Address in Reply

What a pleasure it is to rise for the first time in this Parliament to give a speech and to acknowledge this side of the House, which has developed a Government that is based on true MMP principles. One of the great lessons of this election campaign is that parties who campaign in the modern political environment need to understand that it is a majority of seats in this House that decides who a Government is, not a party with a born-to-rule mentality who think no matter what they should be in Government. On this side of the House, we are committed to an MMP-based Parliament, one that recognises the skills and talents of all the people in the three parties that make up this Government.

Before I go on in this contribution, I want to make reference to what I think was a situation where this Parliament, in the last term—actually, in the term before—upheld the true principles of MMP, and that was when we passed the marriage equality legislation, which had support from right across the House. Members may or may not be aware that Australia, in its plebiscite, has voted 61 percent in favour of marriage equality. I look forward to our friends across the Ditch catching up with us.

💬 Hon Gerry Brownlee: Another whack on Australia.

When we look at the words that appear—there’s Gerry Brownlee, Gerry Brownlee who was sent across to Canberra to send a message to Julie Bishop and he lost it in his lunchbox. He couldn’t find it when he got Canberra to say anything. This Government, this Parliament, and our leader, Jacinda Ardern, are prepared to stand up on the world stage for the values and principles that we believe in. We will do that, Mr Brownlee, and we’ll do it with Australia, but we’ll never back down from our principles for political expediency.

When you look at the coalition agreement with New Zealand First and the confidence and supply agreement with the Green Party that the Labour Party has signed up to, there is a common piece of language that I want to read out. I’m sure you’ll indulge me to read this, because I think it’s important because it shows what this Government will be about—and this appears in both agreements: “Together, we will work to provide New Zealand with a transformational government, committed to resolving the greatest long-term challenges for the country, including sustainable economic development, increased exports and decent jobs paying higher wages, a healthy environment, a fair society and good government. We will reduce inequality and poverty and improve the well-being of all New Zealanders and the environment [that] we live in.” That is—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: “Fewer” not “less”, I hope.

Indeed, it’s all signed up now, Mr Speaker, so grammatical problems will have to be part of what we deal with. But that shared commitment between these three parties is what will guide this Government. If there was one lesson I took from the election campaign, regardless of who New Zealanders voted for, it was that they had come to see that the gap between those who have the most in our society and those who have the least has grown too large. Everywhere I went in New Zealand, and my colleagues around the country went, we heard that this was not the New Zealand that people wanted to live in. New Zealanders want to see their neighbours flourish, they want to see their communities grow and work together, and under the last Government we saw nine years of selfishness and individualism being promoted. We saw nine years of the worst excesses of global capitalism being visited on the most vulnerable people in New Zealand, and the time for that has ended.

This will be a Government that defines itself on how we include New Zealanders, not how we exclude them, and that means, to start with, the most vulnerable New Zealanders who the previous Government saw as collateral damage on the way to numbers on their spreadsheet. So no New Zealander will have to put up with knowing that we have the worst homelessness in the OECD under this Government, because we want to include every New Zealander in the basic right to shelter—the basic right to a warm, dry home. I’m incredibly proud that one of the first pieces of legislation that will come forward from this Government and be passed in this House will actually be modern standards for rental properties, because whether you own a house or you are renting a house, you deserve to live in a warm, dry home. And we will eliminate homelessness over the terms that this Government will have.

We will also include the people of our regions, and on this I do want to pay tribute to the New Zealand First Party for bringing to the table their advocacy for the regions of New Zealand. No matter where you live in this country, you should know that there’s the opportunity for a decent job. If we just leave it to the market, that will not happen, but if we support the innovative people in our regions, if we plant the trees, and if we build the rail lines, then there will be the opportunity for decent work throughout our regions. Unfortunately, the previous Government believed that it would just happen—that if Steven Joyce produced a glossy brochure, this would suddenly grow jobs in our regions. On this side of the House, we know that the route to growing those jobs is investment and partnership between central government, local government, business, and iwi, and we are committed to that partnership.

Not only will this be a Government of inclusion; it will be a Government of aspiration. Once upon a time, we were told by the National Party that there was a brighter future ahead, that they believed in New Zealanders. But over nine years they gave up, and Bill English said the Government had reached the limit of what it could do. Well, on this side of the House, we do not believe that. We believe that the Government can be a partner in those regions of New Zealand and can be a partner in growing a sustainable economy. We will do this, and we will manage the books carefully.

I want to say today that one of the things that we are rapidly discovering in Government is that Mr Joyce was trying to make out that there was some kind of problem emerging with the amount of money that was available for capital expenditure. Well, I can say this to members in the House: we have set aside in our Budget the investment that is needed to build our rail network, to ensure that we have a new hospital in Dunedin, and to ensure that we make sure that we rebuild the schools that the previous Government has neglected. What they did not tell New Zealanders—what they did not tell New Zealanders—was that in trying to look like they were going to pay down debt, they took that money away from the schools and the hospitals and the infrastructure that we need. When it comes time to put out the Budget figures in this House, we will see that this Government is committed to investing in infrastructure where that Government was not in the past.

It is time for New Zealand to measure our success in different ways. We need to grow a strong economy. We need there to be activity that we measure through GDP. But, much more than that, we need to measure ourselves on the things that we will improve and change in New Zealand, and that will be a reduction in child poverty, that will be an improvement in the quality of our rivers, and that will be an increase in the number of people who live in warm, dry homes. We are not content to measure ourselves by how the wealthiest New Zealanders do; we will measure ourselves by how we lift the well-being and living standards of every single New Zealander. I will be proud to be a Minister of Finance who stands up at Budget time and delivers on our Budget responsibility rules and delivers on our fiscal plan, but also stands up—

💬 Hon Dr Nick Smith: You’re sticking to your numbers.

—and says that we will lift living standards and—we will measure ourselves on how the most vulnerable are lifted up. Nick Smith starts talking about numbers. This is the man who couldn’t even add up the number of houses that he wanted to build. He couldn’t even get there. On this side of the House, we know that what matters most to New Zealanders is the quality of life for them and their families. That can be measured in a number of different ways, and we will commit to making sure that those measures are public and that we are transparent about them.

Mr Speaker, this will be a Government of inclusion. This will be a Government of aspiration. This will be a Government of sustainable development. It will be a Government built on the best of New Zealanders’ efforts, and it will be built on the three parties that make up this coalition. We understand on this side of the House that MMP and the voters who voted for MMP wanted to see New Zealanders work together. We will do that, and we will deliver a country that is better and fairer.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I did hear you referred to consistently there as “Mr Speaker”, but I am delighted to see a woman Deputy Speaker in the House. I know Trevor Mallard’s not here, but can I please acknowledge his standing.

Ladies and gentlemen, what you just heard there was a man who has not transitioned to Minister of Finance. What we heard then was an angry student politician, ultimately. He didn’t actually have the gumption to get in there and sound like a new Minister of Finance, a man that’s proud of his new role, that’s grown into it, and that feels the gravitas, actually, of such an important role. What we still heard was the kind of angry, bitter Labour politician that wants to blame everyone else instead of standing up. Look, we heard consistently from Ms Ardern, from the Prime Minister, that what she wanted to see was positivity for New Zealand. She wanted those smiles. I just say simply to Grant Robertson, “Turn that frown upside down; you have made it to the Government benches.” Congratulations to you all, revel in the moment, but at least try and grow into the jobs, instead of still standing like you did three months ago, quite frankly, when you were standing on this side of the House.

So here we are in the 52nd Parliament, and it is a great honour to be here. Can I congratulate, particularly, all the new members that got sworn in. I see them from all sides of the House. It’s a buzz, yeah? I do remember that buzz, and it genuinely has been really interesting listening to maiden speeches, hearing you put your hearts on the line. For your families, actually, it’s something that’s really significant, and I know it is for you yourselves, so I do sincerely want to congratulate everyone. Make the most of it. John Key always used to say that there are people that sort of talk about getting here, and perhaps have a wish that they might get here; you guys have, so be it, and be in it, and all the best to everyone, and that kind of thing.

Obviously, I would rather be in Government. Ha, ha! That’s the truth of it. You don’t campaign like we did, you don’t do what you do, to actually go into Opposition, so I make no bones about it. But there’s a key thing here: we were not going to be in Government at any cost, and New Zealand First know that. Mr Peters, there’s a price that one pays, and we weren’t willing to pay that, so that’s just kind of how things go.

As they say, it’s not whether or not life throws you curve balls; it’s whether or not you’ve got the gumption to pick that ball up and throw it back, and this is going to be an incredibly strong Opposition. This is one that has convictions in what they stand for. This is 56 MPs who are here to make a difference, and we shall do that in Opposition as we did in Government. We look forward to the next few years as we play our role on behalf of the Queen in the role of being Her Majesty’s very faithful Opposition, and it’s something that we will take seriously.

So there’ve been many, many, many, many, many promises. We have heard the promises, and they have been rolling out. We just heard another one. There they went again; yes, they’ve said it before: eradicating homelessness. So let’s hold them to that on behalf of those people. We will remember, of course, that they had homeless people in motels back in the 2000s. That’s when women actually find themselves in violent circumstances, need to leave, can’t find a house that day, and the State, in sticking up for them and looking after them, would at times put them into motels.

Well, we were told that was dreadful. It was OK when it was the previous Labour Government, absolutely dreadful when we did it, but now we’ve heard from Mr Twyford that it’s OK again because they’re in Government. So he’s going to keep using motels, by the way, and that’s OK. They won’t quite be eradicating—they’ll just be trying to make it better, but don’t actually hold them too much to account on it, because they’re not sure how they’re going to do it. They don’t actually have a target; it’s all just another wish list.

We’re going to have rail everywhere; we’re going to have zero emissions. Good on Dr Clark; he’s personally going to reduce suicide, which might be admirable, but, actually, I think it’s a slant on how complex the issue is. It takes more than one person, and it’s going to take something that is genuinely across a whole lot of people.

We’ve had a lot of rhetoric, we’ve had a lot of what it all sounds like; now we want to see real targets—we want to see what that looks like in practice. I think the smile might fade as good intentions hit the wall of reality. The smiles will start fading pretty damned quickly.

I’m suggesting they get organised. Cabinet committees are actually there for a reason, and they’re a damned good idea because it means you test things against them to make sure that you’ve got no unintended consequences—for example, like paid parental leave, where you could take an idea that actually is fair for families, instead of ramming down their throats how you believe families should actually be raised—sorry, not you, of course, Madam Deputy Speaker, but those on the other side that are telling us that they know best how a family should work. So they know best about that first couple of years. When we hear from new mums and dads that they actually want to be with their partner and spend that bonding time and see that, why shouldn’t we actually support them to decide how to split paid parental leave?

💬 Jami-Lee Ross: How does Sue Moroney feel?

It’s a good idea that’s come up. Yeah, Sue Moroney, who was a member that pushed this, of course, for many, many years, actually supports the idea that partners should be able to take some of that leave so that they can decide how it works for their families. But don’t worry; Labour knows best on how it works! They will dictate exactly how that happens.

If they’d actually had a select committee process, which we were lectured about repeatedly from that side of the House—about how important it was, and that due process for even a week would count, we were told repeatedly. Well, if they meant that, send it to select committee. Let’s toss this around. Let’s really work out what’s best for those women, for those children, for those dads, for those same-sex partners—what really matters the most to their family unit.

I only hope they take some advice, because they’ve been taking a little bit. We see that Mr Hipkins has taken some now on national standards—not such a bad idea now. They’re OK, so that’s good—that’s good. Now we’re hoping they take some advice on partnership schools. I will not have that Prime Minister stand up and lecture us on vulnerable children and what needs to be done without looking after some of our most vulnerable young people that are actually learning in an environment that works for them. Can I commend even some members of this House who are part of the partnership schools and how they work, recognising individuals, the different way that those kids learn, and how important that is for them. Instead of being ideological and dissing a good idea, I hope they take some advice and listen to what needs to be done.

