Address in Reply

Before the adjournment yesterday evening I was talking about transport and the fact that in New Zealand over the last few years, after a very long period of under-investment, this Government has spent many billions of dollars investing in roads of national significance, regional roads, and the like. That is a fantastic record. This morning I had great pleasure—and Phil Twyford, given the urbanist he is, will be very delighted in what I am saying—to go to Redwood Station here in Wellington and see part of what is nearly a half-billion-dollar investment by this Government in metropolitan rail. The $88 million project is about a third of the way through. I was there with my friend the Hon Todd McClay. That is part of $1.7 billion this Government is investing in metropolitan rail in this country because we believe in roads, we believe in public services, and, of course, we believe in cycleways, where we are investing $100 million over the next 3 years into projects all around New Zealand.

Of course, in energy, the other portfolio I am delighted to be Minister in—a great portfolio—we are going to sensibly explore our opportunities and resources out at sea and in New Zealand. We will do that with the highest environmental and health and safety standards and that is absolutely right. But we are pursuing a balanced approach where we are also doing great work in renewables, whether it is bioenergy, solar, wind, geothermal, or the like.

To conclude my remarks in this debate, it is a privilege to be back as part of a Government that is focused on what matters to New Zealand, that has a renewed sense of purpose and vigour, and that is going to govern resolutely and humbly for all New Zealanders in this country.

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Before the next speaker commences, I wonder whether you might want to bring the House to a little bit of order. I could barely hear what Simon Bridges was saying, and I think there are a number of things happening around the House that mean the next speaker is not going to get a fair hearing either.

The point is well made. The House will observe some courtesy while members are speaking.

It gives me great pleasure in this Address in Reply debate to recognise your election as Deputy Speaker, and alongside yourself to congratulate the Speaker on his re-election, Assistant Speaker Tisch, and Assistant Speaker Mallard, proving once and for all that the odd poacher makes a great gamekeeper.

Can I also acknowledge the newly elected and returning members and I would especially like to acknowledge amongst our Labour benches Peeni Henare, Adrian Rurawhe, and Jenny Salesa—all entering Parliament for the first time as part of the almost clean sweep of the Māori electorates by the Labour Party under the leadership of our Māori affairs spokesperson, Nanaia Mahuta, and the strongest Pacific team that Labour has ever had in its parliamentary history. So we are absolutely delighted with that result.

Can I also take some personal pleasure in acknowledging the return to Parliament of Stuart Nash, Carmel Sepuloni, and, of course, Kelvin Davis, who came in just before the election—very valued colleagues whom it is wonderful to have back on the team and raising the bar for all of us. It is great to have you back.

I want to warmly recognise all of the new members and the returning members from around the House. May you have a positive, a productive, and a highly entertaining time in this House. There is nothing else like it. This is the place where we deal with the market place of ideas, the clash of ideas, but within the framework of the democracy that we can all stand behind and alongside.

The Address in Reply debate is the opportunity for the Government to set out the general themes of the approach it will take to governing in this term, and for the Opposition to note the approach that it will take in response. We do so against the background of an election loss that was for Labour and the rest of the progressive parties in this country a very serious defeat. We recognise that voters have spoken. We are listening hard to New Zealanders. As a former leader, I have taken responsibility by resigning my role and acknowledging that there is a great deal for us to learn. We in the Labour Party are going through a proper and constitutional process to re-elect a new leader. It is a process that after much reflection I have decided is in the best interests of the party that I stand aside from. Like all members of the party, I give my 100 percent commitment to support whomever comes out of that process and ask all members of the Labour Party to do exactly the same.

The values for which the party stands are as important today as they have ever been—the values that every New Zealander is created equal, and is, therefore, worthy of equal opportunities and the dignity of a decent job, a warm, dry home, opportunities for all our children, a health and education system that we can trust, and the dream that each generation will do better than the one before. Those are Labour’s values. They are as relevant to New Zealand families today as they have ever been. But the way that we communicate, the way that we organise, and the way that we deliver on those values, clearly, we must rethink. We are going to be doing just that with a widespread review of our 2014 campaign in the context of the broader political environment and our recent history. I and the rest of the party will be taking extremely seriously the results of that review so that we can bring to New Zealanders more effectively a message of hope and renewal in years to come.

The priorities that on behalf of New Zealanders we campaigned on in 2014 are not, I believe, the wrong ones. Jobs, homes, and families—even members of the Government would agree, I think—are the basics that every New Zealander deserves. Our values of the dignity of work and of being able to get a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work are as relevant now as ever. It is true—and I know Mr English will be following on from this speech—that the Government has been returned on the basis of a cyclical high in our economy, cruising towards a growth rate of better than 3 percent, perhaps close to 4 percent, this year, despite the fact that dairy prices have already peaked and are now down by nearly 50 percent; that log prices are falling; and that we have not weaned ourselves away from the rollercoaster of an out—of—control property market. The underlying weaknesses, the structural problems, the lack of transformation, the lack of jobs in all our regions, and the growing gap between rich and poor, which impacts disproportionately on many of the communities that are represented here in Parliament today—all of those issues remain to be squarely confronted.

The lack of a regional development plan, the lack of a transformation agenda—in regional development, I believed that that was so important that as leader I kept that portfolio. I am delighted that we have got a win in Napier under Stuart Nash and that we have held Palmerston North under Iain Lees-Galloway, and I am sure that this will be a priority for the Labour Opposition going forward this term. That is why we started a new regional development fund, that is why we started the NZ Inc. fund—to challenge smart, sustainable growth around the country.

Meanwhile, the Government’s real agenda is becoming more obvious. On jobs, on this the very first day available for new legislation, National is introducing a bill, as predicted, to take away smokos and lunch breaks. It is absolutely petty, Dickensian trickle-down economics, which will actively widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Shame—if it were not such a tragedy, it would be a joke that on its first legislating day the Government is stripping away from hard-working New Zealanders the rights and protections that have been built up over many years.

It is the same way in homes and in housing. We went through a campaign where National trumpeted two things. It trumpeted the ability to have housing accords that have delivered only five—

💬 Phil Twyford: No, six—six.

—six, by their own admission, new homes—

💬 Phil Twyford: 12 months.

—in 12 months. That is one new home every 2 months. In the meantime, property values in Auckland in the last 3 years have increased by over a third. That might be fine for people who already have one, but it is going to lock out of the Kiwi dream the next generation of young New Zealanders, and that is a tragedy. My children, your children, and your grandchildren are losing the dream of owning their own home.

Families are as important as ever. The Government window dresses about child poverty, but omits from its priority targets even the measurement of child poverty and abuses the Official Information Act by suppressing for 17 months crucial reports about the state of child poverty in New Zealand.

The Government’s modus operandi is now clear. Nowhere—nowhere—in the campaign did it say that it would be privatising the entire State housing stock. There is no mandate for that action. Nowhere in the campaign—nowhere in the campaign—did it say that it would commit us to a war in Iraq. It specifically excluded boots on the ground. Now, little by little, the Prime Minister is trying to soft-sell to New Zealanders the idea of an SAS deployment against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Nowhere in the campaign did the Government say that it would rush through more security legislation to backfill the last measure that it needed to make lawful—a 12-month programme to tap the Southern Cross cable, which it later had to suspend. Nowhere did Government members campaign on reducing New Zealanders’ rights and freedoms further, including by the selective use—some would say “the abuse”—of classified intelligence information to create fear within New Zealand and to divide communities of New Zealanders against each other.

We have seen—and I will conclude on this because I believe it will be an important theme over the next 3 years—the abuse of the Official Information Act. We have seen the selective use of intelligence information. We have seen the systematic deployment by the National Party and its friends of attack websites, paid thinktanks, and underhand tactics, the suppression of information, and the denigration of journalists, and that drives down our democracy, which is precious. We will uphold it.

Why is that man, David Cunliffe, not the leader of the Labour Party? He is articulate, if not eloquent. He has got the best rhetorical hand movements in the business, and what is more, he is experienced. He has been a Minister. He has run an election campaign. He came through the TV debates right up there with John Key. Why is he not the leader of the Labour Party? Wait—perhaps one day he will be. As my colleague said: “Cunliffe for 2023.”

💬 Tim Macindoe: A bit soon.

Well, they will still be in Opposition, but, yeah, maybe a bit soon. What Mr Cunliffe demonstrated is what is at the heart of the definition of a cult—that is, irrational and extraordinary self-belief. David Parker was right. Actually, he exemplifies it more than most of them. He called the Labour Party a cult because Labour members still believe that New Zealanders are in the thrall of an extremist, neo-liberal, centre-right Government that deceived them in 2008, that Helen Clark should still be the Prime Minister, and that tax deductibility of research and development is what is going to change the world.

I disagree with my colleague Jonathan Coleman. The other day he said the Labour members are in the fifth stage of grief. I do not think they are. I think they have not yet reached the first stage, which is realising that they lost the 2008 election because New Zealanders did not like their direction and policy. How do we know they do not believe it? Because they campaigned on the same policies in 2014 as in 2008, which actually happened to be about the same policies that they campaigned on in 1996, 1999, 2002, and 2005. So the Labour Party one day will admit this basic fact: the voters are right and it is Labour that is wrong, and it will not have the cultish belief that Labour is right and the voters are wrong.

Actually, we saw it on the campaign trail, because one of the reasons that John Key led this Government to a victory in that campaign was his fundamental belief in the capacity of New Zealanders to run their own lives and do what is best for New Zealand. Time and again during the campaign when we were saying that over the last 4 or 5 years New Zealanders have had to readjust the way they do things, they have made changes in their households and in their workplaces, they have adjusted their debt, they have been careful with their spending, and we’re headed in the right direction, the Labour Party was saying: “No, no, New Zealanders got it wrong. They made their decisions when we should have been the Government—it should have been us. We know best.” It is pretty simple; that is why people did not vote for them. Time and again we saw the Labour Party telling New Zealanders that they have done it all wrong. Well, they have not. They have done it all right.

And we now have six former leaders in the Labour Party to demonstrate that probably, in the long run, the voters—they are holding out—will outlast the next Labour leadership reshuffle. It is not an election anymore; it is a reshuffle. You used to reshuffle spokesmen but now you reshuffle leaders. Whose turn will it be? Is it Andrew? Is it Grant? Who lost the most weight? The right name for the Labour leadership campaign is “The Biggest Loser”, because whoever wins it will certainly lose the next one. That is how it is going to work, because that is what has happened with the last four Labour leaders. So on “Planet Labour”, winning is losing. The only thing you know when you win the Labour Party leadership is that you will certainly lose it.

In the meantime the Government is getting on with the job of building on the sustainability of this economy, and there are a number of promising indications—no guarantees, but promising indications—that this economy can keep producing more jobs and higher incomes for a number of years. For instance, our concerns about inflation have moderated. We are unlikely to go into the kind of inflation spiral we went into in the mid-2000s under the Labour Government. Inflation is moderating. Unemployment is dropping pretty consistently. That is why Kiwis are staying home—unemployment is dropping here; it is going up in Australia. But that is another good sign. The fact that New Zealanders are staying home is another good sign. It also looks as if it is possible that we will have a slightly lower cycle in interest rates this time round. Our first-mortgage rates will not reach 10 percent as they did in 2008 and the labour market is proving to be pretty flexible. We are able as a country to rebuild Christchurch—we have got enough people to do it—as well as growing our other businesses and growing employment.

The Government is working on the kinds of policies that will underpin an extension of that sustainable economic growth, and we will continue to focus on the Business Growth Agenda, very ably run by my colleague Steven Joyce. Those are a whole lot of detailed decisions that all add up to an environment where businesses will invest another dollar and employ another person, where Kiwis with a bit of initiative realise it is going to be worthwhile stepping out and taking a risk. So we will continue with the Business Growth Agenda. Also, we are going to focus on two other things that are really critical to the success of this economic cycle. One is to maintain slightly contractionary fiscal policy. One of the reassuring things about the election campaign was general political agreement that relatively tight fiscal policy is the right thing for this economy. Of course, the trick is that when you are the Government, you actually have to execute that. We are in pretty good shape to do that although it will be difficult. The last thing this economy needs is a Government going on a spend-up, but if we are going to have tight fiscal policy, we have to really understand what drives the Government’s costs.

I want to recognise the efforts of my ministerial colleagues and our caucus through the last 4 or 5 years in holding to the line that we can produce better public services even with the same or less money, and that the measure of how much we care is not how much money we spend; it is what results we get. That is at the core of our fiscal discipline. The key to smaller government is better government; not bigger government but better government. And that means that we will be focusing very strongly on families and communities; not on the traditional way of saying we spent $100 million with the Ministry of Education and that is how you know that we care.

So the Government has a pretty challenging programme. New Zealanders’ expectations about the economy are high. They need to see this economy performing, and we are geared up to do what we can to ensure a high performing economy. They also expect that we will get results for the $70 billion or so that they hand to us every year to spend on their behalf, and those results are going to get more challenging to achieve. Getting the first 10 percent more kids through National Certificate of Educational Achievement, level 2, is bound to be easier than the next 10 percent. It is going to require more cooperation with communities, more cooperation across Government.

Finally, can I just acknowledge the National Party team: an outstanding leader in the Prime Minister, but a team of MPs, candidates, and volunteers who demonstrated the cohesion, the energy, and the teamwork that New Zealand has now come to expect as the benchmark for Government. They will not always agree with us in this term, but there is every commitment from this Government to maintain the same kind of cohesive, team-driven Government that respects New Zealanders and their efforts, that builds on their self-reliance and enterprise, and that does its best on behalf of all New Zealanders to create a better country for them. In particular—

💬 Tim Macindoe: A superb Minister of Finance.

