Maiden Statements

It is an honour to stand and speak for the first time in this Chamber, in the New Zealand House of Representatives.

Just over a month ago I was elected as the member of Parliament for the Botany Electoral District. Botany is one of New Zealand’s most diverse constituencies. It is also the newest electorate in New Zealand. Having lived locally for some years, I have seen much of the electorate grow from farmland to the tightly packed suburbs that it is today. One-third of the Botany population is of Asian descent, and almost half of all residents were born overseas.

The people of Botany were kind enough to put me here, and, for however long they allow me to stay—and it is their decision, ultimately—I will be a staunch and loyal advocate for my community’s best interests. I sincerely thank the people of Botany for putting their faith in me and electing me to the forty-ninth Parliament. I also acknowledge the National Party and my campaign team for the support I was shown during the recent Botany by-election. It takes a dedicated, hard-working, and passionate team of volunteers to make it all happen. I owe a great deal to many of the people sitting in the public gallery this afternoon for all the time and effort they put in on my behalf.

I am proud to be joining the National Party caucus at this time. I am proud to be part of a fair-minded, focused, and effective team that is working hard to make New Zealand an even more vibrant, successful, and great nation. I am also proud of two very special ladies in my life who have always had my best interests at heart. Without my wife, Lucy, and my grandmother Sharron, I doubt I would be standing here today.

I did not have an easy start to life. It is a common misconception that National MPs were all born with silver spoons in their mouths. That certainly did not occur in my case. My mother was young when she had me, and my father was nothing more than a faceless name that never stepped up to life’s responsibilities. Having just finished raising three girls on her own, my grandmother decided that it was her job to give her young grandson the best start to life that he could possibly ask for. She raised me in our small flat in South Auckland, where we lived from week to week as she looked after her own frail mother at the same time. My grandmother is the reason I did not become a statistic. In the most public way that I could possibly say this, thank you, Nana, for the love and support you showed me, and for giving me everything I could have asked for. May every child born into difficult circumstances in this country be as lucky as I have been.

Five years ago I met another incredible woman, a young archaeologist at the University of Auckland. Since we met, my wife, Lucy, has been my biggest supporter, my toughest critic, and my most solid anchor to the real world. I have been told that Parliament can be harder on spouses than it is on MPs. Although this place will become a big part of my life, I will always remember that I was a husband first, long before I set foot in this Chamber.

I recognise the fact that I am also the product of an amazing school, and one of New Zealand’s largest charities, Dilworth School. For those who do not know, Dilworth School was founded in 1906 under the terms of the will of an Irish-born farmer and businessman, James Dilworth. Dilworth and his wife, Isabella, had no children of their own, but they wanted to ensure that their wealth and their life’s work were put to good use. James Dilworth was very specific about the concept he wanted for the school. He wanted to provide “an education for as many boys as possible from families in straitened circumstances to ensure that those boys become good and useful citizens.” That basic concept has not changed in 100 years.

I enter this House as the fourth Dilworth old boy, following in the footsteps of the Hon Harry Lapwood, the Hon Dr Michael Bassett—who is here today—and the Rt Hon Mike Moore. I am pleased to be able to even up the balance between Dilworth Labour MPs and Dilworth National MPs.

I joined the National Party because we believe in giving New Zealanders the freedom to choose their own destiny and reap the rewards for doing so. We believe in one standard for citizenship and in treating all New Zealanders equally, and we believe that national and personal security must be protected for the benefit of the country as a whole. The National Party seeks a safe, prosperous, and successful New Zealand—a New Zealand that allows all Kiwis to reach their hopes and dreams. And long may it continue.

I can promise the Prime Minister and my new caucus colleagues that for as long as I am a National member of this Parliament I will be an ardent advocate for the National Party and for agreed policies. But I understand that during one’s maiden statement it is appropriate to outline for the House one’s own personal beliefs and political views. I now wish to do just that.

I am a staunch believer in limited government. I believe Government intervention in the lives of New Zealanders must be minimal, and take place only where necessary. I believe the State should provide help to those in need, but on the basis of need, not desire. I believe that the Government must protect the private and personal security of citizens from foreign or domestic attack. I believe the State should provide access to essential services like health and education when the private sector is unable to provide these services profitably. Above all else, we should instil in the nation a culture of personal responsibility and self-sufficiency.

It has been my observation, during my time as a city councillor, that as politicians we have a natural tendency to want to legislate, and a natural tendency to want to throw funding at an issue or to regulate, often in a way that limits the freedoms of everyday New Zealanders. I submit to this House that in making decisions, the principles of freedom and liberty must be overriding considerations in everything we do.

In my view, one of the greatest observations of the 20th century came from Ronald Reagan during his first inaugural address. Speaking about the problems of decades of bloated bureaucracy, the problems of an overreaching State, and the economic ills of a Government that thought it could spend its way out of many of the problems it encountered, he commented that government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem.