Can I just say how disappointing it was, not so much when the Government made a mistake on day one—they didn’t know their numbers; it’s as clear as that. They did not know if they had the numbers. Actually, we all make mistakes and it was their day one, and I get that. What was a real shame, after lecturing us repeatedly on how much better and more principled this Government was going to be, was that the first thing they did was spin it. The first thing they did was actually walk out of here and not tell the utter truth. If they’d done that, Mr Hipkins, and simply stood there and said, “We made a bit of a mistake. We’ll never make it again.”, I reckon the public would have given them a bit of kudos for it. But, instead, they proved themselves to be absolutely as flawed as the rest of us. Welcome to the real world, but you should have had the guts to actually stand up and prove it and say it, is what I say to it.

💬 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I don’t like to interrupt, but the member knows well that that is not parliamentary.

I didn’t mean to offend, but I got a bit carried away there.

Can I say as well that we are going to be holding this Government to account for all of those promises. We want to see those targets really in place. Let’s put some real numbers on it. Let’s see intergenerational welfare, families in it for decades, not just the last three, four, five, even nine years, but actually decades; families that have been falling into traps of poverty and traps of welfare dependence—let’s see you get into the heart of what the real issues are instead of spreading money around and merely hoping that you throw it to the right person who does the right thing with it. It is hard, complex work. There are systems in place. I hope you take advice. I hope you take a breath. I hope you look at the things that are working and not throw them out just because you ideologically believe that you know so much better than anybody else.

So I end on wishing for this 52nd Parliament: that it be robust, that we have a contest of ideas, and that we don’t ever lose sight that it is about New Zealanders—and not just about everyone passionately being right—and doing it well. Thank you.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I waited until the deputy leader of the National Party had finished her speech, but I noticed that when you interrupted her in order to take her to task for inappropriate language, the clock on the wall didn’t stop counting down. Can you just clarify: is it expected that that would happen?

It is at the Speaker’s direction.

Madam Deputy Speaker, first of all, can I congratulate you on your ascension to your role. I know that you will do a good job. I’m kind of hopeful that you will mediate over question time; I’m not too sure about Mr Speaker’s use of taking questions or supplementaries here and there at will.

I also want to acknowledge two contributors to this House—as translators, as people who have stewarded through various Prime Ministers and Governors-General in their role—and acknowledge their passing: Matua Lewis Moeau and Rangi McGarvey. They have served this Parliament very well and leave a legacy of leadership in the work that they have done.

I want also to pick up on the points that were belaboured by the previous speaker, Paula Bennett. Now, let’s take the issue of paid parental leave. Let’s not lose sight of why Sue Moroney led—led—petitions on behalf of communities of mothers who wanted to move towards the World Health Organization number of 26 weeks’ paid parental leave so that they could breastfeed their children. At the heart of that petition, at the heart of that campaign, was 26 weeks of paid parental leave so that mothers could breastfeed.

Now, I acknowledge, and many of us on this side of the House acknowledge, there are many variations of parenting that can be provided for in legislation, but let’s start with what will matter most: that children, young children, have the ability to have their mum able to breastfeed them for a period of time that will set them up for life. I’m really glad; #26weeks—it’s done, and we can then move to the other policy issues, matters that have been raised in this House for further consideration around provisions for other carers. Now, we will look at that within the context of our policy development, but, hang on, let’s not stop a good idea on other issues, because at the nub of 26 weeks’ paid parental leave, it was about breastfeeding. It was about giving our babies the best opportunity to start their life healthily by their mums being able to breastfeed them for that period of time.

Secondly, the point made about people in motels. I acknowledge that, because when we were last in Government, I knew many people that, because of domestic violence reasons, were housed in motels as a transitional arrangement in order to move them from one region to another, or, in some very dire circumstances, to move them from New Zealand over to Australia. But that was a short-term fix. The problem with the situation that we had under the previous Government—that short-term fix ended up being a long-term solution towards the lack of housing availability in many of our communities. It’s not good enough—it’s not enough—and we don’t believe that motels should be used in a wide-scale way where people are staying longer than a week, longer than two weeks, and sometimes up to a month in a motel because there are no homes available within their local community. We’ll do something about it, and we’re proud to be measured on what we will do in this space.

The other point around partnership schools: now, again, we argued this matter very strongly in the House, but partnership schools have set up a two-tiered treatment of opportunities for kids. Some of the difficulty, when you look at some of the partnership schools that are currently able to deliver, some of the red tape under section 156 to transition them into a designated character school is actually one of the reasons why people went down that avenue. Now, in terms of outcomes for kids, if schools have got registered teachers, if schools are delivering outcomes that are going to lift outcomes for a lot of our kids, many who are Māori, then we should be looking at it in a way that, within the context of our public education system, we’re not setting up a two-tiered system.

But I am really pleased, and I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister’s opening speech in Parliament, because she made a really clear statement and we all heard it: things will be different. We have a different approach, a new energy, and a different generational shift that is not afraid to stand and be measured by our values and what we believe in. It is about people first, not profit for profit’s sake but actually investing back into what will ensure the sustainability of our whānau, our communities, our provinces, and our regions—that if we lift the well-being and opportunities for people, then everybody else can get on. It is about building a sense of community, because there’s a little bit of disconnectedness that has really impacted on a number of ways in which things aren’t quite working right at this moment. We’ll do things about that.

It is about caring for our environment, talking about sustainability but making it happen. And we’re proud—the Prime Minister is showing that—of our place in the global community and being a responsible citizen. But more importantly, in the hallmark of this Government make-up—because good things come in threes: Labour, New Zealand First, and the Greens—we’re confident of our support for Māori and Polynesian identity and its place in New Zealand, founded on the Treaty.

The election result in the Māori electorates, and across the regions, indicated a seismic shift in sentiment—a seismic shift in sentiment. The gap between aspiration and action was simply too wide, too great. Too many people were suffering, finding themselves worse off when they were working—worse off when they were working. How could that be? You’d only need to go to your local Society of St Vincent de Paul and they would tell you that the changing profile of people coming to pick up food parcels were people who were working. Sleeping in cars became tolerable—we didn’t think so—and they were unable to get a home, unable to get work in their small town. They had to go to a city, struggling to survive there. So the gap between aspiration and action had just got a little bit too wide, too great, people were hurting, and that was the message about voting for change that we certainly heard.

Now, we have work to do. There is no doubt about it—there is no doubt about it. But that message of change has to be one where people see that hope is not just a word—that it provides some opportunity to people; that action and aspiration are about making a difference and getting things done, not just talking about it; and that our priorities and values, if we are given the opportunity to govern for the period of time that will see critical change, especially when we talk about child poverty, reducing inequality and poverty, will see some tangible shifts within households.

It is at this point that I really want to talk about some of those opportunities under our 100-day plan of action. I’m really pleased about this, because there are a number of hashtags: #26weekspaidparentalleave—done.

💬 Hon Member: Oh, yeah.

Yeah. #banningofspeculatorsbuyingexistinghomes—done. In the new year, #threeyearsfreeducation will be done, starting with the first year in 2018. Young people love it, and they know we’re backing them for their future. This is about investing in people and opportunity, not just talking about it. So turn up to a tertiary institution in your region—against any one of the other Wellington MPs on this side of the House—and you will see people love that initiative alone.

But there are other things: ensuring that we are building more homes; working within regions with iwi to ensure that we are not only building homes but getting people migrating from rentals into homeownership as a tangible pathway; making sure that rentals are warm, dry, and healthy places to bring up kids. I’m really proud about those things in the 100-day plan of action where people will really feel the difference.

Working for Families: ensuring that those whānau who are working can still be supported at a level where it can make a difference for their people. But there are other things in our communities where actually we’re sending a clear signal that things have to be different.

In the mental health space alone—and we know, in our communities, the rates of youth suicide and what’s not happening in mental health—being able to set up a ministerial inquiry in order to fix the mental health crisis will make a fundamental difference. This, in many of the communities that I represent, is one of the key policies that signal things will not only be different. We’ll do something about it, and we will make sure that the investment into support for people in their communities—so that they can live a better life—will, alongside the rest of our 100-day plan of action, be the hallmark of a Government who cares about people, puts them first, and is committed to doing something different so that aspiration and action can be felt on the ground, in our communities, where it matters most.

It’s great to be back here for the 52nd Parliament. I admit it could have been greater to be back here, but here we are, and every question time, I think, it’s just getting better and better and more enjoyable.

I just want to congratulate you on your assent to the deputy speakership, Madam Deputy Speaker. You were an excellent ministerial colleague and you achieved a lot over your nine years of service as a Minister, and I’d ask you also to pass on our congratulations to the new Speaker. We’re enjoying his firm rulings and his simple punishments, and I think it is going to be a very—

💬 Chris Penk: And his mild deafness.

And his mild deafness, actually, in the left ear—considering we are to his left, here.

But I was having a flashback, actually, during question time today, because it took me back to 30 years ago when, believe it or not, Kelvin Davis and I, for two years, played in the same rugby team. I was the hooker and the Acting Prime Minister was the blindside flanker. But it soon became apparent that Kelvin wasn’t going to be able to remember the lineout calls, so by year two we were moving him up to prop, and that was really where his forte was: head down, bum up, not thinking too much, and just pushing. When you saw Kelvin today—Mr Davis—

💬 Hon Tracey Martin: I raise a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. It’s been a longstanding tradition in this House that you have to address members by their full names, and this is the Acting Prime Minister.

Well, I called him Mr Davis.

💬 Hon Tracey Martin: You called him “Kelvin”.

Well, I said “Kelvin—Mr Davis”. Come on, Tracey. Anyway, I will do that. When I saw Mr Kelvin Davis there today, having Grant—Mr Grant Robertson—whisper into his ear what was going on, it just reminded me that nothing changes. And I can tell you, the Acting Prime Minister can try answering questions in Māori, but rubbish is still rubbish whether you’re speaking it in English or Māori, and I think he’s going to be thoroughly lambasted in the papers tomorrow. He’s probably getting a thrashing on Twitter right now. It was a descent into some sort of absurdist theatre: “Waiting for Kelvin”—waiting for Kelvin to answer.

💬 Hon Tracey Martin: Long name—full name.

If you don’t get that reference, it’s—“Waiting for Mr Kelvin Davis” to answer. I don’t think an answer is going to come, because, you know, in the end, all he was being asked was a simple question: will this new Government trust New Zealanders to make up their minds about what’s best for them and their families. All Mr Davis—Mr Kelvin Davis—had to say was “No”.

But it got actually even more absurd. We had a run around the front bench there, and then the new education Minister, Mr Hipkins, was telling us that, actually, you can abolish national standards but you can use them if you like. So what does that mean? That is incredible. That is completely absurd. What I can tell you is that at my local school, Northcote Primary School, which my kids attend, I’ve been very grateful to be able to receive twice a year that very clear description of the progress my kids are making. What I can say is that New Zealand parents have appreciated that, and Mr Hipkins is now saying he’s abolishing that but he doesn’t know what he’s going to put in its place. He is going to remove that certainty that parents wanted, and that’s because the education and teacher unions have a big say in what’s going on in education. They’ll have a hotline straight into Mr Hipkins’ office, just like the health unions—[Bell rung]—will have a hotline straight into—

💬 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: I do apologise. Wrong bell.

That’s all right. Withdraw and apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. Just like the education unions, every sort of union will have a hotline into every Minister’s office on that side.

Then we had Mr Twyford. Well, he’s telling us he can build 100,000 houses, but the BNZ is actually saying it’s going to be a net of 50,000 houses. So you can see, these guys have put pretty big targets on their backs. We had Mr Robertson before. He was up there telling us about all the things he is going to do. And, like the Speech from the Throne, Mr Robertson’s speech was just dripping with good intentions. But there’s no detail there about how any of this is going to be achieved.