Well, actually, a superb quote yesterday from the Minister of Finance’s maiden speech—I noticed how Mr Bishop cultivated favour with all the senior politicians that he has worked with over the years. He did not leave any of them out.

Coming into a third term, the Government remains more committed and, I believe, more capable of dealing with some of the bigger challenges like long-term welfare dependency; like the ability of our businesses to grow sustainably over time through a business cycle. We look forward, I have to say, to the day when the Greens, New Zealand First, and Labour get over their grief, get organised, and start putting a bit of pressure on us. I am just not sure how long that will take. At the moment the signs are not promising, but we will do better when they do better, and it is in the interests of the country that this hopeless rabble of an Opposition gets its act together.

Why is that man not still leader of the National Party, after an address like that from Parliament’s own master of irony? Clearly, Bill English has spent the last few months hoping against hope that Labour would wipe out his record of 20.93 percent. Sorry to not oblige—you are still the biggest loser.

It is an honour to be delivering my first contribution to this 51st Parliament. Like other speakers before me, I would like to congratulate you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and your fellow Speakers on your appointment to your roles. And I would like to welcome new members to this House, as other speakers before me have done as well. As someone who entered this House in the last intake, it is good not to be the fresh intake now but to have entered the fourth form rather than the third form.

💬 Carmel Sepuloni: It’s the naughty year.

The naughty year, I am told by my colleague Carmel Sepuloni. I would like to wish my colleagues well who in only a few short moments will give their maiden speeches to this House. That is a special occurrence, and I welcome their families and their friends who have travelled to be with them as they do this today. I, like every other member of this House, feel it is a privilege to be here and to represent the people of Wigram and their views, their aspirations, and their dreams in this important place. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the voters of Wigram and to thank my remarkable team of volunteers and supporters who helped return me to this House. I will be for ever in their debt.

So we have noticed that it is another term in Opposition and that we have got a job to do, that we need to oppose and we need to propose. We need to show New Zealanders how New Zealand could be different under a Labour Government. We have a programme of work ahead of us to achieve that. But, most important, it is our job on the Opposition benches to hold the Government to account, to not allow this Government to slide out from the problems that it has created. This is a Government that has to take responsibility for what it has put in place and the problems that are flowing from that.

We will take the debate to the Government throughout the next 3 years on all fronts because this is our job and this is a Government that has already shown us that it needs to be held to account. We can see that the Prime Minister is already leading us to a seemingly predetermined outcome regarding the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. We can see that privatisation is back and badder than ever on National’s agenda. National has plans to sell off billions of dollars of State houses, but was the electorate told about this before the election? No, it certainly was not. On this side of the House this is an event that we fear.

We know what we are going to see in our electorate offices as the housing shortage intensifies and people are not able to afford housing. I have piles of cases sitting in my electorate office of people who cannot afford a house to live in, and that is simply not acceptable. We know that employment relations are going to be under attack from this Government. They are a priority for Government. Smoko breaks will be gone—the cup of tea taken away by two men who famously sat down over a cup of tea in the gearing-up to the last Parliament. We have a Government that is intent on curbing workers’ rights. We can see that the vulnerable, in terms of housing and child poverty, are something that has to be addressed. We are going to keep the Prime Minister to his word on this. We want to know how he is going to address the issue of poverty. From campaigning and doorknocking over the last 18 months or so I have seen too much poverty in my electorate. I have seen poverty and I have smelt poverty, and we simply must find solutions to it.

We will also be holding the Prime Minister and the Government to account on the words spoken yesterday around his continued commitment to my home city, Christchurch, where he gave a continuing commitment “to stand beside the people of Canterbury as good progress is made on the earthquake rebuild. The rebuild will continue to occupy a great deal of Government attention in this term of Parliament. Big strides will be made this term on anchor projects and horizontal infrastructure.” Roading is important. No one denies that anchor projects are vitally important. But I implore this Government to prioritise before anything else putting a roof over Cantabrians’ heads. A rebuilt city, a just and fair city that people want to live in, is going to make housing its citizens a key priority. We have made clear our desire to work with the Government to make sure that we can have the very best rebuilt city that we can have. We hope that moving the function of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority into the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is not going to be just a bureaucratic shifting of deckchairs. We want to see real change on the ground for the people whom we represent.

We will also be holding the Government to account as more abuses of power are unravelled over the coming months. As John Armstrong noted in his column this morning—in unstartling news, to be fair—John Key made no mention of Dirty Politics in the Speech from the Throne yesterday. It was not one of the things he wanted to put up there in terms of the good news stories rolling out yesterday. This is a Government that is hoping that its recent electoral win will have pushed that out of the limelight, but this cannot be the case. There are serious and important questions that must be addressed. We have the evidence. We have all seen the documents. We know what has happened. We do know that there are men and women of honour at higher levels of the Beehive and in the National Party who will be appalled at what they have seen coming out from some members of their administration and their Government. This is not the way they want to govern and it is not the way they want to wield power.

No one in National has yet expressed the regret that you would expect over some of the disgraceful displays that we have seen in recent weeks. We heard in this House today during question time the Prime Minister splitting hairs over whether or not he was wearing his prime ministerial hat when he discussed with a blogger the mother of a West Coast person whom the blogger called feral. One of the things that causes me outrage about this is that I have not heard the outrage from National Party members, and particularly Canterbury National Party members, about the fact that Cantabrians were called scum who should be left there to rot.

💬 Carmel Sepuloni: Shame!

This is a shame. This is simply not the way we can do politics in this country. This is not what it is about. This is not about the fact that we have attacks on academic freedom, that we have attacks on anyone who wants to stand up and challenge the Government. Anyone out there who wants to challenge the Government should be very, very afraid. They have come for the West Coasters. They have come for Cantabrians. Who is next on the list?

We on this side of the House are not going to stand by and watch that happen. We are elected to hold the Government to account, and we will hold the Government to account on its abusive power. It is our job to stand up for the people whom we represent and people who want to challenge this Government. That is something we will not resile from in this Parliament. There is much for us to hold this Government to account for over this term. That is something that as a loyal Opposition we will execute to the best our abilities. We look forward to doing that throughout the course of this 51st Parliament.

Tēnā koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. He mihi nui ki te Aotearoa whānau whānui me talofa lava ngā tangata o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Tēnā koe i te Whare Pāremata. I would first like to congratulate you, Mr Deputy Speaker, all the other new Speakers, and all the other new members who have come to Parliament today. Welcome to the madness. That is often the only way I can describe it. I could not say in the affirmation ceremony, without threat of punishment, what I am going to say now. So I am going to say this now because I am sick of not being able to say it. I swear to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the true foundation of this nation and the double-hulled waka where we can build relationships by respecting tangata whenua, me tangata Tiriti. One day Parliament will have the courage to reflect this unique taonga in our swearing-in tikanga. In the meantime, ka whaiwhai tonu mātou [we will continue to pursue it].

I am here speaking as myself and as an MP. It is not a contradiction. The Prime Minister has difficulty figuring out who he is; some of us are very clear. I am here to speak today about child poverty, as the education spokesperson for the Greens. Child poverty has finally been acknowledged as a meme worthy of attention by our very reluctant Government. We call it child poverty because the poverty of many adults has become acceptable. The beggars on Lambton Quay are invisible. It is business as usual that people should beg in the streets of Aotearoa now, to our shame. We call it child poverty because the poverty of 260,000 children might have the power to prick the conscience of the comfortable. We hope that this is true, or we consign another generation to much less than they need from day one.

However, the focus groups have spoken to the Government and cannot be ignored. Something must be measured and something must be done. Education can be a site for social justice action on child poverty, but Treasury advice so far has not really made any difference. The 2007 advice to Government was that feeding children at school would not help learning or attendance. Great work, Treasury team! Let us test your theory and take you off breakfast and lunch every day at work, just for a month or so, just to see how you go. Will it affect the number crunching? Will it undermine morale? Will Treasury and analysts become hungry and angry, or distracted and weakened, and fail to provide advice to the country? Will those with no food feel ashamed and want to stay at home in hiding while the rest of the world eats their lunch? Will it matter? What about the MPs? What if we went without breakfast and lunch for a month? No sushi, my friends. No Lewis Road Creamery chocolate milk. No Weet-Bix. What would happen to us? It is our kids we are talking about every day.

Meanwhile, we have had the Prime Minister say that he will spend more on child poverty. His speech yesterday was very light on detail—so light that you could have missed that it was a priority at all. However, Radio New Zealand did get the Prime Minister to expand a little bit more this morning. He was sounding pretty relaxed, as usual, because it is only 15 percent of children needing breakfast every day. He denies it is really a crisis. However, he does not know whether they get lunch or dinner—he is just guessing. Child Poverty Action Group is not guessing. It says that it is a crisis. My own tour of decile 1 to 4 schools before the election last political term taught me that every school I visited was feeding children. In some cases, a large proportion—far more than 15 percent of the roll—were being fed every single day. Principals and teachers were providing lunch out of their own pockets, and, what is more, some schools were taking the leftovers from the breakfast programme to the mothers in the community to feed the preschoolers and the rest of the family. It is a slow, grinding, shameful process. We have left our children and families in a situation where those children’s ability to concentrate and to learn is not working. They are hungry and, for goodness’ sake, we should feed them.

The Green Party has some immediate and practical solutions for this one aspect of child poverty. We are delighted that Hone Harawira, who is a real loss to this Parliament, has gifted his “feed the kids” bill to Metiria Turei. I echo her words that we should unite in this Parliament, put aside ideology, and support this bill, which would provide breakfast and lunch. The charities are doing their bit, but it is not reaching all children, and charity is not a solution. It is also not a solution to put more of our resources into measuring individual deprivation. They can dream up the seven measures, or whatever they call them, but that will lead to a labelling of a child who ticks the seven boxes. Will they get lunch or a social worker? What about a child who ticks only four boxes? Will they get half a lunch, half a social worker? It is not a system that is going to work. The ideological aversion to tie a universal approach to addressing poverty is doomed to failure. But I guess a whole lot of people can spend a lot of time and money working on their data-rich targeting agendas. If no one knows what that means, do not worry. I do not know what it means, but they talk about it all the time—a data-rich targeting agenda. Wonderful! It is meaningless and it will not feed anybody, but a lot of people can spend time on it. These are what we call faux solutions. The elephants stomping across this room are decent wages and benefits, affordable housing, job creation, and access to a quality public education.

The Greens’ school hubs programme is a great part of the solution and was well received by all the schools we visited. We would pay for a school hubs coordinator to bring the people and the schools together to meet needs. We would provide resources for communities and schools to manage a lunch for all the children who need it. We would provide free out-of-school care and recreation and after-school care, provide a school nurse for our kids—which was available when I was young, many, many years ago—and also build 20 new early childhood centres on school grounds for all decile 1 to 4 schools and others who want to opt in. We can rebuild our communities through policies of justice and strategies that actually bring people together. They are already doing that in many, many schools. Teachers know that if you want kids to learn, they need to not be transient and under-housed, to not be hungry, and to not be suffering from social dislocation. They need to be looked after. Schools and communities know how to do this. It is time for the Government and Parliament to come to the party and work with them, instead of having another round of measuring, another round of denial, and another round of individualising structural poverty issues.

I want to talk a little bit about my other portfolios as well as education. We strongly believe in the Greens that we have the solutions to addressing poverty and that we will lead in our challenges during this term of Parliament. We will work with communities to make sure that our education policies and our child poverty programmes will actually address the issues.

One of the other portfolios I am going to work on is water. Water is life. There is no life without water, and yet we are stripping our waterways, we are polluting our waterways, and we are taking away the essentials—not only the food but the water. Things are getting to an interesting dilemma in this country. I am also going to be working on issues such as human rights. Included in that will be my campaign to stand up with the people of West Papua, who are experiencing genocide. It is a country not so far from here, where there is no media freedom and where there is a trial of two French journalists right now. The people there are regularly locked up for raising their Morning Star flag—they can get 15 years in prison. So I am going to be standing here for human rights. I am also going to be standing here for Te Tiriti and for toxic chemicals—an interesting combination. The Treaty is not toxic, but the way in which we approach is becoming toxic when we cannot even mention it properly in this House.

There is a lot of work to be done, and the Green Party is determined that this term we will be a positive, constructive, agenda-setting Opposition. We will show leadership to a Government that is in a very complacent state, a very comfortable mode, but that actually does not have the majority of people in this country voting for it. It does not have the support of all the nation. It does not have the answers and it does not have the plans.

In the education portfolio, for example, there is no plan for early childhood education; there is just the market—there is just Kidicorp. In terms of schools there is no plan; there are charter schools and privatisation. We constantly see people articulating in this House, and I am afraid that some of the maiden speeches did it yesterday, and arguing for the ideology of free-market economics as manifest by the gentlemen who sat in the chair yesterday—we saw Roger Douglas and the others—who have brought this country to the state that it is in. They were advocating for more of the same—more poverty, more inequality, more child hunger, more lack in terms of vision, planning, and programmes that can support us. We do not believe the State will finish everything; we believe that the State and communities can address these issues. We will stand up together on those issues with our communities. Kia ora tātou katoa.