As politicians, too often we jump to pass laws without first trusting New Zealanders to do the right thing. Too often we think we know best how New Zealanders should be spending their own money, when instead we need to realise that the collective intelligence of a nation far surpasses anything we as politicians can devise ourselves. Too often we seek to interfere in the private lives of individuals without first questioning whether we were ever asked to do so.

Governments should not be judged solely on how many laws they pass that, rightly or wrongly, increase the size of the State or further restrict our freedoms; Governments should be judged also on how many unnecessary statutes and regulations they remove, further reducing restrictions and compliance regimes and ridding the country of the shackles of socialism that have been built up over many decades gone past.

Socialism is a failed experiment. The socialist doctrine seeks to close the gap between rich and poor—a reasonable goal. But rather than doing so by incentivising wealth creation, socialism seeks to redistribute the limited resources of wealth creators by using the coercive power of the State. If tax and spend was all we had to do to achieve what we wanted, then every nation on earth would be a glowing utopia of human desire. Clearly that is not the case. If I may paraphrase Baroness Thatcher, the problem with this approach and the problem with socialism is that eventually we run out of other people’s money to spend. The problem with trying to spend our way towards closing the gap between rich and poor is that eventually we all collectively become poorer. I have faith that this National-led Government will continue to progress an agenda of reform that seeks to concentrate resources on core front-line services by reducing red tape and distancing ourselves from a time when social engineering was the predominant focus.

As a new member of Parliament, I join the ranks of members past and present who are proud to call themselves Māori. But although I am an individual of Māori descent, I consider myself a New Zealander first and foremost. I have Ngāti Porou blood running through my veins, but I assure the House that I am a New Zealander who believes strongly in one standard of citizenship.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an exceptionally important document in New Zealand. It has a very simple and succinct text, but one that must be read in its entirety. We often hear of the principles of kāwanatanga as expressed in article 1, and tino rangatiratanga as expressed in article 2. Sadly, the often forgotten part of the Treaty is article 3. The Kāwharu translation of the Māori version of article 3 reads: “For this agreed arrangement therefore concerning the Government of the Queen, the Queen of England will protect all the ordinary people of New Zealand and will give them the same rights and duties of citizenship as the people of England.”

I am not convinced that we have yet reached the point in New Zealand where we calmly and honestly talk about the relationship between Māori and non-Māori in the context of article 3. My strong belief in one standard of citizenship means that I believe in fair, full, and final settlement of Treaty grievances, with a strong emphasis on the word “final”. Believing in one standard of citizenship means that I will treat every single one of my constituents equally, regardless of the colour of their skin.

It also means that I do not subscribe to the view that I or any New Zealander of Māori descent require special seats to be elected to Parliament, to councils, or to any other body in this country. It is my hope that the people of New Zealand will be given the opportunity in the near future to examine the role of Māori seats in Parliament by way of referendum. I am a New Zealander of Māori descent, and proudly so, but I hope to challenge the status quo in my time here. I will be criticised along the way, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with saying that all New Zealanders should be treated equally. He iwi tahi tātou—we are all one people.

I have been impressed so far with this Government’s strong emphasis on law and order issues. It is a fundamental responsibility of the Government to keep everyday Kiwis safe. New Zealanders have had a perception for a long period of time that as a nation we are too soft on crime. We should not be. In 2008, 15,000 members of the Asian community marched through the streets of Botany protesting against violent crime. Good on them for taking that stand. New Zealanders expect the State to keep them safe and secure.

They also expect the State to take a hard line on those who infect our society with their lack of respect and their disdain for the rights of their fellow citizens. We should not be afraid to say that criminals are bad people. We should not be afraid to say that the softly softly, “wrap them up in cotton wool” approach of the past is ineffective. And we should not be afraid to say that inmates deserve to have it tough in prison—so tough that they never want to put a foot wrong again—but also with an emphasis on rehabilitation to help break the vicious cycle of crime and reoffending. If the State fails to keep the citizens of a nation safe and secure, then the State has failed its citizens.

I enter this House with a strong set of beliefs and ideals. I am a centre-right fiscal conservative, someone who believes in individual freedom, equality, and the maintenance of law and order. Undoubtedly, some of those ideals will be moulded and tempered over time to align with what is achievable, but although politics may be the art of the possible, politics without principle is nothing more than a naked power grab.

I want my constituents to have the right to exercise their free will to make the most of the time they have on this earth. I want our nation to be proud. I want our nation to be prosperous. I want every child born in New Zealand to be able to access quality schools and universities. I want every adult to seek to be a productive member of society, where they do not have to rely on the State to prop them up. I want our nation to be a centre of brilliance, where achievement is rewarded and innovation and excellence can thrive, where we value and protect our personal freedoms, and where we celebrate every day all that is great about our New Zealand.

I am honoured to have been elected to the forty-ninth Parliament. I come here to be what James Dilworth called a good and useful citizen. I am honoured to have been elected to serve the people of Botany as their member of Parliament, and serve I shall.

Sitting suspended from 5.59 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.