And I will refer you—and this is the one bit I’m going to read out here, Madam Deputy Speaker—to the Leader of the Opposition’s amendment to the Prime Minister’s address, the opening speech by National in the Address in Reply debate. Bill English moved that this be added to the address: “that, in the context of the new Government inheriting a strong economy and strong Government books, it account for its progress based on the improvements it delivers for New Zealanders beyond the impressive achievements of New Zealand in the last decade;”. And we don’t want to live in the past, but I can tell you it’s without question that this Government has been handed a very impressive set of books.

We’ve got unemployment down to its lowest rate in years—4.6 percent. The average wage has grown to $60,000 from $46,000 nine years ago. Wages are growing ahead of inflation. New Zealand is in an excellent position. And what I’m really concerned about is that the new Government will blow it because they don’t have any idea of how the New Zealand economy got to this point. How we got there—it was the sum of a whole lot of small decisions across Government, backed up by hard-working New Zealanders, who went out each day and did their best to earn a dollar to support their family and make something of their lives.

And what I’m really concerned about is that the new Government seems to be under the illusion that it all just grows on trees and it’s all there to fritter away. Their policies are very confused. I mean, if you look at this free tertiary education, that is going to see Kiwi labourers—their hard taxes—paying the tertiary fees of Aussie accountants. And I can tell you what—if you were in Australia and your kids were facing the prospect of high student fees in Australia or free tertiary over here in New Zealand, what would you do?

💬 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: I wouldn’t do anything, OK?

You’d send them over here, and that—the Deputy Speaker wouldn’t do anything, but, you know, what would one do? And, exactly: one would take advantage of the largesse of the New Zealand taxpayer. So it’s extremely confused.

And then the new health Minister—and I congratulate him on his new position. You know, he’s on the front page of the Herald saying that the new Government is now going to take responsibility for the suicide rate and that he agrees with the Prime Minister that they are going to get suicide down to zero. Now, I don’t want to make, you know, too much of this, in that this is a very serious and difficult subject, but these people are going to find that, actually, you can talk big in Opposition, but you’ve got to deliver.

The new Government has to deliver a whole lot of stuff. They’ve got to live within their means. They’ve got to balance the books. They’ve got to get debt down to 20 percent of GDP. They’ve got to get the suicide rate down, because they’ve said they will do that. They’ve got to start building Dunedin Hospital by the end of this term, because they’ve promised to do that.

They’re also going to cancel charter schools, and I think that’s a huge shame, and I would encourage Labour members to take a break from the union meetings and the local committee meetings and actually go and visit a charter school. That’d be a really good idea. Go to Vanguard Military School in Albany and see the benefits that that delivers for children who weren’t having a very good time in conventional schools. I would urge those members to rethink things and go to a charter school and actually consider whether they might find it in themselves—[Interruption]

💬 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I’m sorry to interrupt the member, but I will ask, Fletcher Tabuteau, that you stand, withdraw, and apologise. You cannot impute that on another member in the House.

💬 Fletcher Tabuteau: I do withdraw and I apologise.

Well, thank you very much. Charter schools—that’ll be a very, very interesting debate, and I would like to be a fly on the wall in the Labour caucus when Willie Jackson gets up and makes the argument for charter schools. It’s going to be pretty important, I think, if we’re going to get those young New Zealanders the education opportunities that they deserve.

But, talking about more confusion, what about the Trans-Pacific Partnership? I mean, what are they calling it now? “CTTTP”, or something like that. I mean, it’s something. How different is it to the agreement that the Hon Todd McClay, through a lot of hard work and negotiation, managed to secure for New Zealand? Actually, out of 5,000 pages, there’s two pages that are different, and they’re saying it’s substantively different. But I don’t know how Labour is going to keep in the Greens and New Zealand First and actually support “CTTPP”, or whatever it’s called. It’s going to be very, very interesting.

So there are interesting times ahead for this Government. They’re full of big talk. I wish them well, actually, because it’s important that New Zealand succeeds. They’ve been left the books in a great state. New Zealand is making fantastic progress and, I tell you what, I really hope they don’t make a mess of it, because, from what I’ve seen so far in question time, you’d have to be very, very fearful of the track that New Zealand is going to go down over the next three years.

But what I want the public to be assured about is that this Opposition—we know those portfolios inside out. And we will be holding the big talkers to account. So it’s going to be really, really interesting. So I’m looking forward to the next three years and making these guys deliver the outcomes they’ve promised. It’ll be interesting.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. So I didn’t want to, you know, break my own flow; it was broken enough by various interjections. But, look, the Hon Tracey Martin—you know, it’s just a persistent stream of non-witty barrage. And, actually, I think it’s a good time to be able to raise the tone of Parliament. The new Speaker is very keen to do that. I don’t mind witty and occasional interjections, but, frankly, that continual spewing out of invective at a high pitch and volume—it just doesn’t help debate.

I do understand the member’s point of order, and I would point out to the Hon Tracey Martin, first of all, that she has changed her seat, but, secondly, there’s a very good Speaker’s ruling from Deputy Speaker Braybrooke that says that interjections should be rare, reasonable, and, if possible, witty. I think it’s something like that. So just keep that in mind.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Sorry—just about the changing of the seat. Can I clarify—so if I’m on duty, do I need to stay in the same seat that I was—

Well, you need to think about your interjections.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can I say, first of all, that it’s great to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker, especially today, along with a woman in the Clerk’s seat. It’s a great thing to see.

I am immensely proud to have been returned as the member for Dunedin South with the strongest party vote since 2005. Across Dunedin, it turned comprehensively several shades more red. I’m immensely proud to be a member of the new coalition Government, with the support of the Green Party, and to be a Cabinet Minister in an active, focused, empathetic, strong Government that is open and transparent, and, also, to be the first woman Cabinet Minister from Dunedin.

💬 Chris Bishop: Well done.

Thank you. This is a Government of transformation, and it’s a Government that’s not sitting on its hands. It’s not sitting on its hands; it’s got a programme of meaningful change, and it’s getting on with it. We’ve got fresh ideas every day to solve the problems facing New Zealanders. We’ve got a 100-day plan, which we have made good progress on. You will see more progress, Mr Bishop. You will get to speak many times on legislation before the end of the year. We’re demonstrating that we are in touch with the issues that are most important to New Zealanders.

In the first few weeks, we’ve already made huge strides. We’ve outlined how we’ll stop foreign speculators from buying existing homes, negotiated and improved a trade agreement with our Pacific partners, reiterated our commitment to equal pay by cancelling National’s flawed legislation that would’ve made pay equity harder for New Zealand women to achieve, and we have almost finished progressing that paid parental leave legislation, finally, through this House. Thank you to Sue Moroney and to Iain Lees-Galloway, and to all those women and those groups out there in the community who have pushed this issue for so long.

The Ardern Government has been clear that this Government will do things differently—for my part, building more trust between citizens and their Government; a vision and a strategic approach using technology as a true enabler for our community; a blue-print for digital inclusion to stop the digital haves and have-nots gap from growing bigger; and setting the framework for the establishment of a full, non-commercial public media broadcasting service for all New Zealanders, a framework for strengthening citizens’ rights in the digital environment. This Government will address both the economic and the social deficits in this country, because we won’t leave anyone behind. We’ll also be modern and we’ll be future focused.

The last Government—and I think the previous speaker, Jonathan Coleman, patently demonstrated this—has been living in the past; arrogant and dismissive. They took a “build it and we will come” approach to technology. They ignored and entrenched the digital divide, which is becoming a new measure of poverty. They’ve starved public broadcasting and debate. They ignored and diminished citizens’ rights. In fact, through some of their measures, they put citizens’ rights at risk through the use of data, and they paid utter—utter—lip service to openness and transparency.

New Zealand is a fantastic country. I think we all agree with that; I think we all said that when we went out on the stump and talked to people in our communities. But it could be so much better. This Government talks about its record. We’ve got the highest rate of homelessness in the OECD, the highest rate of teen suicide in the OECD, home ownership at a 60-year low, and people who can’t get their operations and can’t even get an appointment with their specialist. We’ve got regions that have been neglected for years, we’ve got dirty rivers, and we’ve got kids that haven’t been properly prepared for the jobs of the future.

People, rightly, expect that Government should behave in an open and transparent way where it can. We absolutely support that. We will be absolutely committed to achieving those goals. Our 100-day plan is absolutely focused on the most important priorities: the first year of tertiary education free for young people leaving school, going into university, doing a trade, or doing any other tertiary training programme. This is not just about university. I noted what the previous speaker said, which seemed to be very much anti tertiary education. This is transformative; this is about helping to prepare our young people for the jobs of the future. Stopping the sale of State houses—all of the other measures that we have that are preparing this country for the challenges it faces.

We’ve got started; we’ve started implementing that 100-day plan. We’re trying to demonstrate humility, kindness, and determination. We’re absolutely a reformist Government. We believe in fairness, innovation, and participatory democracy. We’re getting on with it. We’re getting on with our 100-day plan. This is a Government that will make comprehensive change. We’ll do it in a way that is fair and equitable. We will close all of those divides across the country, we will measure those divides and provide those measurements, and we’ll do it in a way that brings the rest of the country with us.

Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you. I too, like others, want to congratulate you on your role as the Deputy Speaker, though I do see that you’re having a little teething problem of knowing how to work the desk at the front there, with the bells and whistles that are there. It is truly an honour to have you in that role, with all the wisdom and the experience that you bring with you, as you have been a member and a Minister in this House, as well.

As it is the Address in Reply debate, can I also just acknowledge Tamati Coffey—he is here, and Jo Luxton is also—who was the mover of the Address in Reply. Tamati, I too was honoured in the 50th Parliament to give the Address in Reply, on behalf of the National Party, as a new member coming into Parliament in 2011. I know the honour that it is to our whānau and our family as well, so I just wanted to acknowledge that it is one of those occasions.

And to Jo and all the others, and to all our new members too—to members on both sides of the House—I particularly wanted to pay respect to you, the new members for 2017, who have come here. They say that the maiden and the valedictory statements are your two speeches where you can actually express the sense of who you are, where you come from, the reasons why you’re here, and what you would like to achieve, as well. We’ve seen many of those through the speeches.

The Address in Reply, in a sense, reflects also from the Speech from the Throne in regard to what the current Government will be doing—what its intent is, and what it’s trying to achieve.

I do know that there was some talk about the Greens and New Zealand First. I know that the Hon Tracey Martin talked about how there is love there—there is the sharing of love. But I do have to say that when I was given the original seating plan for the House, it didn’t quite look like that. In fact, it looked like there was only one there—which was the Deputy Prime Minister—and the rest of New Zealand First were on that side. Obviously, things have changed, and now they’re seated over here. That’s just part of, I suppose, the relationship that they’re in, but it’s good to see them on the other side.

I’ve had a number of people come up to me and say, “How do you feel now that the election—because we can’t understand. You actually won. You got 44.4 percent of the party vote. You got the highest number of any political party.” It took me a whole hour at one stage in the local cafe to explain that to people, because they, in themselves, could not understand. I said, “Well, you’re correct. We were the highest-polling party in the party vote, at 44.4 percent.” But I did have to say, “Here’s the reality of MMP, and we have to accept it. We’ve accepted it. This is the reality of MMP. So while we may have been the highest-polling party, unfortunately we weren’t able to form a Government.” Now, some people found that really hard and really difficult to understand, but we had to explain that to them.

To me, it was a difficult thing because, for some of us, we had just become Ministers for the first time—we had that opportunity. We have to say that it was a privilege and an honour to serve in that way and to have the opportunities that we had as well.

The difficulty I have, which I want to talk about in my speech, is that, on the opposite side, there is a lot of talk about the things that they want to achieve from this Government. I would term it in the form of the words “power to the people”. So as they’ve sort of put their manifesto together, and as they’re talking about the Speech from the Throne, it’s all about, “We want to give power to the people. We want to allow them to choose. We want them to be more included. We want them to have a sense of equity in all the things that we are doing.” But I have to say that when I think about that, I think about some of the things that are happening now, and in this Parliament the first piece of legislation to go through is about paid parental leave.

