Motions — Breakers—Australian National Basketball League Championship Victory

I seek leave to move a motion without notice on the success of the New Zealand Breakers basketball team.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.

I move, That this House congratulate the New Zealand Breakers on their outstanding victory in the Australian National Basketball League. When the Breakers won their first National Basketball League—NBL—championship title on Friday evening they capped off a fantastic season and made New Zealand sporting history. They became the first New Zealand team to win an Australian-based, A-grade professional sporting championship. This is a huge accomplishment. The Breakers’ hard work over the past 8 years is now reaping rewards.

It is great to see a team with so much Kiwi talent in the ranks take out this title. From a 13-man squad, 10 are genuine locals eligible to play, with just three import players. There is a mix of seasoned New Zealand basketball players and some great younger talent combined with players from overseas. The club pulled together an excellent team to take out the title.

I know that all members of this House will join with me in congratulating the coach, Andrej Lemanis, the retiring captain, Paul Hēnare, and the team on a thoroughly deserved victory. At times some people have regarded basketball as a minority sport in this country, but this success proves otherwise. The Breakers can stand tall in New Zealand’s sporting history.

The Labour Opposition joins with the Prime Minister in his congratulation of the Breakers. There is probably some dissent around the country, but some of us thought that that game was the highlight of Friday night New Zealand time.

I was lucky enough to be there. I thank my colleague Jacinda, who won the lottery and managed to get through—one of the 500,000 people who attempted to get through. She got through. I think it is fair to say that some of her background and her association with the Mormon faith and their basketballers came out. I did not think that a member of Parliament could scream as loud as she did during that match. It was absolutely clear that there was enthusiasm from Labour members of Parliament at the match during that time.

I also pay tribute to my friend Tau’s cousin Paul Hēnare, who for 8 years has been a leading New Zealand basketballer. He took the team through. If anything exemplified the attitude of that team, it was his shot from the floor during the third quarter.

I add the Green Party’s congratulations to the Breakers. These trans-Tasman sporting competitions are tough ones, and we have struggled. But the New Zealand Breakers have been absolutely dominant in that competition from the very beginning of the season. They gave us a heart-stopping moment losing in the second game of the finals, but it was fantastic to see them resurgent in that final game. Congratulations to Paul Hēnare and the team. We fully support the Prime Minister’s motion, and let us hope that this will be the leading light for some of those other New Zealand teams in netball and, for goodness’ sake, can the Warriors please be next.

It is a pleasure to stand on behalf of the ACT Party—

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. This is a question of the correction of the method you used to address Mr Boscawen. My understanding is that he has resigned from the executive and is, therefore, no longer—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: The Speaker can only act on advice that the Speaker has received. I am not aware of having received any such advice yet, so I have to act as I am advised.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I say to Mr Mallard that no, I have not resigned, but I will be doing so shortly.

The ACT Party extends its best wishes to the Breakers. It is interesting that this was a trans-Tasman competition, because the Breakers was the first New Zealand sports team to actually win an Australian competition. Is it not about time that the members of this Parliament start to address how we address the changes in the income and prosperity of this country with that of Australia? It is interesting to hear the heckles, because we are celebrating success. The Breakers represent success. They won an Australian competition—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: I apologise to the honourable member. I say to members of the House that I cannot hear. The member is speaking loudly, yet I cannot hear him. I accept that my ears are far from perfect, but the noise is too loud and totally unreasonable.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will conclude by simply saying the ACT Party congratulates the Breakers. We look forward to further victories in New Zealand - Australian competition. Thank you.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Kia ora tātou katoa. Kei te whaiwhai haere i ngā kōrero kua puta i te ahiahi nei ki te whakanui i te āhuatanga o te rōpū Breakers, me mihi rā ka tika.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker, and greetings to us all. Following up on the congratulatory messages to the Breakers team this afternoon, it is most appropriate that this is done.]

Unfortunately, I was tied up at a wānanga from about 5 p.m. on Friday evening until Sunday, so I did not actually see the game, I missed the wedding, and I missed the launch of a political party. Be that as it may, I was focused on learning whakapapa, karakia, and whaikōrero, and we dived into the depths of Māori knowledge on this particular wānanga. But fortunately, as we were getting to the real depth of this mātauranga, texts came flying through every 5 minutes about the state of the nation in terms of the Breakers, so we were able to keep up with progress in amongst learning the traditional knowledge of Te Ao Māori.

I follow up other speakers by saying the Māori Party also acknowledges the work that has been done by the coach, Mr Lemanis, and also by the captain, Paul Hēnare, and acknowledges the team for a magnificent effort, of course. It goes on the back of a lot of history for New Zealand basketball across the board, in terms of attacking our Australian colleagues over there at an international level. We have had our role models at a national level, with the likes of Pero Cameron and so on, who was the New Zealand Sportsperson of the Year a few years ago. We hope that the success over the weekend will produce more successes in the future. This is not about me, but my daughter is in the New Zealand basketball team for her age group, and they look at the Breakers every week. They look at those role models in basketball and hope to aspire to the same levels as they do—[Interruption]—unlike Shane Jones’ whānau, who are not quite there yet.

Be that as it may, the Māori Party is absolutely supportive of the efforts of the basketball team. But, more important, we hope that we build on it from here, that we do not just say we have won and leave it at that, but that we go after a second title in a year’s time. The Māori Party hopes that we look to the future and build on the success of the weekend. Thank you.

I join with others who have congratulated the Breakers on a superb achievement last Friday night. Successes of this type are rare and wondrous; they deserve to be celebrated. I simply say to the House that when the House takes time out of its normal business to move a motion to congratulate a team on its achievement or an individual or group on their successes, it should do so with a measure of decorum. It is a matter of disrespect to the Breakers that the debate this afternoon has proceeded in the way it has, where other political events have been dragged into the debate. The motion is about congratulating the Breakers on its achievement. We should be united as a Parliament in doing so. I, for one, unreservedly am.

Motion agreed to.