important in a modern, multi-ethnic society that Government departments adopt an ethnic policy framework to ensure that policy development takes into account the interests of today’s composition of New Zealanders. New Zealand can be proud that for 2 years in a row it has been named the most peaceful country in the world, because we celebrate diversity in faith and ethnicity beyond tolerance. We play an active part and are well respected in the world for our initiatives in interfaith dialogues. Our country has tremendous human resources, as long as we ensure that we see our ethnic New Zealanders for what they can add rather than for how they should conform to be Kiwi.

In my short 2 years as the first Minister of Women’s Affairs of Asian ethnicity, I have come to appreciate the international reputation of the status of New Zealand women on the world stage. It was exciting to lead a delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women’s conference, of 9,000 attendees. New Zealand played an active and effective part in fast tracking the establishment of the streamlined UN women’s entity; it should bring sharp focus to promoting gender equality. I also had the pleasure of presenting New Zealand at the APEC Women Leaders Network forum in Japan, and the women business leaders forum at the Shanghai expo.

Those two forums coincided with the relaunch of the celebration of Suffrage Day in New Zealand, when 117 years ago New Zealand women were the first in the world to gain the right to vote. We should do more to celebrate, acknowledge, and leverage our proud history. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs nowadays is sharply focused on increasing the number of women in boardrooms, especially in listed companies. It is time that the New Zealand Exchange followed Australia’s lead and introduced a gender disclosure requirement for listed companies. International literature and research findings have established that having more women on boards improves business performance.

Women in the economy is another area in which I look forward to seeing progress, by having more women in trade, flexible work-practice templates, and pathways for moving from low-paid jobs, and by tracking the income differentiation between graduate men and women. All those work streams contribute to the closing of the gender pay gap. I am pleased to observe that this year the gender pay gap between women and men dropped to 10.6 percent, the lowest level since the first annual income survey in 1998. I am proud of the continued, relentless Government efforts of introducing legislation as well as actions to eliminate violence against women. It is important that ethnic women are included in the task force, because it is unacceptable for any woman to be a victim of domestic and sexual violence.

Mr Speaker, I acknowledge you for restoring the decorum of the debating chamber. I came in as one of the class of 1996, the first MMP Parliament, and I acknowledge the remaining seven of that class. To the many supportive parliamentary colleagues, thank you for your goodwill and friendship. To the Clerk of the House, the Cabinet Office, the staff of Parliament, Ministerial Services, and Bellamy’s, and the ministerial drivers, thank you all for your services, and a special thank you to both my electorate and parliamentary office staff. To Jimmy Anderson, I wish you a happy and well-earned retirement from the VIP Transport Service.

My privilege and opportunity to be the first New Zealand MP of Asian ethnicity was due to the foresight of the National Party leadership. Nowadays, it is accepted that ethnic New Zealanders can and will become parliamentarians. I am indebted to our Asian advisory groups and members of the Botany electorate—your support and commitment has enabled me to sustain the demand of public service. I am pleased to be labelled the Kiwi daughter of the dragon, by media in China, in playing a role in the fostering of relationships between New Zealand and China, as well as Asia. The journey has been remarkable and it is time for me to exit the political life. Sammy, I am coming home.