They say, “Power to the people.”; we say the same thing too. Why? Because we believe it’s important. Even in our time, in nine years of Government, we increased paid parental leave from 14 weeks to 18 weeks, and we were going to increase it to 20. We had a commitment there. On this side, there was no disagreement. We wanted to do it in a way that was fiscally responsible, but we still agreed with the intent. There was no argument—we are supporting the bill.

But here’s the point of difference. The fact is that there is a small amendment that would not cost any more and would not take any more time—this gets implemented in July. So it is “Power to the people, but”—here’s the small print in their clause of contract of trust and confidence—“we get to choose.”, rather than “you get to choose”. You, mums and dads, don’t get to choose whether you want to share that leave, whether you want to say, “Actually, I need to have my partner with me, because, at the moment, I’ve got post-natal distress disorder; I need that support.” The Government is saying, “You don’t get to choose; we get to choose.”

So this is the whole point of what I am putting in my speech. They say, “Power to the people.” but with a little small print they say, “Hang on! We get to choose.” Here’s an opportunity, and here’s the confusing point of this: Kelvin Davis, when asked a question, said it’s a good idea. Willow-Jean Prime talked about it—we heard her. She said, “Actually, it was a good idea. We should do this.” Even Sue Moroney herself has said, “Actually, it’s a great idea. We should do it.” But the party on the other side has chosen to say, “Actually, we don’t want to do this.” Why? “Power to the people, but, actually, maybe not all the power.” Why? Mystery solved: there’s no difference there. That’s the same thing again.

“Power to the people.”—it’s the same thing they said in the nine years when we talked about Treaty claims for Māori. “Yes, we’re for Māori; we want to choose that.” In regard to the foreshore and seabed, “Don’t want to go there.” It’s an ugly part of their history. But in the nine years of the Labour Government, when we talk about Treaty settlements, how many did they achieve? Nine. Under a National Government, how many did we achieve? Fifty-six. I have to tell you again: “Power to the people. Oh, hang on! Let’s just slow down, let’s check it out, let’s see whether it’s going to work.” That is not truly power to the people.

Let’s talk about Whānau Ora. The criticism from New Zealand First around Whānau Ora was to remove power to the people. Now, we have to say, remember the history of where it came from. Dame Tariana Turia tried to put the pitch across to Labour. It was rejected. Why? Too much power. To who? The Māori people, to choose how they would care for their whānau in all the ways that they thought were appropriate. But no, Labour chose not to.

So when the National Party came into Government, we said, “Power to the people? Absolutely! You can have the power.” Whānau Ora was in there, as well. So it is going to be very interesting to see how they refrain and adjust that, because on one hand, most of the Official Information Act requests came from New Zealand First, who said, “No, we don’t want to have that. Race-based policies, we don’t believe in.”, but, actually, under the New Zealand First and Labour coalition Government, we’ve got more race-based initiatives coming out than they’ve ever had before. You’ve got to have to say that too and explain that to your constituents. You’re a little bit confused at the moment. You’ve just said, “Power to the people.”, but—

💬 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am not confused.

Madam Deputy Speaker, apologies. Partnership schools: power to the people. Here it is—that’s right. Why? Because 1,400 young people don’t fit into mainstream schooling. They’ve struggled and, do you know what? It was the communities themselves who turned around and said, “We have an alternative. It’s called partnership schools, where we get to choose.” The majority of them are Māori and Pacific. The majority of them are from communities who said, “We want to choose how we want to care for and look after our kids.” It is making a difference. It is only 1,400 children, and the majority are Māori and Pacific. Why? Because those communities want to choose. Those members say, “Power to the people.”, but they are going to take them away. They’re going to remove them. Oh, but hang on, it’s a little bit hard now. Why? Because there’s a bit of conflict in there. You’ve got Aupito William Sio, who is conflicted. Why? Because there’s a connection there, in Rise UP Academy. You’ve also got Willie Jackson and you’ve got all these other people who have got these connections. Hang on! Power to the people? Maybe. Here’s the small print coming out again: maybe not all the power will come to you.

Members on this side—members of the previous Government—truly made a difference. When we say, “Power to the people.”, we give them opportunities. Whether it be in Treaty settlements, whether it be in Whānau Ora, or whether it be through partnership schools, all of these have made a difference to our communities. Better Public Services and social investment was about this. It was about knowing what it is that we were doing to make a difference to those children.

The Prime Minister herself has turned around and said, “I want to deal with child poverty.” She actually made the statement, “That’s the reason I came into Parliament.” I remember being at a debate in the year 2011. It was out at Ponsonby, and I remember that she was talking about poverty. She was asked this question: “Then why, in nine years under a Labour Government, are there 145 children still in poverty? You couldn’t actually achieve it. You had a surplus.” The comments and the reply were this: “Actually, it’s a job undone. It’s a job unfinished.” So here we are again. This Prime Minister is now coming to a point that she wants to try and finish this job, which she failed to do in a Government that had a surplus and had the ability in nine years and is now saying “We’re going to make a commitment to do that.”

Under a National Government, we had more opportunities to be able to do that. Why? Social investment knew the data and the detail as to who these children, these whānau, and these families were, to truly make a difference. The key point of what I want to get across to the people who are listening out there is that when people talk and ask this question of this current Government “Power to the people—how true is it?”, they should look at the small fine print in the contract of trust and confidence. Does it truly say to us, “Power so that we can make the decisions.”? Does it truly say, “Power to the point where, actually, we want to determine it ourselves—not the unions or anyone else.”? The fact is that we get to choose what makes a difference to our whānau and our family. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I too would like to congratulate you. I would like to congratulate all of the presiding officers. The Rt Hon Trevor Mallard—he’s been around this House for a long time. He’s been involved in almost every role, and I think he’s perfect to be able to manage and look after the House in the future, but it’s particularly good to see you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and also my colleague from Christchurch Poto Williams. To have more women in the Chair is something that we all support. So, thank you, madam.

I think we should look at the 52nd Parliament of New Zealand as something that’s unique. It’s unique in so many ways. It’s unique because it’s got a large number of new MPs. It’s unique because it’s got a particularly large number of women MPs. We have 46 women MPs this time. That’s 38 percent of the House and the most that we’ve ever had in this Parliament, and, what’s more, the women in this Parliament are very diverse. They’re diverse in age, they’re diverse in ethnicity, and they’re diverse in life experiences, and I think that diversity will add value to this House but also add value to the people of New Zealand.

It’s also unique because we have a very large, very strong, very focused and experienced Opposition, and that’s a good thing because this Opposition is absolutely committed to support the people of New Zealand to make sure that the new Government is held to account. The session has begun well. It’s begun with a hiss and a roar, and we’re going to have some very interesting months ahead.

Now, I think the Speech from the Throne covered almost every wish and every desire and scratched every itch of any Kiwi in New Zealand. It was aspirational, it was idealistic, and it was dripping with good intentions. But—but—there was so little detail, so little substance, about how these things would be implemented, about how these things would be paid for, and about how this activity was actually going to happen. In some ways, it was a really expensive warm, fuzzy laundry list. Expensive, because it was funding for regions and funding for almost anywhere else. There was free this, free that, free everything. It was a little bit like a lolly scramble. Very easy to promise; very hard to deliver, and one thing we know in life is that over-promising and under-delivering normally ends in tears.

So there’ll be no surprises that bank economists looking at the speech and looking at Labour’s promises have forecast that Labour is going to have to borrow significantly to deliver their promises—borrow significantly. In fact, the ANZ thinks it’s probably something like about $13 billion—$13 billion—which is just $2 billion more than Steven Joyce was worried about, and the BNZ agrees. In fact, it thinks this is a conservative estimate. The thing that really frightens me most is that the ASB has revised its economic forecasts around the future growth of New Zealand. Those forecasts, which were sitting at a very high 3.8 percent, have now come back to 3.2 percent after these economists have had a good look at this new Government and listened to all their promises.

I actually think that was what a lot of people were thinking when they listened to the Speech from the Throne. “Yes, I understand the aspiration and, yes, I understand the intention, but, actually, how are we going to pay for it? How are we going to pay for it?”, because there was lots of information about ideas. In fact, somebody said there were 51 different promises, but there was nothing—absolutely nothing—that was convincing, that was concrete, or that was anything to do with how it was going to pay for it. No energy and no effort was made on the earning side of the equation. We all know—it doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter how big or how small your budget is—that you have to earn before you can spend. Spending big—great—but you’ve got to earn big, too.

Now, the key issue here is—and I don’t want to be cynical; it’s not in my nature to be cynical—that any Government has to be fiscally responsible, they have to be economically savvy, and they have to be hard-headed. A Government cannot—cannot—over-promise and under-deliver. Even a Government like this, which has inherited such a strong, growing economy, with the numbers of jobs increasing every month, wages going up, and the future looking rosy, has got to understand where their next money is coming from before it can promise it all away. As I said, very little effort, very little idea, on the earning side of the equation.

But the thing that really bothered me is there’s two big issues that have been missing totally out of the Government’s Speech from the Throne. In contrast to the National Government speech in 2011 and 2014, there was absolutely no mention of Canterbury, Christchurch, or even Kaikōura and giving some support for earthquake recovery—

💬 Chris Bishop: No mention? You’re kidding!

—no mention of that at all.

💬 Chris Bishop: That’s unbelievable.

And we know that it’s going to be needed. So the Government has to come clean: where is the money? The National Government committed to stand by the people of Canterbury, committed to fund infrastructure redevelopment, committed to the anchor projects, and committed to transition out of Christchurch, and Kaikōura is only on the first year of that journey. But this Government—this Government—has committed to nothing. So I think it’s like the Government’s absolutely forgotten us. We used to have three Ministers in Christchurch—three Ministers who were committed to the future of Christchurch and to making sure our city was rebuilt. We now have only one. In actual fact, I’d like to ask that Minister—the Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration—first of all, can she commit financially to supporting Greater Christchurch and is she going to make regeneration happen? We have absolutely no promises around that.

There is also a problem in terms of the fact that a lot of people in the South Island are feeling really nervous about the drift of influence to the North, with the Prime Minister from Auckland, the Deputy Prime Minister from Northland, and the Deputy leader of Labour a Northlander too. It’s as if the Government doesn’t know anything about what happens beyond the Bombay Hills. And, actually, there’s a lot of us down there, and we work pretty hard and we produce productivity for New Zealand.

But the other thing that really worries me is that there’s been no mention in the Speech from the Throne—again, unlike the National speech in 2014—no money for supporting disability, for supporting disabled people across the country. Now, back in 2014, the National Government committed to Enabling Good Lives, a transformation—

💬 Fletcher Tabuteau: You didn’t put any money in it.

—of disability support. We absolutely did put money into it, and what’s more, we’ve got money to roll that out. This is a co-designed, sector-supported initiative that will give disabled people more choice, more control, and more opportunities in their lives. This is incredibly important for the disability sector, but, again—not one peep about disability support in the Speech from the Throne.

The other thing they seem to have done is they seem to have forgotten how important the disabled sector is. Did you know 24 percent of New Zealanders have some kind of disability? But in this case, they tacked disability issues on to social welfare. It doesn’t even stand alone. So the problem that we have here is: yes, disabled people do use social welfare, but they have so much more that they need to be able to do. They need to have opportunities to be involved in every sphere of New Zealand’s life. They need to have opportunities to be part of the community, opportunities to be part of education, opportunities to be part of the workplace. So I’m really concerned.

The two things that are really close to my heart—the rebuild of Christchurch and looking at what’s happening in Kaikōura—no money, not a mention in the Speech from the Throne. And the second thing—the welfare, the future, of the disabled community and people with disabilities and how they can have more choice, more control, and more opportunities in our community—nothing about that either. So I’m concerned. We left New Zealand in good heart and a good support—

I apologise to the member. Sorry, your time has expired.