E te Māngai o tēnei Whare, tēnā koe, otirā, tēnā tātau katoa. Me mihi au ki aku mātua o Te Āti Awa me Ngāti Toa nā rātau nei te mihi i āhei ai mātou ki te noho mai ki roto i tēnei Whare, ki runga hoki i tēnei papa. E te Māngai o te Whare e tautoko ana tēnei ihu hūpe i ngā mihi rangatira i ūhia ki runga i a koe, i a koutou ko te kāhui whakahaere i tēnei Whare, ō koutou whānau hoki, e ngā toki o Te Whare i te rā tuatahi i noho ai Te Whare i te Mane nei, e mihi ana ki aku huānga, ki ngā iwi tangata whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau, ko Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei, ko Te Waiōhua, ko Marutūahu ērā, ā, me Tainui whānui, ē ko Te Kīngi Māori ē! Kāti ake ki a koe e te pāpā, e Koro, kua kotahi nei tāua ki raro i te maru o tō tāua Kīngi, tēnā koe, tēnā koe, tēnā koe.

Ka kauria mai au i te moana kānapanapa o Te Wai o Te Matā kia tū mai ki runga o Pukekawa i reira nei a Te Wherowhero e noho ana. Ka rere arorangi taku titiro ki Ōhinerau, arā, ko Te Kōpuke kia tau au ki te pūtake o Maungawhau. Ka piki ki runga kia titiro iho au ki Te Ipu o Mataoho. Ka huri atu taku rae ki Riukiuta, ā, ko Wairaka kei te uru. Kō tata mai ko Te Ahikā o Rākataura. Ka hoki whakarunga ko Puketāpapa, ko Waitakere—ē! Kātahi atu rā ki te maunga rongonui, ko Maungakiekie, kai tōna pūtake ko Rarotonga. Mai i Rarotonga ki Mutukāroa, ko Ōtahuhu, arā, ko te tāhuhutanga o te waka o Tainui, tapotu ki te moana, ko Te Mānukanuka o Hoturoa. Kai uta ko Te Pane o Mataoho, arā, ko Te Ara Pueru. Tū tata tonu mai, ko Maungataketake, ko Mātukutūruru, ko Mātukutūreia. Ka hoki mai mā Ōhuiārangi, mā Taurere, kia tau mai ki Maungarei, Te Awa o Tāmaki i hoea rā e te waka o Tainui kia tau taku wairua ki Waiōuru, e tau taku wairua, ka tau ē! Ki te mātatorutanga o te iwi Māori, kei Tāmaki Makaurau e noho ana. Anei te tū whakamōwai atu i tēnei tinana koretake, ki te mihi whakamanawa atu ki a koutou. Hēoi anō tāku ki a koutou, kei te kōtihitihi o waku whakaaro koutou e noho ana i ngā wā katoa. He nui tonu ngā maunga hai piki. He nui anō hoki ngā māunga a ngā moana hai kau ēngari, i ngā wā katoa me anga atu te titiro ki ngā taumata o te moana.

E te pāpā, Tākuta Te Hōnore Pita Sharples, kua kawea ake te hoe ūringi o te waka kua mahue mai nei e koe. Ka hāngai tonu te tauihu o te waka ki uta mā runga i te reo o te tītītai, o te tūruki kia kotahi te hīpapa o ngā hoea—tōkihi, tōkihi! Ki aku pāpā e rua, ki a Hōne Harawira rāua ko Te Hōnore Shane Jones, e aku kākākura, e aku ika āwhiro, mokemoke ana te Whare i tō korua ngarotanga atu. Tērā te kōrero a ngā tupuna: “He mate noa iho ki uta, ko wai ka hua, ko wai ka tohu.” Ka ara mai te rā i a Ngāti Manu, e te uri o Pōmare, e tū!

[Thank you, Mr Speaker of this House, and greetings indeed to all of us collectively. I must extend my gratitude to my elders of Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Toa for allowing us to remain here in this House and upon this courtyard. Mr Speaker of the House, this inexperienced new member humbly endorses the revered accolades bestowed upon you and your cluster of assistant Speakers who run the House, and upon your families. In regards to the first sitting day of the House last Monday, I acknowledge my relations and local tribes of the metropolis of Auckland, namely Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei, Te Waiōhua, Marutūahu, and Tainui at large. Behold, it is the Māori King indeed! Enough about you, my uncle Koro, and me in terms of being united under the mantle of our King. Greetings, salutations, and accolades to you.

I have been borne here from the gleaming waters of Te Wai o Te Matā (Waitematā) to stand on Pukekawa the place where Te Wherowhero resided. I cast my eyes upwards to Ōhinerau, and there is Te Kōpuke. I alight at the base of Maungawhau and ascend it, then look downwards upon Te Ipu o Mataoho. My forehead turns to Riukiuta, and, behold, there is Wairaka to the west. Close by is Te Ahikā o Rākataura. I go upwards and behold—it is Puketāpapa and Waitakere! And so onwards I go and finally arrive at the famous mountain Maungakiekie, and at the base of it is Rarotonga. From Rarotonga I traverse to Mutukāroa and on to Ōtahuhu, at the place where the Tainui canoe was carried overland and brought down to the sea at the place where Hoturoa became apprehensive, Te Mānukanuka o Hoturoa, and shorewards to Te Pane o Mataoh—in other words, Te Ara Pueru—and very close by Maungataketake, Mātukutūruru, and Mātukutūreia. I come back by way of Ōhuirangi and Taurere to eventually land at Maungarei, at the river of Tāmaki, where the Tainui canoe paddled, and in so doing permits my spirit to alight at Waiōuru. Alight my spirit, and so it indeed lands amidst the thickly populated Māoridom living in Auckland. Here, then, is where this inept body stands desolate before you, extending this honourable tribute to you collectively. Mine to you furthermore is that you collectively are uppermost in my thoughts at all times. There are still many more mountains to climb. There are many more mountainous waves to swim through as well, but the focus must be fixed at all times on the summits of the ocean.

To you uncle, the Hon Dr Pita Sharples, I have taken up the paddle of the vessel that you left behind. The prow of the canoe is still fixed firmly shore wards on the call of the coastal sooty shearwater and the strength of the ritual chant for the paddles to move in unison—dart along, dart along! And so to my two uncles, Hōne Harawira and the Hon Shane Jones, my leaders, my slain warriors, how lonely the House is without you two. The old people had that saying: “A simple death ashore and who knows who might benefit or be spared.” The sun rises from the direction of Ngāti Manu, so to the descendant of Pōmare, stand to attention.]

Let me preface my maiden speech with the words of Sir James Carroll in his valedictory made at the funeral of Sir William Herries, Minister of Native Affairs from 1912 to 1921: “As I survey this wondrous gathering, my mind is as a honeycomb, to which home a thousand honeyed memories.” For it is 100 years ago, almost to the month, that my great-grandfather Taurekareka Hēnare entered this House upon the resignation of Sir Peter Buck, who enlisted to serve as a medical officer for the New Zealand Battalion, more commonly known as the Pioneer Battalion. E te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe. Sir Peter Buck served with distinction at Gallipoli, and at this point can I acknowledge the centenary of the Great War—lest we forget.

History records that Taurekareka Hēnare entered this House to a hung Parliament, and in return for his support of the Reform party, at that time led by “farmer” Bill Massey, the confiscated lands of Te Kapotai and Te Patukeha were returned to them and the Government began discussions with Te Arawa, leading to the formation of the Te Arawa Māori Trust Board in 1924. Taurekareka Hēnare stayed on in Parliament for 24 years, somewhat longer and arguably more distinguished than his great-grandson of the same name, who retired from this House recently—of which I am sure, Mr Assistant Speaker Mallard, you are well aware. He was defeated eventually by Paraire Karaka Paikea in 1938.

I move on to my late grandfather Sir James Hēnare, who after returning from the Second World War stood for the National Party three times in the Northern Maori electorate. The last time he stood was in the by-election of 1963, when he was defeated by his nephew the Hon Matiu Rata, who won the Northern Maori seat with a majority of 412 votes, which I am sure you are aware of, Mr Assistant Speaker. This was the closest that the National Party ever came to winning a Māori seat, and long may that tradition continue.

It comes to mind that my uncles the Rt Hon Winston Peters and Pita Paraone MP, much—loved nephews and mentees of my grandfather, will remember him well for his speeches on the failure of the Government at that time to recognise the issue of Māori education. This would be ignored, to New Zealand’s detriment, in years to come. While on that issue I wish to recognise my auntie the Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of Education, upon whose shoulders currently rest the dreams and aspirations of thousands of Māori and Pacific Island children in my electorate of Tāmaki Makaurau.

History now goes on to tell us that the Māori nation was very lucky that he did not enter Parliament. As an elder statesman, he went on to achieve many more things for our nation that he would not have been able to achieve had he become a member of this august institution.

Can I say with some candour that this was an issue that weighed heavily on my mind when early on in life I considered a future in politics, but I am driven by the strong-held belief of my grandfather that the future vision of this nation is built upon a strong bicultural foundation—a foundation that was sanctified when my many ancestors put their sacred ngū to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Clearly, whānau political ideology is not a compatible bedfellow with the precepts of free-thinking as encouraged in me by my grandfather, because as irony would have it, today I sit across the floor with the very party that was the nemesis of William Massey at the time of my great-grandfather.

I am most humbled that the people of Tāmaki Makaurau have elected me to be their representative in Parliament. I pledge to them to work to the utmost of my abilities to advocate for their needs and to pursue a bipartisan approach in order to generate solutions for their issues. Please allow me to briefly share with other members of this House what some of those issues are and postulate possible pathways forward.

The A Company based in Whangarei is a concept that should be implemented widely throughout the Māori and Pacific communities in Tāmaki Makaurau. It has at its heart the education, the business, and the community sectors, giving learners the chance to gain exposure to other specialist skills that are not available to them within the sector at the moment. They are currently linking up with the local independent training providers to increase the scope of learning available to their learners. Its major funding source is the ASB Community Trust. This concept is very much about supporting all learners from the womb to the tomb. They are beginning to expand into Tāmaki Makaurau, and I believe this will prove to be a positive move.

Growing up, my generation had the right to a backyard, which gave us the opportunity to not only test our rugby skills but also our mothers’ patience. This right, I fear, could be lost for the generations to come. Housing is no longer about people but about profit. The backyard playground is now reserved only for land developers and property speculators. This, I believe, is to the detriment of the communities in Tāmaki Makaurau. Although poverty, it is said, is relative, it has to be accepted that it is endemic amongst many Māori and Pacific Island families in Tāmaki Makaurau. Its causes are many and varied, and there is no one fix. Some say if you provide employment, good housing, good health, and educational opportunity, the issue will simply go away, so I look forward to a bipartisan approach based not on political ideology—or, for that matter, more money—but on a pragmatic approach that sees instruments of the all-powerful State engaging with these communities.

Te Reo Māori is my first language. As one of the first children of kōhanga reo I am for ever grateful for the hard work of many to ensure that the native language of this land is not lost. The people of Tāmaki Makaurau deserve the right to learn Te Reo Māori and experience its richness. I believe my grandfather was right when he said the language is the life essence of Māori mana. We must free Te Reo Māori from the shackles of institutional racism and a lack of vision. Ā, kāti! E te Whare, ka tahuri atu ahau ki taku whānau. Ki a koutou, ka waiho nā atu ēnei kupu. E toru ngā tāonga hei waiho nā atu. Ko te whakaiti, ko te tino whakaiti, nā, e whakaiti nei, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou.

[Enough! To you the House, I turn now to my family. To you the family, I leave these words with you. There are three priceless ones: humility, self-effacement, and absolute humility. And so here I am standing humbly before you. Acknowledgments to you collectively and to us all.]

Waiata

Kia ora tātou katoa. Good afternoon. Talofa lava. Malo e lelei, Fakafeta’i ki he ‘Eiki pea ‘oku ou tuku pe ‘a e Kololia moe fakamalo ki a Sihova he koia pe taha ne lava ai e feinga ko eni. Tuku mu’a keu hufanga he ngaahi talafakatapu, kae ‘ata mo e ki’i fefine tu’a mo ma’ulalo ko eni ke fai atu ha ‘uluaki lea ki he Falealea ‘o Aotearoa, Nu’usila.

I give my congratulations to the honourable Speaker on his election, and to Deputy Speaker Chester Borrows as well as the Assistant Speakers, Lindsay Tisch and my good Labour colleague Trevor Mallard, on their election—congratulations. I would also like to acknowledge my predecessor Ross Robertson from Manukau East, who served our communities for 27 long years and was himself an Assistant Speaker of the House.

On Monday, here in this House, I swore an oath of loyalty and service to Parliament and to our nation. It is such an honour and a privilege to enter this House, with its history and traditions. This is the House of Government, and with that honour comes enormous responsibility. It is a responsibility that I feel as I stand here for the first time today. I was honoured to take my parliamentary oath, but it is not the only oath that I feel bound by. Since I was selected to be the Labour candidate for Manukau East I have also sworn another oath—an oath to the people of Manukau East and to other hard-working people in New Zealand. They are the kinds of people who do a lot and ask only for a little—people who really ask only for a just and equitable society. The oath I have taken is to serve, to listen, and to work for the people of Manukau East. The reason I have come to this House is to represent them—the thousands who elected me to come here, to bring their voices into our nation’s conversations, to remind our nation of Manukau East, and to make sure that our Government works for them, as well as for others throughout New Zealand much like them. The oath I made is to stand with and to stand for everyday working New Zealanders—the young and the old, the people who are the backbone of our nation.