Tuhia ki te rangi, tuhia ki te whenua, tuhia ki te ngākau o ngā tāngata, ko te mea nui, ko te aroha, tīhei mauri ora! E ngā mema hōnore o Te Whare nei, Te Whare Pāremata o Aotearoa, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi ki a koutou!

[Write it up in the sky, on the land, and in the affections of people: empathy is indeed the important thing. Behold the breath of life! To you, the members of this House, Parliament of New Zealand, salutations and acknowledgments to you, and a huge appreciation to you collectively.]

Madam Assistant Speaker, may I first take this opportunity to congratulate you on your new position within this Parliament. I congratulate you and wish you the best in your new role.

I would, and could, love to take my 10-minute contribution to rebut the drivel coming from the other side of the House—

💬 Chris Bishop: Away you go.

—but I have a few choice words, for Mr Bishop’s benefit. He is probably the only one who—oh no, I’m not going to say that either.

Mr Ngaro spoke about the choices for the people of New Zealand. What choices did that former Government—that Opposition party—give the people of New Zealand? Well, here’s an example: they had to choose between a home, a car, or a cardboard box. That is your legacy, which you hand over post-election.

When he spoke about the education system, what choice did they give to the New Zealand public—to those parents who wanted to send their children to Salisbury School, while all the time the Minister of Education and other Ministers artificially lowered the roll of that school? There was no choice for those parents. There was no choice for those children.

Can I just start by saying how grateful I am that the Rt—no, not the “Rt Hon”—the Hon David Bennett has been unfettered, or that his ministerial leash, as I’m sure he would have seen it, has been removed from his collar. I tell you what, for three years I have taken genuine pleasure in hearing the contributions of the Hon David Bennett, because every time he speaks, it’s just great for this side of this House. It’s just fantastic.

He was actually quite typical of the sad and miserable line-up of members proffered from the Opposition in this Address in Reply debate. The poorly thought-through messaging, the nine years in which that party had to make a tangible difference to this country, and already they’re talking about, after, what is it—a week and a half, or two weeks? They are saying that we’re not progressing enough and we’re not moving fast enough. Nine years—there are so many words that are unparliamentary that I would love to say right now, but I cannot.

To the “soon to be Leader of the Opposition Collins”—for that member to speak about the negotiations at all was insulting to me. She wasn’t there, let alone to imply that it was hollow and without good intent and honest engagement by New Zealand First with both parties. I was insulted. We engaged, we talked policy, and, in fact, the current Leader of the Opposition at least spoke about the honest—what were his words?—negotiations and how they were undertaken in good faith.

In summary, what we have seen from the Opposition line-up in the last week or so has been sad. In fact, it’s been inappropriate, it’s been unnecessarily personal, and it’s been toxic, and it has been an indictment on those members. Really and truly, I think the only word that sums it up is “sad”.

The New Zealand First caucus, in fact, decided in the end to make a choice for New Zealand, and we made a choice for real change, rather than a modified status quo. So I proudly stand on this side of the House in a New Zealand First - Labour Government and a Government with the Greens that represents real and meaningful change for the people of New Zealand. We did, and we sought out to, restore the face of responsible human capitalism in New Zealand.

The people of New Zealand have already seen from around the world the devastating effects of the current right-wing thinking. They have seen how those who need our help the most are those who will suffer under the policies of that side of the House, and New Zealand was absolutely no exception to what we saw occurring around the world. In fact, in the last nine years, it seemed to accelerate in an exponential manner. Inequality was that problem, and inequality by any measure—unless it was from that side of the House while they were in Government—did get worse.

So here we are: a truly MMP Government. I believe, and the feedback from the people of New Zealand is, that we truly represent a hope and a change for this country—a moving forward where everyone can be a part of this country’s success, not just those that those members would call mates.

National’s flawed thinking was bad for Kiwis who were already struggling. What I wanted to make a point of today in my contribution is that not only was it flawed for those who were already struggling—those who were on the breadline who are now without a home, who are transient, and who are just absolutely struggling—but what I want to say to those members opposite is that already the feedback from a lot of business-savvy business owners is that they actually see what we’re trying to do here. They understand that a rising tide lifts all boats.

So when you have people who are in homes, who are looking after their children, who have access to education, and who have access to good and timely healthcare, that’s good for business. That’s good for business. When the combined income of New Zealanders moves and increases—Mr Bishop can speak to the House about the movement of aggregate demand—that is good for business.

💬 Chris Bishop: I could. Could you?

That is good for business, Mr Bishop, in case you were unsure of that.

So here we are, speaking about being an inclusive Government, and we have already actioned some of those aspirations for New Zealand. But for me, for New Zealand First, and I know for the Government, what we are hoping to achieve is not to bring that pendulum back from that extreme far right—where this country has, unfortunately, gone to under that party on that side of the House—and not to bring it back to the left, but to bring it back to a centre, common-sense state of affairs.

I look forward to working with my colleagues, and I say that in that broad sense because I have no doubt I will look forward to working with my colleagues on this side of the House. Already I see so much excitement and anticipation over here. But I actually say I look forward to working with my colleagues on the other side of the House, because I know, and everyone in this House believes, that we are living in the best little country in the world. I don’t think anyone’s going to debate that New Zealand is a fantastic country to live in. But let us now work together, and I implore those members on the opposite side—especially with the way that we have generously configured the select committee situation, where we can work together for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

We had had enough—we had had enough of that party. Let’s actually start delivering for all New Zealanders, and let’s do this.

Thank you, Madam Assistant Speaker. As everybody else has said, congratulations on your appointment. I’m sure that you’re going to do a fantastic job. Can I also express my congratulations to Adrian Rurawhe and also to the Hon Anne Tolley and the Rt Hon Trevor Mallard. I think that we’ve got a good, strong team.

After listening to the previous speaker, Fletcher Tabuteau, I can understand why they chose to go with Labour, because there’s such an enormous amount of misinformation and inaccuracy to his statements. The first thing he said was that inequality has increased, and only months before the election, the Ministry of Social Development came out with the report to say that over the last two decades—that is our National Government, and also the prior Government—inequality has not increased in this country, because of the transfer system. Then he talked about the “excessive right” Government that preceded this present one. We need to understand that the top three percent of New Zealanders, in terms of income earners, pay 25 percent of the income tax. Also, those in the four lowest deciles pay no tax, and in the five lowest deciles, once they have received transfers from the Government, there is no net contribution to the running of this country. And you say this is extreme right—that is wrong. We are a country that has income redistribution—probably more so than most countries in the world.

In the meantime, in all of this period of time over the last nine years, we have seen increased measures of employment, increased growth, and we have seen people stop leaving New Zealand and start coming back to live in this country. I think it’s important that New Zealanders do not forget what has been achieved over these last nine years. When you think about what the new Government has walked into, they have walked into surpluses, they have walked into increasing employment, and they have walked into economic growth. What did we walk into? We walked into a country already in recession for a year and then, as soon as National became the Government, the global financial crisis hit, went right around world, and created massive unemployment right around the world, including here. Then, just a couple of years later, we had the Canterbury earthquakes and that took $17 billion to $18 billion of Government money, as well as insurance money and Earthquake Commission money, to start that massive rebuilding project in Canterbury and Christchurch.

We understand that we’ve got a new Government. We want New Zealand to succeed. For the sake of New Zealanders, we want this to be a great country. But let’s just be careful about the kicks, all right? Let’s be careful about the kicks, because you’ve inherited a really strong fiscal position.

💬 Darroch Ball: Oh, rubbish.

You really have. You have really inherited—

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Excuse me, can I just remind the member not to include the Speaker in the debate.

Thank you, Madam Assistant Speaker. While we have changed, not all change has great outcomes. But there has to be—and I am glad the previous speaker mentioned it—our select committee system, because our select committee system will ensure that legislation that comes through this House will be robust. It’s very unfortunate that the paid parental leave bill that was pushed through this House through urgency, but will not be enacted for another nine or 10 months, did not go through the select committee process, where some changes—some positive changes that the Government is already acknowledging it will support, but not just now—could have been incorporated for the benefit of those families, as Amy Adams spoke of yesterday on the bill.

The war against poverty is a very, very serious war. But I would say to the Government, who have made the war against poverty—like I said, be careful of the kicks. We hate generational poverty, but do not hate generational prosperity. When people succeed, do not blame them. Do not make them feel guilty. Yes, we want to see a human face in New Zealanders and to care for those who are in deprivation—of course we do—but be very careful not to hit those businesses, not to hit those entrepreneurs, and make them feel that this place is not a place where they can succeed and do business. It is on their risk-taking, their effort, and their hard work that we can continue to generate the jobs that will employ the young people who come through our education system.

Our education system—which, once again, the people on the other side of the House are giving a good knock and a good kick, because they feel they can do better; we need to understand some of the gains that have been achieved. When we came into Government, 50 percent of those young Māori boys, in particular, were failing the system. We worked hard. Hekia Parata, who’s no longer in this House, needs to be recognised and acknowledged for the hard work she did to ensure that achievement was lifted in those particular areas, where now 75 percent of those young Māori men are achieving NCEA level 2 and have been able to go to apprenticeships, go on to further studies and tertiary studies, and be able to succeed in order to actually build this society and our community and their own lives and the families that they are a part of.

So, in the last two years, we have seen incredible job creation at the rate of 10,000 a month, with 56,000 jobs created in just the last three months. Businesses are looking for people. Regional centres are looking for people who would go in and work hard, and we have got to be very careful that we do not take away the incentive for work. Yes, I hear what people are saying in terms of the issue around care and compassion, but listen, if you make it so easy that people don’t have to work, how is that caring for them? We want our young people to be full of skill and education, and also full of motivation and determination to get out there and to make a way for their own lives, and also to support those businesses that employ them. We want our businesses to succeed, because they are the ones who employ people. We as politicians don’t employ people. What we’ve got to do is make sure that the groundwork, the regulatory environment, the laws of this land are such that businesses prosper, that businesses can succeed, and that those laws continue to be fair and continue to enable those people to come through.

Madam Assistant Speaker, just very briefly touching on the Speech from the Throne, climate change is the greatest challenge facing the world. I think we all acknowledge—we don’t resile from—that fact. But there are also other challenges that are facing this world: the technological wave, the tsunami that is coming to economies of the world. And while we are concerned, and justifiably so, about environmental challenges, let’s also be aware of the vocational challenges that face our young people, and not only our young people but current workforces where they will find themselves made redundant because of technology and because of increases in that particular area. Let’s not hide away from technology; it’s going to be the answer for so many things. But we need to be very, very mindful and also careful about what we do.

The Prime Minister’s speech read from the Throne says, “This Government will support a just transition for workers in industries that need to reduce emissions, and it will support the creation of jobs in sectors that are carbon free or carbon sinks, such as forestry.” Let’s be quite careful about what we do and what we think about this sort of thinking. Yes, we all understand. Yes, we all understand the issues and the challenges, but when we think about the swift but smooth transition that is spoken about, let us understand that most things that happened swiftly never happened smoothly. There needs to be considerable thought about transition—how it takes place—so that somebody who has received $100,000 salary because they are a highly qualified technical person in the oil and gas industry doesn’t find themselves with a very low income because there isn’t the job opportunity or the technology to bring them into.

So what I am saying in my final seconds of this speech is: let’s be mindful, let’s understand the challenges, but let’s be very, very careful about how we enact them. Thank you, Madam Assistant Speaker.

E Te Mana Whakawā, e tuatahi, ka mea nui ki te mihi atu ki tō tātou Matua Nui-i-Te Raki, ā, ko Ia te tīmātaka me te whakaoti o te ao katoa, nō reira, ka mihi au ki te Kaihōmai o kā mea pai katoa! Ka maumahara mātou ki a rātou kai tua, kua wehe ki te ao wairua, nō reira koutou rā, o ia marae, o ia iwi, o ia waka, e haere i ruka i te āra whānui a Tāne ki tua o te ārai, haere, haere, haere!