We should remind ourselves that many of our nation’s voices have not always carried into Parliament. We would do well to listen more carefully to the many voices that have not always been heard clearly in this House—the voices of our poor, of our young, of our seniors, of our new migrants, of women, and of Māori and Pacific New Zealanders. Parliament is the people’s House and we would do well to remember all of the people when we sit here. Let us remember, most of all, those we do not hear, those who do not have the money or the power to gain the ears of their representatives. I come to this House today as a proud New Zealander, as an Aucklander and South Aucklander. I come as an immigrant to this country from the Pacific and as a Tongan. The fact that a girl from Lotofoa, Ha’apai and Nuku’alofa, Tonga can be elected to New Zealand’s Parliament says a great deal. It says a great deal about the strength of our democracy.

I was born and raised in our Pacific Island neighbour, just north of us in the beautiful Kingdom of Tonga. My family moved to Aotearoa New Zealand when I was 16 years old so I could complete my education. My upbringing was always one that celebrated service. I grew up with a father who for so many years was the only pharmacist in Tonga. If he did not go to work, people could not get their medicines. I saw what a difference he made in people’s lives and how much everyone gains when we honour each other with our hard work. For my father, who is 84 years old and who is here today, a life spent in service to others was the true hallmark of a Christian life. For my mother, who is also here, as she went to work in a factory in South Auckland, then as a part-time cleaner in the evenings, her service to our family was from a mother’s love, her commitment to her church, and our community. Not only did my family, many of whom are here today, make my aspirations possible, they also gave me the values of service and hard work that made them achievable for me.

My way of serving has been through my work as a public servant in policy and in funding, and through my voluntary work in the community. But behind this are the values and work ethics of my parents: respect your elders and respect others, love and serve your family, help those in need and serve your community, work for a just and equitable society, be humble and act with humility, and do unto others as you would have done unto yourself. These are Tongan values, these are New Zealand values, they are Labour values, and these are my values. The challenge has been how to put these values into action.

Labour values, when put into bold, smart policies, have been completely transformational and have made New Zealand the wonderful country that it is. I joined the Labour Party because it is the party that shares my values and ideals. However, I stand here today for the Labour Party because not only is it a party of values; it is the party of ideas, of bold and wise change, of transformations that have lifted the living standards of all New Zealanders and that have made our country prosperous, and also more humane and a better place to live. Labour delivered social security to New Zealand in 1978. Labour created the 40-hour, 5-day working week, with eight public holidays. Labour recognised the Treaty of Waitangi and allowed for claims to be retrospective. Labour made New Zealand nuclear—free. Labour codified universal free health care. Labour promoted Samoan independence and global decolonisation. Labour stopped the Springbok Tour in 1973. Labour passed the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. Labour created KiwiSaver, the Superannuation Fund, and the Supreme Court. Labour recognised Te Reo Māori as an official language of our country Aotearoa. These are the kinds of ideas that make Aotearoa a better place for everyone. I look forward to being a part of the Labour Government that resumes such far-sighted and transformative Government in the very near future.

These past few months have reminded me that in our great country there is still so much work to be done. In large parts of New Zealand, including where I come from, child poverty is not a policy abstraction but a lived issue—one that too many families face or have known. Hundreds of thousands of New Zealand children now live in poverty. The fifth Labour Government showed that with smart Government and with good policy the numbers in poverty can be reduced. But in the last few years the number of children in poverty has grown. Let us not forget what poverty really means in this country. If you are a child living in the most deprived parts of New Zealand you are 20 times more likely to go to hospital with rheumatic fever. If you are poor you are five times more likely to die a sudden, unexpected death in infancy. These children, remember, are New Zealand children. Child poverty affects health, and child poverty also affects education. Research confirms what some teachers and principals have told me—that in some schools in my electorate up to half of their students move from school to school each year because their families are moved from house to house. This is such a problem in so many of our schools, and it has a name: churn. This is real insecurity—not even knowing where you will live—and this insecurity of tenure is not just a housing problem, but it is a problem for families, it is a problem for us in this House, and it is a problem for our nation. It is a problem of education, health, and opportunity.

Almost every day I see families coming into my electorate office in Ōtara asking for help, especially with housing. Many of these families do not have a place to live in. Many are homeless. Some live in garages. Some live in cars. Some live temporarily with relatives, until they are asked to move on. Most of these families are on the urgent, priority list for housing—priority A. In 2007 there were 133 families on the priority A waiting list. In June this year 3,188 such families were on the same list, waiting for a house. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Treasury estimates that tens of thousands of New Zealanders are living in severe housing deprivation. In 1935 the first Labour Government realised that in order to ensure both quality and quantity of housing, it was not enough to sit back and wait. The Government had to lead. Showing that leadership, the first Labour Government built thousands of homes. Those Labour State houses were little slices of Kiwi paradise. Labour’s State houses were built to last.

But New Zealand is no longer at the forefront of social housing and homeownership. We have gone from a nation that made bold and wise investments in the lives of families to a nation that has one of the lowest rates of social housing provision in the developed world, at only 5 percent. Politicians on both sides of this House grew up in social housing, but things have changed since then. Doing it hard in New Zealand used to mean living in a three-bedroom brick and tile house on a quarter acre. Now doing it hard in New Zealand means living with your six children in a car, or waiting for nearly a year on our “most urgent” housing list, or living in a caravan or a garage.

I came from Tonga to New Zealand because of New Zealand’s schools and universities. I have no doubts that a quality education is still the best way forward in New Zealand, but even education is shaped by child poverty. We have a high-quality educational system, but it is also highly unequal. The challenge for us as a nation is to ensure that all students get the same chance in schools, and we have not been meeting that challenge. We now live in a country where the most important predictor of your future education performance is your socio-economic status. Some progress has been made, but not enough. We have not addressed the root of the problem. We kid ourselves if we think that all problems we see in education can be solved within schools, because so many of these problems do not originate in schools. When kids are sick, cold, and hungry, they are not going to be as ready to learn. Seriously addressing child poverty, ensuring that the hundreds of thousands of kids living in poverty get out of it, is the giant leap we need to make in education. It is one thing to give a speech about it and declare child poverty a priority, but if we do not have a hard target, if we do not have genuine priorities that we publicly measure, these will all be just empty words. We will talk the talk about child poverty, and the numbers will continue to grow, as they have. People cannot eat a speech. People cannot live on a promise, a consent, or a plan, and a white paper does not fill a student’s empty stomach.

These past few months have reminded me again of just how we all are tied to each other. The road to Parliament is not one that can be travelled alone; nor should it be. Today I thank with all my heart my family, friends, supporters, and colleagues who have made the journey for me possible. For me, these are the people who live Labour values, and their commitment to serve has been inspirational. Their words have been full. Thank you very much to my husband, Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa; my daughters, Mahalia and Esmae; my parents, Samiu and Loketi Latu; my in-laws, Yvonne and Ieremia Salesa; and my whole campaign team and support team, especially Matila Latu-Ali, Leila, Michael, Aiolupotea Sina, Dawn, Felicity, Lotu, Seini, Moeaki, Akesa, Sefita, Paane, Aleki, Kite, Siale, Leilani, Fia, Mele, Lile, the Gordons, and Reece and Fa’anana, you have my deepest gratitude. To my Labour whānau, especially Vui, Su’a, Carol, Carmel, Hermann, Nick, Jerome, and Judith, thank you.

Malo ‘aupito. Tu’a ‘ofa atu. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Korōria, harerūia ki a koe, Īhoa o ngā mano, tuāuriuri, w’aiōio; kī tonu te Rangi me te W’enua i te nui o tōna korōria. Matua Tama, Wairua Tapu me ngā Ānahera Pono me Te Māngai , whakahōnoretia a Ārepa, Ōmeka, Piri Wiri Tua, me Hāmuera, Māngai tautoko, Āe. E Te Mauri o Te Motu, Kīngi Tuheitia tēnā koe, otirā, Te Kā’ui Ariki, tēnā koutou. Kei te mi’i ’oki au ki ngā iwi katoa puta noa Te Tai Hauāuru. Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Āti Awa-ki-W’akarongotai, Ngāti Raukawa-ki-Te Tonga, Ngāti Kauwhata, Mūaupoko, Rangitāne, Ngāti Apa, Ngā Wairiki, Ngāti Hauiti, Ngā Iwi-o-Mōkai Pātea, Te Ati’aunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Tūw’aretoa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngā Rauru-ki-Ta’i, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Ruahine Rangi, Taranaki Tūturu, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Tama, me Ngāti Mutunga, tēnā koutou katoa. Tēnei hoki te mi’i ake ki ngā Mōrehu e noho puta noa ngā moutere nei, tae atu ki te Pā o Rātana, nō reira e Te Tumuaki o te ’ā’i, Te Pere’itini o Te Māramatanga, e te pāpā Harerangi Meihana, tēnā koe, otirā, Te Iwi Mōrehu, tēnā koutou. E kī ana te kōrero o ōku mātua tūpuna, Apa wetewete, nāna ka piki te tākiritanga o te ata, ti’ei mauri ora! Ko Adrian Rūrāwhe ahau. He maha aku iwi ki Te Tai Hauāuru, Ko Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Hauiti,Whanganui, Ngā Rauru-ki-Ta’i me Ngāti Ruanui. Nō reira e Te W’are, tēnā koe, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Glory, halleluiah to Jehovah and Lord of the countless and the many; heaven and earth is filled with his glory. Father, Son, Holy Spirit and Faithful Angels and the Mouthpiece, glorify Alpha, Omega, Piriwiritua, Samuel and endorsed by the Mouthpiece, yes. Acknowledgments to you King Tūheitia, Life Force of the country, and to you indeed the royal family of the King movement, greetings. I pay a tribute as well to all the tribes throughout the Western Māori electorate, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Āti Awa at Whakarongotai, Ngāti Raukawa to the south, Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Muaūpoko, Rangitāne, Ngāti Apa, Ngā Wairiki, Ngāti Hauiti, Ngā Iwi-o-Mōkai at Patea, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngā Rauru Kītahi, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Ruahine Rangi, Taranaki Tūturu, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Tama, and Ngāti Mutunga, greetings to you all. Furthermore, I acknowledge the mōrehu throughout this country, including those at Rātana Pā, and so to you the head of the church, the president of the Te Māramatanga, uncle Harerangi Meihana, accolades to you but at the same to all the mōrehu followers. My ancestral forefathers and mothers had a saying, “Apa, the one who unravels, unfurled the dawn, behold the breath of life!” I am Adrian Rūrāwhe. I have many tribal affiliations in the Western Māori Electorate namely, Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Hauiti, Whanganui, Ngā Rauru Kītahi and Ngāti Ruanui. Therefore, acknowledgments to you the House and to us all.]

Mr Assistant Speaker, can I join with my parliamentary colleagues in congratulating you on being elected as Assistant Speaker. I also want to acknowledge the Rt Hon David Carter being re-elected as Speaker of the House; the new Deputy Speaker, the Hon Chester Borrows; and also Lindsay Tisch being elected again as Assistant Speaker.

I was born in Taihape. I grew up in a humble railway house. My father was a train driver, a second-generation railway worker. My mother trained as a nurse and later on became a social worker. Both my parents were born and raised in Rātana Pā. My paternal grandfather, Paki Rūrawhe from Ngāpuhi, had travelled from Kaeō in the far north to Rātana Pā in 1925. My paternal grandmother, Meipara Taawhi-Maaka from Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Kahungunu, had travelled from her home in Kaiapoi to Rātana Pā in 1919. My maternal grandmother, Iriaka Te Rio from Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, arrived in Rātana Pā from the Whanganui River in 1920, and my maternal grandfather, Matiu Rātana, the youngest son of Tahupōtiki Wīremu Rātana and Te Urumānao Ngāpaki, was born in Rātana Pā and raised at Kauangaroa with his Ngāti Apa and Ngā Wairiki whānau.

I am not the first of my whānau to enter Parliament. I follow in the footsteps of my grand-uncle Haami Tokouru Rātana, my grandfather Matiu Rātana, and my grandmother Iriaka Rātana, all of whom were the member of Parliament for Western Maori, now known as Te Tai Hauāuru. More recently this seat has been held by another family member, my mother’s cousin the Hon Tariana Turia. I wish to pay tribute to her and the significant contribution that she made to the people of Te Tai Hauāuru and New Zealand. Anei ra taku mi’i maioha atu ki a ia mō āna ma’i nunui, ka ma’ia mai e a ia hei painga mō te iwi. [Here then is my appreciation to her for the great work she did for the betterment of the people.]

Not surprisingly, the Rātana faith and Labour politics featured strongly in my upbringing, although it was a matter of experiencing the whole environment of that reality, rather than receiving specific instructions about it. Each election year my parents would host candidates at our home. We got to hear very interesting stories from equally interesting people—people whom as children we knew as Uncle Matt, Uncle Koro, and Uncle Brownie, who turned out to be Matiu Rata, Koro Wētere, and Parāone Rēweti, and whom, along with Whetū Tirikātene-Sullivan, I would like to acknowledge for the lessons that I learnt from them.

I want to make special mention of the Hon Koro Wētere, who is with us in the House today. He has been very supportive of me, providing encouragement as well as advice and historical context about politics. Nō reira, tēnei taku mi’i ki a ia mō tōna tautoko mai ki ahau, e te pāpā, e kore e mutu taku mi’i atu ki a koe. Tēnā koe.

[Therefore, I pay a tribute to him for his support of me and say to him, dad, my thanks to you is endless. Thank you.]

In 1924 Tahupōtiki Wīremu Rātana led a delegation to England to address the breaches and omissions of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. While in England, Rātana was told that the New Zealand Government had sent a telegraph stating that he—Rātana—did not have a mandate concerning Te Tiriti o Waitangi, despite having representatives from most iwi within his delegation. He was, therefore, denied the meeting that he had requested with the King. Rātana was told that the problem lay with the New Zealand Government. Not long after this, Rātana decided to contest the next general election and that Te Tiriti o Waitangi would be the foundation of his policies.

On Monday, when I took the Oath of Allegiance, I was pleased to place one hand on the Bible and in my other hand to hold a copy of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I did this as an expression of my commitment to upholding my faith and Te Tiriti o Waitangi during my time here in Parliament, ture wairua, ture tangata.

At the age of 17, my dad told me that I would be starting work the following day. I was still at school, by the way. I did not need to ask where I would be working. He was a second-generation railway worker, and I was fairly certain I was going to be a third-generation railway worker. Back then the railway unions were very strong, and I learnt about, and, indeed, experienced, how the unions had gained better rights and conditions for their members. These rights had been hard-fought for and achieved under Labour Governments.

The last job that I had with Railways was processing final pays. At the time that I had started with Railways there were over 20,000 employees. When I left there were fewer than 5,000. Although it is necessary to make operations more efficient, I believe that people should have been treated with a lot more dignity. I vowed at that time that if I ever were in a position to do something about the protection of workers’ rights, then I would do so. I look forward to the opportunity that the voters of Te Tai Hauāuru have afforded me to address those very issues in this House.

I want to acknowledge Te Kura o Rātana, a school that was established in Rātana Pā 90 years ago. I was a board member and a chair of that board for 13 years. It was on that board of trustees that I learnt so much about good governance. Our board faced many challenges, which were able to be met with the support of our community. We also had some major success, as well. It also prepared me for other governance roles. For example, in 2002 I was given the responsibility and honour of leading my iwi, Ngāti Apa.

During the 10 years that I chaired Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Apa, I represented my iwi on issues concerning health, social services, and education, as well as being a negotiator for our Treaty settlement. If I had thought that school governance could be challenging, imagine my surprise when confronted with iwi governance—such things as submissions to select committees, Waitangi Tribunal hearings, and court cases dealing with overlapping claims. And then, of course, I was required to attend hapū hui, where I had the pleasure of trying to explain all of the detail to my people, for them to be able to make sense of it. Of course we did it because we knew there were significant benefits derived from our settlement of our Treaty claim for our people.

I am immensely proud that our iwi was the first to negotiate a cultural revitalisation redress package—not because we were first, but because that is what our people wanted. I believe that through Treaty settlements, along with empowering policies, we can work together to unlock the potential of whānau, hapū, iwi, and our community.

I was pleased to hear that the Government will continue to fund Māori research. Until April of this year I was employed at Te Atawhai o Te Ao, an independent research institute based in Whanganui. The institute is carrying out a Health Research Council - funded programme of research called He Kōkonga Whare, which is research that focuses on Māori intergenerational trauma and healing. I think it is crucially important that the research sector and the academic sector accept that kaupapa Māori research methodology is not only valid but needs to be embraced and accepted by these sectors. I want to acknowledge my former work colleagues Dr Cherryl Smith and Dr Paul Reynolds for giving me the opportunity to work and participate in kaupapa Māori research.

As part of He Kōkonga Whare, Te Atawhai o Te Ao has a project that focuses on the impact of sexual violence on Māori. It is essential that we hear the voices of those who have experienced abuse. I acknowledge the very brave people who speak up about their experiences, and those too who have the courage to call for all parties to work together for the end of all forms of violence.

I want to recognise my party, the Labour Party. I am truly honoured to be a Labour Party member of Parliament. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues in this 55th—51st Parliament and beyond.

💬 Hon Members: And the 55th.

And the 55th! I would like to thank my hard-working and dedicated campaign team, led by my campaign manager, Gaylene Nēpia, and assisted by Christina Gush. Tēnā koutou me ā koutou kaha ki te hāpai i tēnei kaupapa nui. [To you collectively, I acknowledge your efforts in taking up this great plan.]

I thank also the people of Te Tai Hauāuru for the confidence and trust that they have shown in electing me to Parliament. I will work hard to be the very best member of Parliament for them all. I wish to acknowledge all of my whānau, all who have travelled here today, and all of those who are watching from around the country. Ki a koutou taku w’ānau w’ānui, aku w’aea, aku mātua, aku tēina, aku tuāhine, me pē’ea te mi’i ake ki a koutou? Tēnā koutou me ā koutou aroha mai ki ahau. Tēnei hoki au e tuku aroha atu ki a koutou me ā tātou tamariki, mokopuna. Ki a koutou o tēnei reanga a Mariana, Derryn, Raimana, Te Ari o te Kahurangi, Daylor, Matiu, me Te Ao Mārama, ko koutou te huarahi mō āpōpō. Me ū tonu ki ngā kaupapa tuku iho ā Kui mā ā Koro mā.

[How can I thank you all my extended family, aunties, parents, younger siblings and sisters all? Thank you for all your love and kindness towards me. I extend my love to you all, including all our children and grandchildren. To you all of this generation, Mariana, Derryn, Raimana, Te Ari o te Kahurangi, Daylor, Matiu, and Te Ao Mārama, you are the pathway for tomorrow. Hold on firmly to the things handed down by our nans and grandads.]

Finally, today is a very special day in the Rātana calendar. Eighty years ago saw the passing of Rātana’s son Hāmuera. Amongst our people Hāmuera is recognised as signifying the end of all evil practice. Can I recommend that today members, no matter what their faith, religion, or value system, reflect upon all the good things that our great country has to offer during this time that we remember and mark the centennial of the outbreak of World War I.

Kāti rā, ko tēnei te wā o te pīpīw’arauroa. E kī ana te kōrero, ko Hamuera te tatau, ko Hamuera w ‘akaotinga, me ū tonu ki tēnei kaupapa. Nō reira, huri rauna, huri rauna, tēnei W’are, tēnā koutou i runga i te tukunga iho ō rātou mā i te wā’i ngaro, Te Māngai hei tautoko mai āia nei, āke nei, āe.

[Enough, this is the time of the shining cuckoo. The saying goes: Hamuera is the doorway and the completion. We must continue to adhere to this edict. Therefore, to everyone throughout this entire House, acknowledgments to you all in accordance with what those who have gone to the place of no return have handed, whom the Mouthpiece endorses now and forever, yes.]

E Te Mana Whakawā tēnā koe. Tēnei hoki te mihi atu ki a koe, Te Kaihautū o Te Waka o Aotearoa o Te Pirimia, the Rt Hon John Key, tēnā koe. Tēnā hoki koe Te Rakatira o Te Rōpū Reipa, the Hon David Parker, tēnā koe. Huri noa i Te Whare Mīere nei, ka mihi ki tā mema katoa. Ko Kaitahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Te Rakiamo tēnei e mihi atu ki Te Mana Whenua o Te Waha o Te Ika, Te Āti Awa, tēnā koutou. E, haere mai i kā waka katoa e tau mai nei ki Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara. Ko Tūtehounuku Kōrako ahau. Ko Aoraki Mauka e tū mai ake kei uta, maringi i Te Awa o Waitaki rāua ko Waimakariri ki Te Tai-o-Mahanui. Ko Te Whare Mahanui hoki rāua ko Te Whare-o-Wheke, kei Te Rāpaki-o-Te Rakiwhakaputa e tū ana. Hei anō, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker, and my acknowledgments to you as well to the Prime Minister and leader of the National Party of New Zealand, the Rt Hon John Key, greetings. To you, the leader of the Labour Party, the Hon David Parker, greetings, and to members throughout the House of Parliament, salutations to you all. I of Kaitahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha and Te Rakimo acknowledge the local tribe, Te Āti Awa, whose authority prevails over the Mouth of the Fish, my personal salutations to you collectively. A welcome indeed is extended to all the canoes that have landed here in Wellington. I am Tūtehounuku Kōrako. The mountain of Aoraki stands ashore yonder from where the rivers Waitaki and Waimakariri flow into the ocean of Mahanui. The houses of Mahanui and Wheke, which stand at Te Rāpaki-o-Te Rakiwhakaputa. Acknowledgments therefore to you all.]

Like all others who have entered this House over the past 150 years I cannot hide or disguise my humility. It certainly is a time to reflect upon family, my life experiences to date, and those who assisted me on the journey to this House.

I come from a working class background. My father, Tūtehounuku Te Here Māka Momo Kōrako, was a World War II returned serviceman and a freezing worker, and my mum, Hine Elizabeth Mānihera Kōrako, was a gentle, loving person, who passed away when I was only 10 years old, leaving behind nine children—me and my eight sisters. It was not long before we found ourselves in Cholmondeley Children’s Home, to give our father time to organise life without our mother. This sad event started a relationship between me and Cholmondeley Children’s Home that continues to this day.

My father worked hard to keep us together and to ensure that we all understood and lived by our family values, and he instilled in me the significance of ancestry, leadership, education, and humility. He taught us to be proud of being who we were and the importance of being able to move seamlessly between the two worlds of the Māori and the non-Māori. Education was paramount in our family, and I was lucky to be given the opportunity to attend St Stephen’s School, Bombay, Auckland. It is fair to say that I did not expect to be standing here as a member of Parliament and addressing the House of Representatives all these years later.

Like many young Kiwis, the call of the OE took me overseas on a much more extended journey than was originally planned, where rugby and the tourism industry kept me offshore for over 20 years. The hallmark of that journey, however, was meeting and marrying my beautiful wife, Christine, and, a few years later, with a family pending and a desire to raise our children as Kiwis, we came home to Canterbury—more specifically, to Christchurch and Ngāi Tahu’s Riviera: Rāpaki on Lyttelton Harbour.

Rāpaki is one of the ancestral communities of Ngāi Tahu. When you arrive, it is a little like being transported to another time. Our four boys, now aged between 17 and 22, grew up in this kāinga, or village, surrounded by our immediate and wider whānau. Growing up in Rāpaki in a safe and nurturing environment gave them the opportunity to learn the tikaka of their home place and their marae, and to enjoy and experience many adventures surrounded by mountains and sea. It is their safe haven and always will be. It was not unusual for Chris to feed 10 children at lunch or dinner time or for a family neighbour to do the same. That very environment created lifelong values for our children, their cousins, and the friends they brought home. My uncle Ben Couch, who was a three-term National Party MP, a Minister of Police and Minister of Māori Affairs, and a New Zealand and Māori All Black, was also raised in the same village.

In reflecting on my wider whakapapa, I am reminded that some of my tūpuna were familiar with the political environment. Hoani Paratene, the first ever Southern Maori MP, was my great uncle. My grandfather Tutehounuku Korako Tua Rua represented Ngāi Tahu at the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in London in 1897 and at the opening of the Australian Parliament in 1901. My other grandfather, James Duncan Manihera, was a 1926 Māori All Black. These role models have instilled in me the idea that there is value in striving for something more than the mundane, more than the trappings of comfort, and in achieving something beyond myself, which is what I am doing in this special place.

I do bring a vision with me, and that is about where we are heading as a nation. I recently came across a National Party manifesto from the Māori MPs in the late 1940s, which said: “New Zealand as a whole is under a great debt, one that has not always been sufficiently recognised, to the Maori people for the role they have played in the economic development of this country. What you have received by way of social security and benefits is your due. You, as a people have contributed to the pool from which come these benefits. That is why we appeal to you to assist in the task of increased production … it is our aim to expand and develop the Maori Land Schemes inaugurated in 1929 by Sir Apirana Ngata. We know to what extent the human element is consciously developed along with work on such lands. That must be taken into consideration if we are to secure the maximum results from such a policy—the promotion of a healthy, intelligent people, disciplined in the habits of industry and business practice, equipped by the economic resources of their lands to enter with full confidence into the wider industrial life of this country.”

This illustrates not how much has changed in terms of vision, but how much has changed in terms of achievement. The Māori economy and Māori participation in our national economy has advanced so dramatically in the past 30 years, and I have been honoured to be a participant in moving that forward. I have operated my own businesses, worked on Māori incorporations and trusts like Mawhera and the board of Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation, and represented my hapū at iwi governance level on Te Rūnunga O Ngāi Tahu. The Ngāi Tahu settlement brokered by the Bolger-led National Government was a milestone for South Island development. I look forward to continuing to make a contribution to Māori economic advancement while sitting in this House because that is the only pathway to long-term prosperity and the betterment of ourselves, and it is not just for Māori; it is for all New Zealanders.

It is important, though, to acknowledge that I may move easily amongst the Māori communities but I also share a common set of values with all New Zealanders. My recent Banks Peninsula and Port Hills political campaigns have clearly shown that many other New Zealanders believe that I have something to contribute to all of society. I am deeply grateful to our people of the Port Hills for their continued support, especially our National Party members, the campaign team, the army of volunteers, and the Young Nats. I want to acknowledge our Canterbury-Westland regional chair, Roger Bridge, and my campaign manager, Cathryn Lancaster.

As most of you here will know, there is something remarkably rewarding about getting amongst the community and engaging with a constituency. Sure, some will slam the door in your face and some might be genuinely offended by your politics, but that is who we are. We are not homogeneous. We are diverse, we are passionate, and we are opinionated—thank God. It would be fair to say that I have never lived in a suburb that is built upon privilege. In fact, for much of my life I have lived in my traditional kāinga. My neighbours have been successful and struggling business owners, labourers and academics, bureaucrats and tradesmen, beneficiaries and retirees. These are my people. These are National’s people.