Ka hoki, hoki ngā maumaharatanga mō Tō whānau whānui o Te Whare Pāremata, e haere atu rā Lewis Moeau nō Rongowhakaata, haere atu rā Rangi Karaitiana McGarvey, nō reira e te rakatira, haere atu rā ki Te Pā o Te Whakawairua, e takoto mai, takoto mai, takoto mai! E takoto i te rangimārie i runga i tō waka, hoe atu tō waka ki tua o te ārai, haere, haere, e haere atu rā!

Nō reira, tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā, ka whakamihi au mō nā nohonā a Te Pika mō Te Pāremata, e rima tekau mā rua. Nō reira, huri noa i Te Whare nei, nā mihi hoki ki ngā mema o Te Paremata hōu o ngā taha ruarua hoki, me tō koutou rapu ara o Te Pāremata, nō reira, huri noa i Te Whare, e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.

[Madam Assistant Speaker, firstly, it is an important thing to acknowledge our Great Father in heaven. He is the beginning and ending of everything in the world, so I pay a tribute to the Provider of all good things! We reflect on those on the other side who have departed to the spiritual world, and so to you collectively of each tribe and each canoe who have traversed the great path of Tāne beyond the veil, go forth, journey on, depart!

Memories also go back to Your family at large of Parliament, that one who has passed away, Lewis Moeau from Rongowhakaata; farewell indeed Rangi Karaitiana McGarvey, go forth to the spiritual world, esteemed one; rest there, lie there, sleep! Lie there at peace upon your canoe, paddle it beyond the veil, go forth, go on, farewell!

And salutations to you Mr Speaker; I congratulate you for becoming the Speaker of the 52nd Parliament. Congratulations, therefore, throughout this House to all members of the new Parliament, on both sides, plus your search for an avenue via Parliament, and so I congratulate you all throughout the House.]

I would, first of all, just start my mihi by acknowledging this House, but also by acknowledging two very important people who actually worked tirelessly in this House and who have passed away during the transition from the 51st to the 52nd Parliament. Lewis Moeau had a long career in Te Puni Kōkiri or the Ministry of Māori Development. He was also the cultural adviser to Prime Ministers and also Governors-General. The other one was Te Rangi Karaitiana McGarvey of Ngāi Tūhoe, of Ngāi Te Rangi, and Ngāti Whakauē. I had the pleasure, even though it was a short space of time in the 51st Parliament, as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, to work very closely with Te Rangi. He was a tohuka of Te Reo and he worked tirelessly for the Waitangi Tribunal and also Te Whare Pāremata. I went to his tangi in Ruatōki—one of those beautiful people of the mist—where they made me welcome that I could tangi with them on such a sad departure. So I wanted to acknowledge those two who have passed away.

Madam Assistant Speaker, it’s also great for me to acknowledge you, and also as a member of Parliament from Christchurch, and also to acknowledge the Hon Ruth Dyson and also the Hon Megan Woods—and particularly Megan Woods, who is actually our only Cabinet Minister in Christchurch. I also want to congratulate the new MPs from right across the House and returning MPs, into this 52nd Parliament. I want to acknowledge also the former Minister for Māori Development and also former Minister for Whānau Ora, the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell, and also the former Attorney-General and former Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, the Hon Christopher Finlayson. It is their work that we will actually see moving through this 52nd Parliament. It is the type of work that they did, the legislation that was put through, and that is still pending, that we believe will actually create better opportunities for Te Iwi Māori.

Also—just to go to the Governor-General’s speech—in this 52nd Parliament, it was acknowledged that we have, in the history of this Parliament, more Māori and Pacific Islanders than ever before. There are, in fact, just over 30 MPs of Māori or Pacific Island descent. This was also highlighted—and I congratulate the coalition Government—but also they actually have more Māori and Pacific Islanders in Cabinet than ever before. Ngā mihi.

I think it’s very, very important to acknowledge Te Tiriti o Waitangi, because this will have, I believe, a bearing on what I have just said. The largest number of MPs of Māori and Pacific Island descent in this Parliament creates the opportunity that we could collaborate together to move forward in the interests of our people and all New Zealanders. So, under the Treaty of Waitangi, it is always said that this is a Treaty for everyone.

In a maiden speech last week, there was quoted something from Dame Whina Cooper—that was by Willow-Jean Prime. But Dame Whina Cooper also said that the Treaty is for all New Zealanders, so I just want to make that point, and hopefully we’ll take advantage of that and be collaborative right across the House itself.

There is one thing I want to acknowledge: the new Minister for Māori Development, the Hon Nanaia Mahuta, and also the Associate Minister for Māori Development. I want to acknowledge the work that we did together in the Māori Affairs Committee, and I hope that she will take up the wero also to continue that work. It has been acknowledged around Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill. I would hope that Te Ture Whenua Maori Bill is going to continue through that committee stage, because when we look at Te Ture Whenua Maori Act, we have to acknowledge the fact that, under the current Act, there are still thousands of owners disconnected from their land. Fragmentation is getting worse, as opposed to getting better. There is little in the current Act for those small managed blocks. The other part of it is that there is nothing in the current Act to resolve disputes.

So a lot of the work was done. A special committee was set up to identify these issues in Te Ture Whenua Maori Act. In the new bill, the owners will finally be able to set rules making it harder to dispose of Māori land. Before 1987, there was only 5 percent of land in the whole of New Zealand under Māori ownership. So Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 was actually about the retention of Māori land. This new bill is actually about the utilisation of Māori land, to free it so that our people have tino rangatiratanga over it. So I would hope that this bill will continue through the House.

It is also great to know that the new Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, the Hon Andrew Little, will actually continue to move those Treaty settlement bills through the House. Also, it’s great to know that he is working already on the Ngāpuhi settlement. I wish him well—we all do.

On that note, in the final parts of this speech, again I want to acknowledge the kotahitaka that needs to take place across the House. It is theatre in here a lot of the time around question time, but the real heavy lifting and the work is done in select committees. Hopefully, that can reflect the kotahitaka that we’re talking about.

I want to acknowledge the new chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, Rino Tirikatene, and also to acknowledge the deputy, Marama Davidson. Hopefully, we can continue as we have in the convention of the Māori Affairs Committee, which is to try and park our political affiliations at the door and move and work together for what’s best for our people. I acknowledge again that fact; let’s all try and work together. We’ll throw rocks now and then, but it’s actually about good legislation, at the end of the day, and it’s actually about our people—Te Iwi Māori and Pasifika, but also the whole of New Zealand.

Nō reira e Te Mana Whakawā, huri noa i Te Whare nei, e mihi, e mihi, e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa, kia ora!

[Therefore, Mr Speaker, I greet, acknowledge, and compliment you all throughout this House. Thank you.]

Thank you very much, Madam Assistant Speaker. At 3.43 this afternoon, I received a request for information under the Official Information Act. It came from the Hon Paul Goldsmith, and what he wants to know is all about the work that we’ve been doing with the screen and film industry in the first three weeks of this Government. He wants to know what correspondence I’ve had, and what meetings I’ve had, and what briefings I’ve had from officials, and who I have written to. He even wants to know what phone calls I’ve made. I suspect that what he really wants to know is: how did we do it? How did this Government, a mere three weeks into its administration, manage to bring the different players together around an issue that caused such bitter division under the National Government?

The way the National Government dealt with industrial relations in the screen industry had people marching in the streets. It had the late and lamented Helen Kelly absolutely beside herself because that Government was destroying the rights of working people. It singled out one group of people—one group of workers in New Zealand—and diminished their rights, which was totally unacceptable and in contravention of a number of conventions that New Zealand has signed up to. It was all about division, and it was all about conflict. And, in three weeks, this Government has been able to bring all those players together and create harmony and work towards the commitment that we made before the election to restore the right to bargain collectively in that industry.

I am happy to share that information with the Hon Paul Goldsmith. We will be an open and transparent Government. We will not abuse the Official Information Act in the way that the previous Government did, but I say to Paul Goldsmith, “You don’t have to wait the 20 working days. It’s simple: constructive collaboration—working constructively with all the different parts of the sector—the producers, the unions, the guilds—getting everybody together, getting them around the table, and working towards a shared vision and finding a shared solution.” That’s how it works. Take the conflict out of industrial relations—the conflict that the National Government, the previous Government, used to thrive on. Take the conflict out and work together. It’s not that hard, and we’ve been able to demonstrate, in the first three weeks, that it’s actually something that works very well.

That’s the approach this Government will take to industrial relations. We have a progressive and substantial agenda to restore rights for working people in New Zealand, to ensure that we have a bargaining framework that ensures that working people in New Zealand get a fair share of a growing economy. Again, I am confident that by working with Business New Zealand, with the Council of Trade Unions, with chambers of commerce, and with everybody who has an interest in industrial relations, we will be able to construct a framework that works for everybody. I say to the National Party, “It’s not that hard.” They couldn’t do it in nine years of Government; we have demonstrated that we can do it in the first three weeks.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Excuse me. I’m sorry to interrupt the member. Could the members at the back of the House please take their seats. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Assistant Speaker. This has been a busy few weeks for this Government. It’s been a busy few weeks for me as a new Minister. It started with halting National’s so-called pay equity bill, which was really a bill to deny working women the opportunity to make pay equity claims. Again, that bill has gone straight to the bin in the first couple of weeks, and we have begun the process of designing a new piece of legislation that will actually address the real concerns of working women in New Zealand. We will go back to the joint working group—again, working in a collaborative and constructive manner with both businesses and workers—to establish the principles of pay equity, to go back to the principles of pay equity that were established by that joint working group of Government, of business, and of unions working together, and we will introduce new legislation that adheres to those principles.

Unlike the National Party, this Government genuinely believes in achieving pay equity. This Government genuinely believes in closing the pay gap. Just yesterday, on Working for Free Day, the Minister for Women, Julie Anne Genter, and I met with representatives of working women, because, essentially, because of the pay gap in New Zealand, from yesterday through to the end of the year, women are working for free. Such is the nature of the pay gap that all the rest of the year women are working for free, because they earn less than men in New Zealand. Well, I have to say, I’ve been to that event a number of times over the years, and it was the first time I’ve been to one where there was hope—where there was actual hope that the Government would take those concerns seriously and would take genuine and progressive action towards closing the pay gap. What the people at that event said was that it was the right thing to do to throw the previous Government’s pay equity bill in the bin and start again. They like to put a little pressure on the Government; that’s fair enough. They’ve given us a one-year countdown to introduce new legislation to actually address that issue. I am committed, and this Government is committed, to ensuring that we don’t just make a lot of noise about pay equity but that we actually address the issue, that we make sure that we do close that pay gap, and that we do address the concerns about pay equity.

The second thing that we did is that the first bill this Government introduced was to extend paid parental leave to 26 weeks. Now, this is an issue that this Parliament has dealt with many times before. It’s passed through Parliament once and then got defeated at third reading after one party decided to change its mind at the last minute, and then it passed through Parliament again and actually was voted up at third reading—

💬 Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. The member is anticipating an order of the day, which is clearly outside the Standing Orders. He has a chance of addressing it later in the day.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The issue of paid parental leave is one that is important to this Government, and we will take action to extend paid parental leave. And then we do wish to work closely with parties around the House to look at other provisions relating to parental leave. There is an opportunity. And I am glad that after the years of division, the years of conflict, the years of fighting from the National Party against paid parental leave, they have now accepted that it is popular, it is what New Zealanders want, and that they are far better off being inside the tent than outside it. So, again, I extend the hand of friendship and the desire to work collaboratively and constructively with parties around the House. I do want to work with the National Party, with the Green Party, with the New Zealand First Party on what further developments we can make to paid parental leave. That journey will never be over. The introduction of 26 weeks’ paid parental leave was never going to be the end of the journey. There’s plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to work on other matters.

The other area where this Government has been working incredibly quickly is around the issue of ensuring that the trade agreements that we engage in are both progressive and comprehensive. We do agree, in the Labour Party, that we need to be connected with the world—that global trade is good for us when we have high-quality trade agreements. Again, the National Party told us time and time again that things couldn’t be done: that we couldn’t ban foreign buyers and enter into a regional trade agreement, that we wouldn’t be able to make any progress on investor-State dispute settlement clauses, that we wouldn’t be able to ensure the integrity of environmental law and labour law in New Zealand. Couldn’t be done! It could not be done, the National Party said. Well, again, in three weeks, this Government has been able to make progress on every single one of those issues. It simply takes willingness and it simply takes the talent of Ministers who actually know how to do their job to deliver on the promises that Governments make.

This is an active Government. This is a progressive Government. This is a Government that will continue to put people first, and as the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said, this is a Government that will act with empathy. We are more interested in people and the impacts of policy on people than we are on numbers and figures and statistics. We will rate ourselves and rate our success on whether or not people are better off. I have to say it is a pleasure and I am proud to be part of a Government that, in a mere three weeks, has demonstrated its determination to put people first and has demonstrated that if you have the will, it can be done. It has been a great start so far, and there’s only more to come.

Ko te mihi tuatahi ki Te Atua, nāna nei ngā mea katoa, ko te mihi tuarua ki Te Whare e tū nei, e Te Whare Pāremata, tēnā koe! Kai aku rangatira, e ngā tini me ngā mano o ngā hau e whā, nei te mihi kau atu ki a koutou katoa! E kore e mutu ngā mihi ki te whānau me te hunga e tautoko i ahau, tēnā koutou! Kai te haere tonu te pakanga ki te whiwhi i te tūru o Waiwhetū, kia ea ai ō rātou wawata, ō rātou hiahia hoki, kāore e roa, ka oti, nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, huri, huri mai tātou katoa!

[The first acknowledgment is to God. He indeed created everything. The second one is to the House standing here; thank you, Parliament House. To you my esteemed ones, you the innumerable, and the thousands of the four winds, I acknowledge you all. Tributes to the family and those who supported me will never end, thank you collectively. The contest to gain the Waiwhetū seat will continue, which will fulfil their aspirations and hopes. It won’t be long when it will be done. So acknowledgments and congratulations to you collectively and around, coming back to us all!]

It’s a great honour to stand and to speak in this House for the very first time. First and foremost, Mr Speaker, I would like to congratulate you on your election to the position of Speaker of this House. Your experience, attention to detail, empathy, and knowledge of how this place works will serve us well. I also wish to acknowledge you as the outgoing member of Parliament for Hutt South. The people of Hutt South know you well for being an effective and caring member for these past 24 years. I know this because I have knocked on a lot of your former constituents’ doors over the last few months. While I was disappointed for Labour not to retain the seat of Hutt South, I wish to congratulate my colleague Chris Bishop on his success, and the work that he has put in over the past three years. I look forward to seeing more of you than ever before over the next three years.

The issue that has dominated the campaign in Hutt South was clearly housing. I am proud to stand here as part of this Labour Government knowing that the issues that are so desperately needing to be addressed for people finally will. The people in Hutt South stood and watched as State houses were torn down. That land has lain vacant for six years now while families have remained homeless. I look forward to now seeing warm, dry, affordable homes being built on that land under a Labour-led Government, and I will continue to strive to make sure I see every child in Hutt South go to bed at night with a roof over their head.

My own childhood was not spent in the Hutt but on Great Barrier Island. I grew up on the beach. We ran pretty free and wild. It was a big day if a dead shark washed up on the beach. As a daughter of two schoolteachers, we moved around quite a bit—Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, Great Barrier, and Christchurch, where I completed high school and university.

If I had to trace back to where my Labour-ness began, it would have to be from my parents, John and Patricia Andersen, who are here today. They dedicated their working lives to teaching in low-decile schools in New Zealand. I grew up seeing the impact a teacher could have on someone’s life. Going to rural schools often meant having mum or dad as my teacher. I sat next to kids and saw the beginning of the year, when they were quiet, withdrawn, even angry and violent. By the end of the year, a lot of those children became star performers. A bit of time, effort, attention, and care turned many lives around. It gave me faith in human nature—something I bring with me to this House. More than anything, I am grateful to my parents for teaching me to stand up and fight for what I believe in.

When I started high school, I was required to take an intelligence test. You were either in the top stream and got to choose languages; the middle stream, which was tech drawing and typing; or the lowest stream, home economics—or, as it was known then, cooking and sewing. I was lucky enough to make it as a language girl, and I chose Māori and French. The dean informed me that Māori was not considered an academic language, and I should consider revising my choice if I wanted to remain in the top stream. She also told me I’d be the only Pākehā girl in the class. I chose French and Māori. The dean informed me—oh, sorry. I chose Japanese and French—I changed.

When I got home from school, I found my dad digging in the garden and told him what had happened. He leaned on his spade and looked up at me and said, “Well, what do you want to learn?” I looked up and said, “Well, I want to learn Māori.” He said, “That lady will still be in her office. You go back and give her a call and tell her that you’ve changed your mind.” So I did, and it did changed my life. I passed School Cert and Bursary Māori. I completed a BA in Te Reo Māori and an MA on the Ngāi Tahu settlement. I got my first real job as a negotiator for the Office of Treaty Settlements. My Māori isn’t that flash, but what I love the most is it has given me a glimpse of life from a different perspective.

To my dad, to my mum, and to my brother Patrick: thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I’m proud to come from a long line of socialists. There’s a couple of communists in there as well. Both sides of my family hold strong beliefs in fairness and the rights of workers. Ingrained in me is the ethic of working hard and the belief that if you work hard enough, anything is possible in New Zealand. I want to make sure that New Zealand stays this way.

On my mother’s side, I would like to acknowledge my grandfather, Patrick McKinley, one of 11 children who grew up in the Rai Valley. He was a soldier, a truck driver, and a unionist who believed in standing up and fighting for what he believed in. He was a worker and a true Irishman—when the doctor recommended he make his drinks smaller, he just bought a smaller glass.

On my father’s side, I would like to acknowledge Bill Andersen. My first awakening to politics was listening to heated discussions around the dinner table about what he’d been up to. He was involved in the 1951 Waterfront Lockout. His front yard, along with many others’, was dug up and sown with vegetables to feed those families affected by the strike. He was the president of the Northern Drivers Union and the president of the National Distribution Union. Bill supported the Ngāti Whātua occupation of Bastion Point and organised union support during that protest. From 1972 until 1981, he stood for Parliament in the seat of Tāmaki against Robert Muldoon. While unsuccessful, he took much delight in letting Air New Zealand staff always seat him next to Muldoon whenever they flew together, always greeting him with a “Hello, comrade.” Both Bill and Pat were fearless when fighting for what they believed in. I hope I can continue in their footsteps.

During the past 16 years, I have served Ministers from both sides of this House. I’ve worked as a political adviser for the past Labour Government, and I’ve worked as a political adviser for both Labour and National Governments. During this time, I’ve seen both robust and poor policy developed and made into law. I have seen people placed under immense pressure and seen how they have treated others during those hard times. While this institution can be an unforgiving one, I know that people are remembered for not only what they have achieved but how they have achieved it. The tension between developing good policy and meeting the demands of politics to achieve “quick wins” will always exist, but so many of the issues that confront New Zealand are not able to be resolved within a political term. I’m of the view that if you are going to do a job, you should do it properly. If we are serious about reducing child poverty, homelessness, and the number of New Zealanders in prison, then I believe we need a greater degree of cross-party collaboration.

One thing that has motivated me to take the leap from being a public servant to a politician is seeing good policy thrown out because it was not popular. While consultation is an essential part of any decision-making process, I believe that it should not be purely driven by focus groups and polls. The public servant in me prefers a balance with research and evidence to show what works. I would like to acknowledge the work done by public servants that goes on behind the scenes. This House would cease to operate without their ongoing dedication and support.

The job I’ve enjoyed the most would have to be working for the New Zealand Police. It has been an honour to work alongside people who share the single common purpose of making New Zealand a safer place. I acknowledge their presence here today. My time at police confirmed to me that I have a strong desire to see positive changes made to the New Zealand justice system. As New Zealanders, we would not tolerate a health system that made us sick, nor an education system that made our children illiterate or innumerate, so why would we tolerate a justice system that makes people more likely to offend? This year, we have reached the highest number ever of prison inmates in New Zealand: over 10,000, with over 2,800 on remand. While it is easy to acknowledge that building another prison is a mark of failure to this country, it is much harder to do something about it. It is all too easy to push the fear button and generate public support, but it is much harder to take real steps to reform our criminal justice system.

There are few “quick wins” in this space, but there are huge opportunities for change and improvement: greater access to mental health support, drug and alcohol treatment, social housing, employment, closer working partnerships with iwi, and just being open to doing things differently. This Government has set a bold target of reducing our prison population by 30 percent over the next 15 years. I undertake to do whatever is required of me to work towards that goal.

Police is also the place where I met my husband. My mum gave me very clear instructions that I was to marry a neurosurgeon from Roseneath. I got a dog handler from the Hutt—love you, honey. Quite simply, Geoff, without your love and support, I would not be standing here today. I love you and our four children—and I’m sorry that I don’t do the washing more often.

One of the hardest things in making it this far has been finding a balance between being a mum and a worker, although I reckon that knowing how to continually function when exhausted and how to remain calm in the face of epic tantrums might just come in handy here. I am proud to be the stepmother of Piper and Corban and the mother of Jack and Eliza. You constantly remind me of what matters the most in life.

I am grateful to the New Zealand Police, in particular Catherine Petrey, for enabling me to further my career while being a mum. For each of the children I gave birth to, I was able to take a full year of maternity leave. After my first child, I returned to work at three days a week, and after my second child, I returned to work at four days a week and was promoted to policy manager. I can really remember having interagency teleconferences while pushing both kids on the swings—I learnt to bring my own can of CRC. This flexibility enabled my children to see more of their mum, a luxury that many families in New Zealand cannot afford. It is good to see the first piece of legislation introduced under this new Government to be 26 weeks’ paid parental leave. This, and upskilling people through free tertiary training, is a bold step towards creating a higher-wage economy. I want New Zealand to be where parents have more flexibility and choice as to their working arrangements and women get paid the same as men. If we wish to ensure our children are resilient enough to deal with this world, then we must give them the best possible start in life. Time with mum and dad is number one.

I am heartened to be part of an intake of MPs that has more parents of young children than ever before, and part of a Government that is committed to prioritising the well-being of children. I wish to give my thanks to those women that have helped me on my path to this House. Margaret Wilson, Maryan Street, Marian Hobbs, Annette King, and my mum: you have given me advice and strength during the times that I have needed it the most. I am excited to be part of an intake that has more women, Māori, Pacific, and Indian MPs than ever before. It is good to see the face of Parliament changing to be far more representative of the people it serves. I’ve always worked within this system to drive change, and I will continue to do so, but it is this opportunity right now, with these people and with Jacinda Ardern as our Prime Minister, that has offered the greatest opportunity I have ever seen to change New Zealand for the better. I look forward to the challenge.

[Applause]

Waiata

Before I call Chlöe Swarbrick, I do want to make it clear to members making maiden speeches later today and tomorrow that members have agreed that the waiata will be within their time for speeches. Members have agreed that. If they are going to have waiata, then they must complete their speeches in time for it. I don’t want to be insensitive, but it’s not beyond me to do so.

E Te Māngai, tēnā koe, tuatahi ki Te Mana Whenua o tēnei rohe, Te Āti Awa, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa!

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. Firstly, to Te Āti Awa, the mandated authority of this region, salutations, acknowledgments, and accolades to you all!]