I have lived the National Party’s philosophies for most my life, despite my family background, where many of them were typical Labour Party supporters who lived the old adage that Labour looked after the worker. I have taken a fair bit of stick, especially on the front line in Lyttelton as a scrutineer for National in the port voting booth, but that was my decision and I stood by it.

The myth that National is simply there to look after the wealthy has been seriously challenged in this past election. Thousands upon thousands of voters abandoned their traditional roots to give their party vote to National because there was a greater accord with what they wanted in a Government. Voters responded to the quality of leadership and have been drawn to a unified party that really did care—and still does, passionately—about what matters to New Zealanders. I am sure that working New Zealanders have new expectations of themselves. New generations certainly understand that the State is not there to provide their every need. They genuinely believe that the Government is a partnership—us and them—and we each have to tow our own weight.

Labour may purport to represent the working New Zealander, but a bevy of career bureaucrats does not reflect the aspirations of the young checkout person at the Ferrymead Countdown, or the Lyttelton wharfie, or the process worker in Bromley, who all want better lives, with jobs, fair pay, homeownership, and the like. Preaching working class from Ponsonby does really fall upon deaf ears.

There are three immediate priorities for me for this term. One is to build the “brown blue”. Many Māori have lost sight of the huge gains made under successive National-led Governments, and one has only to reflect on the Ngāi Tahu and Tainui settlements and, more recently, the groundbreaking Tūhoe settlement to get a sense of what is possible. Whānau Ora and the underprivileged-focused partnership schools have arisen under National, and the modern iwi leader engagements have given effect to an unprecedented partnership approach. In the last election, even without a candidate contesting the Māori seats, National still secured 14 percent of the party vote within Te Tai Tonga. Over the next 3 years I want to assist in building that, not only in Te Wai Pounamu but also across Te Ika-a-Māui. I want to champion the “brown blue” cause.

The second priority is the Christchurch earthquake rebuild. We all admire the incredible earthquake recovery and rebuild work carried out to date under Minister Brownlee, and I want to assure him that, like in my years as a feisty rugby-playing No. 8, I am keen to put my two shoulders behind the pack and add my weight as required. I know that taking us through the next few years will require a continued team effort and I want to be part of that team.

My third priority is that I will deliver on what I promised to the Port Hills constituents during my campaign, by continuing to work hard within our Port Hills electorate alongside our community leaders in developing vibrant communities, with plenty of opportunities, supported by great leadership.

I want to acknowledge my extended and immediate whānau and friends, including those who have travelled here today to share this occasion. E ka whanauka, e ka hoa i te hunga kāinga e haere mai ki te tautoko i ahau, ko tēnei mihi aroha ki a koutou.

[To those of you, the relatives and friends from back home who travelled here to support me, I extend this fond acknowledgment to you collectively.]

It is also the time to acknowledge the wonderful people who have stood to support me in place of my tāua and pōua, and my mum and dad: my Auntie Mamae Warnes, who is here today, and was once a Young Nat in Wellington over 70 years ago; my Auntie Rima and Charlie Subritzky and Uncle Dudley and Melissa Couch from Rāpaki; my father-in-law, Derek Willard, in Australia; Alec Graham from Palmerston North; and my oldest and dearest mentor, Lachie Griffin, the unofficial mayor of Governors Bay. And to the person who has been there for me ever since we met on the Grand Canal in Venice 24 years ago, who bore me four sons and saved the Korako name from extinction—Chris: “I am because—you are.” To my sons Maximillian, Nicholas, Michael, and James Oliver: He mahi kai hoaka, he mahi kai takata, takata. [Anything worthwhile will always require a considerable effort.] This is how I got here today.

Finally, it is difficult to stand here being humble when there is so much to be proud of. I am in this Parliament, however, as a list MP representing the National Party’s interests. I cannot be other than a Māori and Ngāi Tahu, but it is my duty to address the needs of all New Zealanders and to concern myself with the whole spectrum of citizenship. Today I pledge myself to that task.

Huri noa Te Whare Pāremata, e mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa, mauri ora, mauri ora.

[I extend a greeting to you all throughout Parliament House, good health and well-being.]

Waiata

Mr Speaker, can I start by acknowledging you and congratulating you on your election as the Speaker of the House. I also wish to say that in my time leading the wine industry I thoroughly enjoyed working with you as the Minister for Primary Industries. I would also like to acknowledge the Kaikōura members of Parliament who have gone before me: Tom Shand, Sir Douglas Kidd, Lynda Scott, and Colin King. I will endeavour to serve the electorate as well as my predecessors did.

I stand here today honoured to have been elected as a member of Parliament, privileged to represent the people of Kaikōura. As a first-time candidate I find it truly humbling that I was elected with a record majority. This is something I will never take for granted. I personally judge my successes by the quality of the people who surround me. To this end, my talented and hard-working campaign team is no exception. I would like to acknowledge campaign chairman Tim Leslie. Tim is one of those special people who understand and enjoy politics but choose to stay in the background and promote others. Tim is in the gallery today, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his hard work and wise counsel. I would also like to acknowledge and thank my campaign committee, many of whom have travelled to be here today. The hours invested and kilometres travelled by all of you were invaluable to the outstanding result we achieved.

The Kaikōura electorate is a reflection of New Zealand at its best, boasting strong agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, manufacturing, aviation, and tourism sectors. The area has a long and rich history. The oldest recorded archaeological site in New Zealand is on the Wairau boulder bank in Marlborough. As the fourth-largest general seat, the Kaikōura electorate covers 21,000 square kilometres. With over 2,000 kilometres of pristine coastline, 40 percent of the electorate area is administered by the Department of Conservation on behalf of New Zealanders.

Kaikōura has a rich farming background, with Molesworth being the biggest landholding at over 180,000 hectares. We also produce 80 percent of New Zealand’s wine in the Waipara and Marlborough wine regions. Most of the population lives in the urban area in the northern part of the electorate, with the remaining population spread out over a long, narrow, and at times rugged strip of land. From my home it is a 4-hour drive to the southern tip of the electorate, with a long winding drive and a boat ride to the northern tip on D’Urville Island.

I was born on a mid-Canterbury sheep farm just south of Methven, right close to Mount Hutt ski field. I fondly remember that from our house on a clear day we could see the outline of the ski lifts. My father was a blade shearer and still holds the record for shearing the most full-wool merino wethers in a day at Mount Arrowsmith in Ashburton Gorge. Dad worked his way into the farm through shearing, and he taught my brothers and me that we could have anything in life we wanted as long as we were prepared to work hard for it. Although I was privileged to grow up being able to ski, it was a privilege we had to work for. We had to earn enough money to pay for our day’s skiing and were not allowed to go until the work was done. This meant early mornings and hard labour. Those values of working hard and reaping the rewards of our endeavours are very dear to me, and align perfectly to those of the National Party. That is why I am so proud and privileged to stand here today as a National member of Parliament.

As everyone in this House knows, we cannot do what we do without the support of our families, and I wish to acknowledge that. I am very proud to have my family here, including my mum and dad, to share this special moment with me today. I am married to Julie and we have three teenagers, Hugo, Louis, and Fenella, who are all also here today, as are Julie’s parents. Julie and I started out farming together on the family farm, with Julie working as an occupational health nurse at the local Fortex freezing works. We both wanted to reach further up the value chain, and the wine industry offered us that opportunity. So we bought a half share in Julie’s family vineyard in Marlborough in 1994 and grew grapes on contract to local wineries.

It was not long before we decided that we wanted to take the next step and make our grapes into wine. This is an exciting process—to take the raw material that you grew with your own hands and make it into a finished product; a product that you can, if all else fails, drink yourself. Learning new skills along the way was great fun in the collegial atmosphere that typifies the wine industry. However, having grown the grapes and bottled the wine, the real work begins when selling it. The domestic market is too small to absorb all that New Zealand produces, which led us to become exporters. So we hopped on a plane and walked the streets of some of the world’s great cities to sell our wine. Although we had fun along the way, this was a great challenge that taught me many lessons. The world does not owe us a living, and we do not need to, nor can we afford to, sell on price alone. New Zealand is a niche producer, meaning that we must seek out niche markets and extract as much value as possible, but this takes investment in marketing.

This highlights one of the issues facing New Zealand export businesses. Producing products is a capital-hungry exercise, and having produced something means you are only halfway there. The real value is in the brand. Unfortunately, marketing and a brand are intangible, and although something may potentially be very valuable, it may not be what financiers are likely to secure debt against. Although Julie and I were fortunate enough to overcome this barrier, it is a real constraint on the growth and the development of the export sector.

Foreign investment has been a point of debate throughout the 2014 election campaign. I would like to take this opportunity to remind members that without foreign investment the wine industry would not be where it is today. Investment by foreign-owned wine companies brought so much more than money to the table. They certainly brought much needed capital, but, more important, they brought a route to international markets.

My journey into politics began in the wine industry. I got involved in the local grape-growers association and worked my way up on to the board of New Zealand Winegrowers, serving 6 years as chairman of the board until I stood down in late 2012. During my time in the chair, wine exports grew from $600 million per annum to over $1.1 billion. This rapid growth and change brought about many challenges but ones that I enjoyed tackling.

I am a proud member of the National Party Bluegreens as environmental sustainability issues have always been important to me. I remember as a boy on the farm helping dad burn barley stubble and thinking that there had to be a better way. Sustainability is a major plank of the New Zealand Winegrowers’ philosophy and during my time as chair we had a stretch target of 100 percent of the industry being members of a sustainability programme, whether it be organics, biodynamics, or Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand. I am proud to say that the industry achieved this goal 1 year ahead of target.

One of the keys to sustainable growth is undoubtedly irrigation, and I am proud to say that I am a founding member and chairman of the Southern Valleys community irrigation scheme. This is a scheme that irrigates 4,500 hectares in Marlborough’s dry, southern valleys. One of the big opportunities in our electorate is the Hurunui water project with a command area of 42,000 hectares. When fully developed, the scheme has the potential to generate $470 million in new GDP and create 3,300 new jobs in the wider Canterbury region. I will be working alongside the scheme’s promoters to help bring it to fruition. Further north the Flaxbourne community are also considering their own irrigation scheme, and I look forward to offering the benefit of my experience to help the community through the process.

I have some experience as an advocate of local health services. In 2013 a paper to senior medical staff of the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board outlined a proposal to cut acute surgical and orthopaedic services at Wairau Hospital in Blenheim, reducing them from 24 hours 7 days a week to, essentially, office hours 5 days a week. This, given the distances involved, would have been dangerous and totally unsatisfactory to the local community. I was one of four founding members of the group set up to oppose those cuts. With very little time we were able to attract a thousand people to a public meeting, and as a result the district health board gave an assurance that the proposed cuts would be dropped, and instead instituted a district health board - wide review of services, the results of which have given the community much heart and confidence in the future.

They say to win an electorate seat you need to burn a lot of shoe leather. In the Kaikōura electorate you also need a lot of Firestone rubber as State Highway 1 is not only the artery of the electorate but a vital link for the South Island as well. During my first term I will be advocating for the replacement of the last remaining one-lane bridge on State Highway 1 at the Hurunui River. The time has come for this to change. A coastal feeder service out of Picton is also long overdue and something I have been advocating for some time now. There are significant savings to be made for exporters from such a service, and with the shipping industry moving to a hub and spoke model, the time is right. I will be working alongside Port Marlborough and the Marlborough District Council to make this a reality.

Recently there has been wide consultation on the future of the Marlborough colleges. This is an exciting opportunity for the community to review the future of secondary education for the region. As a parent I welcome this and will work hard to ensure that Marlborough receives the best outcome for our younger generation.

I am delighted to join a National Government that will introduce a bill to create a recreational fishing park in the Marlborough Sounds, which will be managed by an advisory group made up of local interests. This is a major change in devolving management from a Government department to local interests, drawing on the successful Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura model in Kaikōura.

Thank you for the opportunity to present my maiden speech. I look forward to working with you and all members as we face the challenges that lie ahead. Thank you.

It is a great honour to be delivering my maiden speech to the House today. There are many values that we as New Zealanders cherish and work to uphold. As one of the 14 new National Party MPs in the 51st Parliament who are starting out on this journey, I, like so many before me, have reflected on which values will guide me and which I will strive to ensure we protect: equal opportunity, individual freedom and choice, personal responsibility, competitive enterprise and reward for achievement, limited Government, strong families and caring communities, and sustainable development of our environment. These are my reference points for my work and contribution to the making of good law in the 51st Parliament of New Zealand. Like a compass, I will seek to refer to these points as I navigate my way through my journey in this House. In application I will reflect, learn, and set course many times as I strive to benefit my electorate, Waimakariri, my region, Canterbury, and my country.

Mr Speaker, may I congratulate you on your re-election. It is a privilege to be part of a strong National Party, a strong National-led Government, and a strong National Party caucus. This strength is a result of the hard work of our leader, Prime Minister the Rt Hon John Key, our party president, Peter Goodfellow, our Canterbury/Westland regional chair, Roger Bridge, and our other regional chairs, our Ministers, our MPs, and National Party members and supporters.

I would like to acknowledge one Minister in particular, the Hon Gerry Brownlee, for his unwavering focus and commitment to the Canterbury earthquake recovery following the devastating earthquakes that hit the region and my electorate first in September 2010, primarily in Kaiapoi, and then the subsequent fatal earthquake in February 2011. The party votes in all our greater Christchurch electorates clearly demonstrated that Cantabrians support Mr Brownlee’s tireless efforts. We as Cantabrians have achieved a lot since these earthquakes first struck, and there is still a lot of work to be done to rebuild one of the greatest regions to live in New Zealand, and that is a fact.

Some of my fondest memories of growing up in Canterbury are from the early 1980s during Canterbury Rugby’s famous Ranfurly Shield era. I remember going to Lancaster Park on Saturday afternoons to watch and support the Canterbury Rugby team defend the Ranfurly Shield. Lancaster Park was known to be a hotbed of hostility for visiting sides, but for me this was an opportunity to meet other young kids from all over Canterbury who had come to support our winning rugby team. As I look back, remembering through a young child’s eyes, it seemed a special time in Canterbury when the whole region came together as one to support our team. Looking forward, as Canterbury rebuilds and rises again, I hope we can create an environment that will allow other young Cantabrians growing up to have those memories of a unified Canterbury—one region, one Canterbury, and, I am proud to say, somewhat one-eyed.

Can I acknowledge my mum and dad, Joan and Tom, my wife, Viktoria, and those from the Waimakariri electorate who have travelled up to Wellington for this speech and who are in the public gallery today. To the Waimakariri electorate team led by Jim Gerard, Dan Gordon, and Jill Spooner, which has provided me with so much support over the last 6 months, and to the many listeners and viewers back home in the Waimakariri electorate, I am humbled by all your support. Can I also make special mention of the Waimakariri National Party supporters group, led by Judith Parrott, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.

It is with much pride that I stand here today delivering my maiden speech as only the fourth member of Parliament to represent the Waimakariri electorate. I acknowledge those who have gone before me: Jim Gerard, Mike Moore, Clayton Cosgrove, and Kate Wilkinson. I owe a great debt to all those in the Waimakariri electorate who have placed their faith in me as their representative. I offer my commitment to represent and work for all in the Waimakariri electorate to the best of my abilities.

Waimakariri is a large electorate made up of both urban and rural areas. It spans from Casebrook, Northwood, and Belfast in northern Christchurch, up over the mighty Waimakariri River to the town of Kaiapoi, heading north to Woodend, Pegasus, and Waikuku, then west towards Tuahiwi Marae, and then to the main town of Rangiora, then through the lifestyle areas, including Fernside, Clarkville, Ōhoka, Mandeville, Swannanoa, Eyreton, through Cust to Oxford in the west. The electorate has seen some extraordinary population growth. It is the third-fastest growing area in New Zealand. The GDP of this region has increased well over 25 percent since 2010. This has been driven partly by the earthquake rebuild, and also by businesses that are benefiting from a strongly performing agricultural sector. Like we see in wider New Zealand, when the farmers are doing well the whole country benefits. Waimakariri is no different. When local farmers are doing well, the region benefits.

People ask me why I wanted to enter politics and become a MP. I answer this on two levels. The first is an instinctive feeling I have felt from a young age. I have always known that this is a path I would like to take. The second level is a rational one. For many years I have worked at the front line of health services and saw every day in the communities I worked in the benefits of better jobs and better incomes on people’s lives. I went into health care to make a difference. For me, politics is a way of continuing to make that difference, both for Waimakariri and New Zealand.

I was educated in Christchurch at St Patrick’s School in Bryndwr and St Bede’s College in Redwood—yes, another Bedean. Following high school I studied counselling psychology and went on to graduate with an honours degree in social policy and a Master’s degree in health care management. I worked at the front line of mental health services and in the management of health care services for a number of years, both here in New Zealand and in London.

As we move through the Canterbury earthquake recovery, international research tells us that years 3 to 5 post-disaster are important for both psychological and social recovery. Nationally and internationally, better mental health is important. We know that as the number of elderly people in our community grows, we will need to have better support in place for the expected number of elderly people with dementia. With children, we know that developmentally the early years are important and that if a child does not receive the emotional support they need, then this can be problematic. For working-age adults, mental health problems are one of the biggest causes of disability in the workplace and one of the biggest causes of loss of productivity for a business. It is considered that poor mental health such as depression will be the biggest cause of disability in the world. All of us will experience good and bad mental health over our lives. We are all in this together.

I travelled to London in the late 1990s for my OE with £100 in my back pocket. By the time I left over a decade later, I had not only built a rewarding health care career but also backpacked over 50 countries. Travelling at the grassroots of many countries taught me a lot about people—their culture, their history, their traditions. I learnt a lot about myself and what I want to achieve in my life. I am very thankful that I have had the opportunity to live in London while on my OE and I do hope my children will have this opportunity also. It is true what they say: travelling broadens the mind. The experience of living and travelling overseas has expanded my world view.

It was while living in London that I was selected to attend Birkbeck College to study a Master’s degree in global politics. From these studies and from my travelling through many countries, I learnt a lot about the globalised world we live in, where countries collaborate and compete, and how important it is that we have good economic management for the well-being of our people. We are living in a global market place where investment, information, and goods and services flow freely around the world with no borders. In this global market place competitive countries can provide growth and jobs for their people while uncompetitive countries do not. We have a choice.

There was a well-known philosopher in the 18th century, a Scotsman by the name of Adam Smith. He is the godfather of the market economy. He coined the term “comparative advantage”. This is where countries produce goods and services that they have a competitive advantage in doing so. For us, our biggest strength is the primary industries. We need to ensure that we gain access to other countries’ markets through free-trade agreements to sell our goods and our services. We also need investment into these sectors to promote innovation and research for higher productivity so we can add more value in our exports. Crucially, we will need innovation and research to ensure we find answers to sustainability concerns.

I come from a family that has a long history of contributing to the community. My late grandfather Maurice Carter was a Christchurch City Council deputy mayor and committed philanthropist. My mother, Joan Doocey, has dedicated her career as a teacher to young people with learning difficulties, empowering them to study in mainstream education settings. My father, Tom Doocey, received a Queen’s honour for his services to rugby and sports administration. Having role models like these in my life teaches me the commitment required for public service and the resilience needed for public scrutiny.

I am very fortunate that my wife, Viktoria, is supportive of my political ambitions. For Viktoria, her politics is real life. She was born and grew up behind the Iron Curtain in communist Hungary. She knows firsthand what it is like to live without the freedom and choice that we take for granted here in New Zealand. The effects of the poor economic management of the left are still visible in her homeland today. Just to make things a bit more interesting though, along the campaign trail my wife and I had our first child. In fact, my wife, Viktoria, started having contractions at one of my National Party selection meetings. I am happy to announce that we have a beautiful baby girl, Emily, who is now 7 months old and up in the public gallery today.

Having a young family makes me committed to ensuring families and communities are at the heart of growth and development in the Waimakariri, in Canterbury, and in the whole of New Zealand. For me it is all about family. I want to see mums and dads have better jobs and better incomes. I want their children to have a great education so they can achieve what they want in their lives. I want grandparents to have great health care and security in their retirement, and I want families to grow up in safer communities.

I am conscious of the challenges that lie in front of me in the Waimakariri electorate: roading and traffic congestion, the earthquake recovery—particularly the rebuilding of the town centres of Rangiora, Kaiapoi, and Oxford—the future of the red zone land, the importance of water, the issues surrounding nitrate levels, the completion of the Rangiora health hub, and working with and helping the Waimakariri District Council, whose work during difficult times has been acknowledged as exceptional. Then there are other groups and issues, such as the Rangiora, Kaiapoi, and Oxford high schools with their building programmes.

To conclude, I come to this House, like so many who have gone before, ambitious for our country and keen to make my contribution and work hard for the interests and aspirations of all constituents of the Waimakariri electorate, for the wider region of Canterbury, and for New Zealand. It is an honour to be the elected MP for Waimakariri. I will never forget the privilege I have been offered in being elected and the responsibility of the job I have been given to do. Thank you.

Mr Speaker, Prime Minister, parliamentary colleagues, and the National Party team, as I deliver my first words in this awe-inspiring Chamber, I am mindful of the journey that I have travelled to be here. I am reflective on the definitive decisions I have made, the key opportunities I have seized, my discipline, my faith in the end goal, and the overwhelming loyalty of my supporters. Many try to get here and fail, but with the support and sacrifice of my husband, Mark, my children, Christabel and Hunter, the help of my parents, Ann and Alan Dowie, my National Party friends—in particular, Garry Thomsen, Anne McCracken, and Jon Turnbull—for their colossal efforts, and now with the mandate of the good people of the deep south, I am standing here, humbled, feeling surreal. I also acknowledge our party president, Peter Goodfellow, and board member Roger Bridge for their encouragement and wise counsel.

Mr Speaker, I congratulate you on your re-election. I have learnt much already from your own experience as a Minister and member in Opposition, and now I look forward to learning from you as to the rules of engagement in the House.

I am the Invercargill electorate’s first elected woman MP, and the moment is not lost on me. The Invercargill electorate has in the past been coined conservative but is now charging forward into a new era. The Invercargill electorate is a mixture of both urban and rural. It takes in the Catlins to the east and its ecological fame. It includes a yellow-eyed penguin colony, a Hector’s dolphin pod, and the petrified forest. Riverton and westward encompasses rolling hills, windswept forests, and stunning rugged coastline scenes. To the north there is Edendale and Wyndham’s fertile plains. To the south is Bluff with its oysters and traditional port activities, as well as Rakiura, which contains our newest and most remote national park. Finally, there is the city of Invercargill, our southernmost provincial city, steeped in Scottish tradition, and one that holds on to that pioneering spirit. It is an electorate of “can-do’s”, aspiration, innovation. Businesses carving out new niches are capitalising on the tried and true of the primary sector, education, and tourism, and developing and manufacturing new products for export. It is a quiet storm that is building to success.

However, Southland will be tested moving forward. We need to build on the industries we have and ensure we develop opportunities for the future. Industry productivity is challenged through a failure to attract more skilled people and families to the province. Although Southland’s economy needs to continue to grow based on its strengths in an environmentally sensible way, it must also diversify to sustain it. It also faces some real challenges in funding for essential services, especially when the spread of those services is across isolated areas. Despite these challenges, Southland continues to box above its weight per capita by generating over 12 percent of New Zealand’s total export receipts. We enjoy higher than average household incomes and high employment rates, and we are some of the happiest people in the country—and that is according to the last annual regional economic activity report.

There has been much media coverage in recent days and months about the cost of housing in Auckland. So I say to those Aucklanders who want a great lifestyle and affordable housing: does Invercargill have a deal for you! I am deeply passionate about the region and will fiercely advocate for development that has already been identified to continue to create varied jobs and generate more wealth and more opportunities for Southlanders. I will assist and support those who have innovative new ideas and will be vocal on the delivery of effective essential services across the region. That goes for anyone who wants to bring their business to one of the most cost-effective provinces in the country.

I intend to champion Southland’s progression to make it a province of choice for our people and families to thrive in and gain their fortune. I am a proud mother of two preschool children. Although I am acutely aware of the juggling that I will have to do to ensure that I do the job well and also maintain that all-important relationship with my family, I am not afraid to say that having children has changed my perspective for the better and driven me to contribute to this level. It is very hard to articulate the change in perspective as a mum, but it is a bit like going from watching black and white television to colour—or, for the Generation Ys out there, from digital to HDTV. I intend to use this breadth of view and colour in my approach to policy making—one that is holistic. I do not view my life in a silo, and, hence, I am supportive of the Government’s efforts to break down the silos of the Government in its problem solving. My opinions are mainly moderate, centre-right, and my approach to policy making will be for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

I am also the daughter of two police officers and by trade a solicitor, so law and order and justice are in my blood. I was raised with a strong ethic of “Reap what you sow.” The consequence of crime and the reality of it was in the forefront of my upbringing. My mother’s first husband, Constable Donald Stokes, was brutally murdered at age 23 while in the line of duty in Dunedin in 1966. I was raised with his photos on the walls, and the tragic end of his life has been etched into my mind from a young age.

On 13 November 1990 death on the job was again a reality as my father received a call from headquarters to advise that one of his best friends, Sergeant Stewart Guthrie, had been shot dead at Aramoana. I remember him methodically and soberly getting dressed in his uniform and walking out the door. The sum of the following 22 hours, with helicopters flying across the airspace of Dunedin and the general unknown, was not lost on anyone in Dunedin. However, it was obviously more pronounced for those with loved ones who were murdered or connected in some way. The sacrifice of brave men and women who put themselves on the front line to defend our liberties and the way of life that we hold dear in New Zealand is never far from my thoughts. I take this country’s security and our personal security very seriously, and, as such, I promise to uphold it, making sure that the police and other agencies have the resourcing and tools required to mitigate threats and reduce crime.

At the same time, I want to assure equal access to justice and the rule of law. New Zealand as a safe and fair community is something to always be vigilant about. But nurturing and growing a safe community is not enough on its own—well, not enough for me. I believe in the concept of social justice in so far as it relates to enabling every New Zealander the opportunity to lead a fulfilling life and achieve their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. This cannot be done, however, by keeping people down on an endless series of hand-outs. It is about creating an environment where people are supported to take responsibility for and to navigate their own lives, for they are best placed to make those decisions. It is about helping people gain the skills to get them into work. With a bit of can-do attitude they will find that they have options. I believe, as did the Hon Ralph Hanan, Invercargill’s last Minister, in furthering the real progress of all the people.

I am here to serve all New Zealanders to build on the wins that this Government has already achieved. I am here because it is our duty to build a New Zealand that the next generation, our children, are proud of, and where there is opportunity to get ahead in a country that has a heart to help those less fortunate but also rewards those who have the determination to work and make their own luck. I want our children to be pleased with the legacy we have left but also have the fortitude to build on this Government’s platform and drive forward initiatives for the betterment of all.

On a lighter note, I remember Sunday nights at 7.30 p.m. in front of the telly with mum and dad watching Our World, a series of fascinating nature documentaries that are probably responsible for fuelling my interest in science. I studied ecology at the University of Otago, Coupled with a law degree it became a powerful combination in helping my all-round understanding of environmental and conservation issues. It was a desire to still use my law degree but more of my science degree that saw me working for the Department of Conservation for 5 years. However, the department at that time is certainly not what it is today. The culture back then was that of dogmatic no, and, ultimately, I became frustrated when well-put-together environmentally sensible proposals were shut down with no logical thought to the greater picture of conservation.

It should be noted that I believe there is a place for preservation in New Zealand but there is also a place for sustainable development. The idea of protectionism, which is often seen as competing with development, recreation, and enjoyment, can be effectively balanced. We are ultimately part of our environment; we are not separate from it. We are dependent upon the environment for our well-being and our living. These two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

However, this frustration was nothing but a godsend as it catapulted me back to private practice and, wanting to stay involved in environmental issues at a higher level, I joined the Bluegreens. Our rationale is that economic growth goes hand in hand with improving the environment, and, therefore, this resonates with me. Inevitably, I was drawn into the mainstream of the National Party: party conferences, policy days, and candidates’ training—the final step that sealed my fate as to seriously consider politics as a career. I am, therefore, sincerely grateful for the advice and friendship of Glenys Dickson, whose gentle, well-timed, and highly effective nudges steered me here today. As Amelia Earhart once said: “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”

So what have I learned in my short 40 years on this earth? What attitude will I bring to Parliament? I believe a superior understanding of the rules wins every time. I guess, therefore, Mr Leader of the House, that I will be a regular attendee at procedures meetings. I believe you should play the cards you are dealt, play them well, and then wait for the re-deal. With hard work and perseverance, eventually things must go your way. Fight hard but fight fair and never lose sight of who you are or where you are from. Humility is a characteristic that should never be underrated. I believe that one should be kind, because you never know when you may need kindness in return to get you by.

On winning the seat of Invercargill, I was told by a friend to dream big. In response, I defer to one of the most powerful symbols of triumph over adversity—someone who achieved and inspired despite the odds. Helen Keller said: “One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.” I promise to listen, to learn, to work, to dream, and to do my best to soar. Thank you.

I am humbled to stand here and speak for the first time in this Chamber. I am humbled by the sense of history, tradition, and culture, but I am also humbled as I look round because from today I am part of this place. It is a true honour to stand before you as the representative for Clutha-Southland. We are proudly the largest general electorate in New Zealand. We embrace Southland, South Otago, West Otago, Fiordland, and the Greater Wakatipu. At 38,000 square kilometres, we are almost the size of Switzerland.

I want to acknowledge and thank my family and friends, Clutha-Southland supporters, who are here today, and former ministerial office colleagues—in particular, Jamie Gray and Julie Ash. Mr Speaker, congratulations to you on your reappointment and thank you for the strong voice you have provided provincial New Zealand throughout your time in this House. I wish to personally thank some very important people who are responsible for me standing here today: Glenys Dickson, Tim Hurdle, Michelle Boag, and the Hon Roger Sowry. Your wisdom, advice, and sound, loyal counsel have guided me throughout my journey thus far. I wish to thank my campaign team, under the leadership of Jeff Grant, John Wilson, and Glenys Dickson. We ran a spectacular campaign, and it was thanks to these fine people. I wish to thank my electorate executive, under the leadership of Stuart Davies, Ailsa Smaill, and Nigel Moore. The Young Nats—thank you for all your hard work and support.

I would also like to congratulate my class of 2014 colleagues, all of whom I sincerely look forward to working with over the coming years—in particular, I want to pay special mention to my friend and previous colleague Chris Bishop. You ran a solid campaign and I am truly glad to be working alongside you once again.

Although I did not grow up on a farm, I do come from good Southland farming stock, and I hope to bring this down-to-earth approach to the House of Representatives. Dating back to the early 1900s, three generations on my mother’s side farmed sheep in Southland near Winton, and three generations on my father’s side were sheep farmers and trained horses at Croydon near Gore. I was born in Gore and my family moved to Dipton when I was about 3. My parents had the Four Square and mail run there before moving back to Gore in time for my final year at primary school. It was there where I completed the rest of my schooling. I completed a Bachelor of Commerce in Wellington while working at Parliament as an intern to Bill English, ministerial secretary to Gerry Brownlee, ministerial assistant briefly in the Prime Minister’s correspondence team—I think you were overseas at the time—and a political adviser to Hekia Parata. I then moved to Auckland and worked as a public relations and corporate affairs consultant before coming home, where I won this election.

My home, the electorate of Clutha-Southland, stretches from Waihola and Taieri Mouth on the East Coast to Milford Sound on the west. Our people vary, from the farmers and service providers in and around Tuatāpere, Ōtautau, Winton, Gore, Lawrence, Balclutha, and Milton to the tourism operators in and around Queenstown, Arrowtown, Glenorchy, Te Ānau, Manapōuri, and the Catlins. We also have innovators, entrepreneurs, and professionals engaged in business throughout the length and breadth of the electorate. All of these communities have differing social needs and local issues and deserve my unique representation. Despite such a large number of the residents of Clutha-Southland living in our larger centres, the major influence in the electorate remains decidedly rural. This is something not to be forgotten. The primary sector is still the backbone of this country and of our economy, and I look forward to making a strong contribution on the Primary Production Committee.

I consider Clutha-Southland to be particularly fortunate, though, because in addition to our strong provincial foundation, we also include a world-class tourism industry, which plays a pivotal role in shaping our nation’s proposition to the rest of the world. Queenstown is unique. Among other things, we are incredibly lucky that unlike many other parts of our country our challenge is in managing the pace of growth and development, not generating it.

I want to talk about the areas where I intend to make my main contribution. These three areas are, in my view, fundamental to the future growth and prosperity in Otago and Southland. I intend to make a difference in these areas. As a region, we are heavily reliant on a strong, high-quality, and productive primary sector and a savvy supporting service industry. Innovation and a drive to keep doing better are crucial in order to keep pace with the growing international demand.

Second, in order to move forward, attracting and retaining more innovative, skilled, and qualified workers down south is essential. To achieve this we need to systematically lift achievement at each point throughout the education pipeline. It is here that I want to acknowledge the Minister of Education, the Hon Hekia Parata. I strongly admire her relentless passion and conviction to bringing out the very best in every teacher and every school, and keeping our best teachers in the classroom so that they, in turn, can bring out the very best in every Kiwi kid. If you want an example of someone who has entered politics for the right reasons, she is that person. Hekia, I look forward to joining you in this pursuit and making a strong contribution as a member on the Education and Science Committee because, as you say: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

My third interest is trade, because this is what motivates and drives our demand for primary sector growth and workforce enhancement. We need to be constantly looking for opportunities to expand our export market base, which is why concluding a strong, dynamic Trans-Pacific Partnership is crucially important for the prosperity of my electorate and the country. As the people of Queenstown understand only too well, tourism is an important element in this. New Zealand’s reputation and the experiences our visitors have while they are here play an important role in how our trading partners in the rest of the world perceive our country. It helps that we have an outstanding Minister of Tourism who understands the strength and dynamism of the tourism proposition and is leading the charge in attracting more and more high-value tourists. My electorate’s tourism offering opens huge doors and paves the way to a number of flow-on trade and economic benefits that we as a country enjoy.

If I can contribute in any way during my time in this place to the delivery of tangible gains across the primary industries, education, trade, and tourism and how they interact and intersect, I will be proud to have helped enhance the ability of my region and our country to grow its economic potential. This is why provincial people deserve a strong voice in Parliament and in Government, on an equal footing to the representation enjoyed by those living in New Zealand’s larger centres. I believe the key to the strength and success of the National Party in the future is to ensure that our party’s two core—and, indeed, at times competing—followings, urban liberal-leaning New Zealand and rural conservative-leaning New Zealand, both continue to enjoy strong representation on an equal footing at the highest of our party’s ranks. It is important that we remain balanced in our views, realistic in our expectations, and resonant with middle New Zealand. That is why I believe that our Prime Minister, John Key, and Deputy Prime Minister, Bill English, make an exceptional complementary team.

Mr Speaker, the Rt Hon David Carter, when I stand before you in this House representing my view and the view of my people, I do so with an appreciation of the true honour and responsibility that privilege brings. I do so with the intention of being a strong, fair-minded, and informed legislator. Prime Minister, the Rt Hon John Key, when I stand before you in caucus representing my view and the view of my people, I do so with an appreciation of the true honour and responsibility that privilege brings. I do so with the intention of being a strong, fair-minded, and informed member of your caucus.

Parliamentary colleagues, for those of you unaccustomed to the deep south, let me introduce you to the fine people I humbly represent. The people of Clutha-Southland exemplify the best of New Zealand—of course, I would say that. We are conservative yet innovative, astute yet modest, quiet yet ambitious, and hard-working yet fun. We are proud New Zealanders. Our values are straightforward, straight talking. We are uncomplicated in our views, accountable for our actions, and solid in our beliefs. My values are simple. They are based on personal responsibility, free enterprise, and choice. These are the values that I will represent in our Parliament.

As British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, we want a society where people are free to make choices, to make mistakes, and to be generous and compassionate. That is what we mean by a moral society. It is not a society where the State is responsible for everything and no one is responsible for the State. For my part, I believe that freedom and choice are the fundamental rights of all New Zealanders, but we as individuals need to be responsible for the choices that we make and for the actions we take.

I promised my constituents that as their MP I will act in order to preserve those values that they hold dear. Let there be no misunderstanding: I will act, and it begins today. I understand that my leadership as a representative requires much more than acting with no conscience. I genuinely believe in my electorate’s values, and I believe in my people. I will represent my constituency honestly and strongly.

It is here I want to acknowledge the Hon Gerry Brownlee. I had the privilege of working for Gerry over Pike River and for part of the Canterbury earthquakes. Gerry, it is your true selflessness, humble wisdom, and unconditional loyalty to the people of Canterbury that I believe will see the history books mark you down as one of New Zealand’s greatest political leaders.

In this place that I call home, we believe in phrases like individual responsibility, hard work, and equal opportunity. Clutha-Southland is a microcosm of the National Party. We are a microcosm of heartland New Zealand. As I begin my political career I ask myself a question: what type of country do we want to be in in 20 years’ time? I know what type of country I believe in—a dynamic, innovative, determined country; forward looking and forward thinking. That is the vision of my generation.

I am 24 years old. Like Marilyn Waring, Simon Upton, and Nick Smith once were, I am the youngest member of this House. People of my age are making choices that will affect them for the rest of their lives—they are marrying, buying houses, establishing career paths, and having children. It is important that when we are in this House we consider these people. I hope that I will provide a strong voice in this place for my generation. Although some people might not realise it, politics and other things that the Government does do affect all of our lives. Therefore, we must be in constant pursuit of delivering strong, stable, decisive government, consistent government, and predictable government. That is what we aim for and aim to deliver as part of team Key. It is an exciting future, built on a platform of 6 years of good government. I think it is important and I will aspire to maintain those standards so that the senior generation can thrive, so that my generation can thrive, and so that future generations can thrive.

In 1990, the year I was born, Simon William English came to this House. I am the same age as his eldest son Thomas—he and I used to go to the same playgroup. I have known Bill and his family literally my whole life. I want to acknowledge him as the most humble, selfless, focused politician I have ever met. The Hon Bill English, his wife, Dr Mary English, and their family have served the people of Clutha-Southland very well for 24 years. They are people of true heart and true courage. That makes them truly heroic in the eyes of us all. As our local MP, Bill was never afraid to stand up to those he opposed. He was, and continues to be, a man of judgment who understands what really matters. He was, and continues to be, a man of integrity who would never run out on the principles he believes in or the people who believe in him. He was, and continues to be, a man who understands the trust of those whose hopes he carries. Bill English is a man devoted to serving the public interest. Thank you for representing us proudly and strongly and setting such a high standard, which I will strive to live up to.

Those of you who know Bill will know that he has a reputation for being conservative, not only with the country’s finances but also with his own. He is famous for leaving his wallet behind. We were in Queenstown during the campaign and we had just finished visiting some businesses in the industrial zone. On our way back to the office Bill said: “Oh, I think I’d really like to take Barbara Swan out for a coffee.” She was his electorate agent. He said he thought it would be nice. I said: “Yes, that would be great. I’ll just drop you off.” There was a bit of a pause, and then he said: “Hey, I don’t suppose you’ve got any cash, have you?”. Bill’s staff who are here today will know this only too well.

To the people of Clutha-Southland, as we look forward and begin shaping our future we must never forget where we have come from, nor the people whose blood, sweat, and tears founded the path upon which we walk today. Nor should we lose touch with the present. As I look up to the gallery, I see a group of people who mean the world to me, my family—my mum, Maree; my dad Paul; my sister, Kelsey; Brodie Andrews; and Margaret Williamson. As you all know only too well, politics is my passion. The highest tribute I can pay to my family is to say that each of you is a person of warmth, support, loyalty, and unconditional love. Living up to the values you possess is what continues to make me strive to make you proud. Without you all I would not be here today, and it is the thought of you that will be bring me back tomorrow. Now is the time for me to stop talking and to start serving. For as long as the people of Clutha-Southland will have me, my time is their time. This is their time. I am from them, I am them, and I am proud to be representing them.

Sitting suspended from 6.01 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

I move, That this debate be now adjourned.

Motion agreed to.