Mr Speaker, congratulations on your new position. I am immensely proud to be entering this 52nd Parliament at such a time where you’ve actively sought to make the House more family friendly to create a new normal. There’s been some critics of our having babies in this House. “It’s a place of work.”, they say. “Children do not belong in the midst of arguing.” I think, perhaps, these critics take for granted a nasty, adversarial culture and I personally hope that the presence of babies helps remind us all of the gravity of our task and the lives our decisions impact.

I want to acknowledge my colleagues from Maungakiekie, new electorate MP Denise Lee and my friend and new Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan. I also want to acknowledge my incredible new Green colleague, who I am honoured to be entering this House with, Golriz Ghahraman.

Four years ago, I started hosting a little current affairs show on Auckland’s number one alternative radio station. I spent a long time interviewing politicians of all stripes on daily issues, but the underlying questions were always essentially the same: firstly, how much do you understand this problem and the lives of the people affected, beyond your briefing notes, and, secondly, why should they trust you? With all due respect, the answers were never really all too satisfactory. There was an innocuous response mechanism that I think is kind of bred into politicians, and with it it’s like we become out of sync with the orbit of people’s daily lives. I don’t think I would be alone in saying that I couldn’t see myself, my friends, my whānau in politics.

Young people don’t have a monopoly on political disillusionment. It just happens that we listen to better music while feeling it. It’s hard to engage in a system that doesn’t look or sound like you, that talks down to you, that disparages your participation, and that you don’t feel that you can change. The issue is that regardless of whether people choose to participate in the system, it governs their lives. Institutions don’t have to look the way they do. They’re the sum of the people engaged and involved. Democracy doesn’t have to feel broken. It’s just a means, not an end unto itself.

The result of a few too many late night Google spirals and discussions with friends who have always entertained my very left of field ideas led to me running for the Auckland mayoralty in 2016. I tried to make it about the people of Auckland, to such an extent that I had a few people email me about the design of my posters, telling me that they couldn’t read my name but that the slogan was, however, readable, and it read “This is your city”.

I cut my teeth debating former Labour Party leader and my city’s new mayor, Phil Goff. A journalist asked me if my running and my candidacy were a protest. I said, “Yeah, it kind of is.”, and they took that to mean that it was a joke.

I don’t think protest is a joke. It is a method of organisation, of bringing people together around common purpose. It is a legitimate means to achieve tangible, meaningful outcomes, to make things better, and to change. We have a history in Aotearoa of standing for things: peaceful resistance at Parihaka, women’s suffrage, nuclear-free New Zealand, and anti-apartheid. Our country’s political history is rich with protest.

So it shouldn’t really come as a surprise to many in this House that a few weeks ago, freshly minted as a new MP, I attended a protest. The next day my dad texted me and he told me that he’d heard people saying mean things about me on talkback radio. I had to call him and remind him that I’m in the Green Party.

Whilst we’ve almost always been ahead of the policy curve, leading where others eventually follow, change is almost always uncomfortable. Change doesn’t often come from the top. Change most frequently comes in the form of a groundswell by the people, for the people.

The very reason that I stand in this Chamber is because of the combined efforts of thousands of Green Party volunteers and activists across Aotearoa. I am here because of the staunch, tireless dedication to a kaupapa that recognises that the well-being of our people and our planet are inextricably linked. I am here because of the tenacity, the good humour, and support of my campaign team, who turned up day in, day out, month after month after month. I am here to supplement the mahi of my lean, mean, Green caucus. I am here to show people that politicians can look a little different, can speak a little different, and can do things a little differently. I am here to drive home the message that politicians work for people and—the mind-boggling notion—that politicians are people too.

Anybody paying attention saw that this was a rough and generally rather exhausting campaign and, a week before election day, at my final debate, I broke down in tears. We were asked to speak about New Zealand’s shameful suicide rate, particularly with regard to our youth, our rangatahi. Another candidate took this as academic, speaking in numbers and fiscals, and they were abstracting the lives and the loss of my friends. As I cried, I couldn’t help but realise that this mental health epidemic rippling through our communities is the logical end point of austerity, the consequence of decades of economic and social reform that has shredded communities, safety nets, and, most fundamentally, care. It turns out that lives are more complicated than what may be written on a CV.

I spent a lot of my teenage years struggling with anxiety and depression. The reason that I talk about this is not because my mental health history makes me a stronger person or has necessarily given me any insights into the world. Rather than making me special, a history of mental health issues makes me quite normal, because, as I have said, these issues are pandemic in our society. We in this House have the power and the platform to help define normality. So I think that we have a responsibility to present ourselves as we really are: with our flaws intact.

I understand that all of that is no small task when, in this universe, we are supposed to be poised to jump at each other’s jugular at the faintest sign of weakness. But things like kindness—which I am so impossibly proud that our new Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has put back on the agenda—are not a weakness. It’s human. I ask that we remember and reflect the people that we are serving. It is our job to empower them, not to insulate ourselves from their scrutiny.

Too many of those that we serve and represent are navigating insecure housing and insecure work at the moment. When you don’t know your neighbours or your co-workers to any depth, then when you have a problem, you’re not quite inclined to talk about it. You internalise it, and you individualise it. It’s your problem. It’s therefore a problem with you.

Without strong communities, without mainstream recognition of the power of collective action, we don’t hear each other’s voices and we don’t put our finger on systemic issues that affect us all and we need each other’s help to solve. There’s this old joke: a fish is swimming up a river and it sees a dog standing on the bank, and the dog says to it, “How’s the water?” and the fish replies, “What water?”. It’s funny; you can laugh. The most fundamental realities of our lives are often the hardest to see, you see, and the hardest, often, to talk about.

Kids from all over Aotearoa are brought up here, they sit in this gallery, they watch us in Parliament, and the teachers tell them, “This is politics.” When question time is on the news, everyone sees the yelling and the screaming, and they are told, “This is politics. This is what politicians do.” But what happens in this room is largely theatre. Politics is what happens when all of us in here go back to our rooms and we close our doors and we shake hands and we make decisions.

The consequences of those decisions saturate our lives. These decisions inform who is rich and who is poor, who gets sick and who gets better. They decide what we eat and what we drink and the quality of the air that we breathe. They decide who has, or may have, a future and who does not. The consequences of political decisions are so pervasive in our lives that we don’t really even see them anymore.

So we in this room get to choose the rules. That means that those falling through the gaps at the moment are either there by systemic neglect, or by design. It means that we, as the Green Party, as one moving part of this great new Government, have an opportunity, a duty, to try and fix things.

When I was 11 years old, Mrs Nabi—an excellent teacher of mine in form one—made a point of telling off one of my friends. It was a decile 3 intermediate and I was one of a handful of Pākehā kids. My Pasifika mate was looking down at his desk. She pointed out that this is what Pasifika kids are taught respect looks like, but those suspended in the Pākehā world, where eye contact is respect, would see this as rude. Because of this, she said, brown kids are treated not just as naughty but as disrespectful by those who may not understand cultural cues. That is the tip of the iceberg of what systemic racism looks like, she taught us.

With that lesson, I started understanding that this system—systems like this—are designed for people who look like me. That’s what echoes of colonisation look like. If we are ever to heal those wounds, we need to look at them in broad daylight. They hurt, and they are uncomfortable when we bandage over them, because they require attention.

I am who I am because of my family. We might not share all of the same politics, but I was raised on a diet of robust and challenging discussion. To my dad: you gave me a tool kit of resilience. At seven years old, writing my first speech on the double standards between kids and adults—as only a petulant seven-year-old could—you taught me the value of putting myself in other people’s shoes, that it is our perception that informs our reality. You showed me that nobody—not even a grumpy seven-year-old—is the centre of the universe.

To my mum: you gave me my love of art, my love of reading, and my love of theatre and film and creativity. You’ve shown me how our histories do not necessarily define our futures. To my little sister, Grace, and my little brother, Ollie: I’m stoked to be your big sister. Grace, I have appreciated how little you care about anything and everything to do with my job. I love using you as a sounding board for people for who politics plays out on the periphery of their lives as white noise. Ollie, I love learning with you. It is such a privilege to hold the position of working on this education system in our country just as you’re about to start at intermediate school.

To my best friend and partner, Alex: who could have imagined, when we met nearly six years ago outside Philosophy 101, that this is where we would end up? Thank you for being my anchor amidst turbulence in life and in self-discovery. Thank you for being my home when I didn’t feel that I had one. Thank you for putting up with me as I follow each and every new passion.

If I can accomplish just one thing in my time here—if I can change just one thing—I want to change people’s awareness of what politics really is, because if we can change that, everything else can change. I want to start that work here, today, by asking people to look critically at the world around them. Look at our culture and our society and our economy and ask if it is fair and just. If it’s not, who profits from that injustice? Who pays the price of that unfairness? Because politics is not me standing here giving this speech; politics is all around us. Like that old joke, politics is water. Politics lives in our relationships, in our conversations, in what we believe, and in what we’re willing to fight for.

I stand here on the shoulders of giants, like the Green pioneers Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald, and I am here to fight, both here from my privileged position inside these walls, and protesting out on the streets with the people I am proud to represent, until nobody ever needs to fight again.

E ai ki te whakataukī, “He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!” Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa!

[According to the aphorism, “What is the most important thing of the world? It is people, it is people, it is people!” So therefore, salutations, acknowledgments, and accolades to you all!]

[Applause]

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā koutou katoa. Te mana whenua o tēnei wāhi, Te Āti Awa, tēnā koutou, otirā, e ngā iwi whānui, tēnā koutou katoa.

[Salutations to you all, the authorities, languages, and the many callings. Salutations to you, Te Āti Awa, mandated authority of this place, but at the same time, to tribes widely, acknowledgments to you all.]

Mr Speaker, I congratulate you and I look forward to your guidance in this House. I acknowledge also that we stand on land that was never ceded, so I have acknowledged tangata whenua.

I begin by acknowledging what a breathtaking honour it is to sit among this Green caucus. It’s a dream. I also acknowledge those who’ve sat among you before now, in particular Catherine Delahunty and Keith Locke. You spoke to injustice wherever it happened, and, to someone like me, that meant a lot. Mojo Mathers, you taught me and us all that we are far more than our labels. And Metiria Turei, for baring your scars to highlight the pain of others, I thank you.

But today I also want to acknowledge those who tell me every day that I don’t belong here, that I should go home where I came from, that I should have been left to die, or that I have no right to criticise any politician in this country or take part in public life because this isn’t my home. Some of them call for rifles to be loaded. It gets frightening.

I’m numb to it because that actually is the reality for those of us in this country from minority backgrounds if we do stand up and become visible. I want it noted that it’s also the consequence every time someone in this House scapegoats migrants, every time a TV presenter is allowed to ask the Prime Minister when our Governor-General is going to look like a Kiwi and sound like a Kiwi and that Prime Minister just laughs, every time we call refugees the leftovers from terrorist nations for our political gain. We feel it on the streets. We can’t shed our skin.

Patriotism that seeks to quash dissent and divide us is archaic. It’s dangerous for our democracy. We can’t tolerate that. It’s antithetical to our culture. I love this country, but a love of this country—patriotism—means expecting the very best for her. It means fighting for the country we know is possible. So I criticise leaders who fall short, I protest, and I fight for equality and justice, because that is what loves looks like in public—that’s Dr Cornel West; that’s not me. So today I stand here proud and determined because today is about democracy and equality—values that New Zealand embodies, stands up for so boldly.

I am a child of revolutionaries. My parents faced tanks for democracy, at gunpoint fought for human rights. They faced torture to take back their country’s resource from imperialists, from dictators, and from corrupt corporate interests and put it back in the hands of the people. The Iranian revolution was one of the biggest popular revolutions in modern history. Everyone was out on the street—students, communists, socialists, and Islamists—fighting against inequality.

But their revolution was hijacked, and ultimately my life was shaped by one of the most repressive regimes in modern history. Everyone knew someone that disappeared into a torture chamber for speaking out; everyone knew a woman flogged for disregarding Islamic dress—and that wasn’t our culture, even those of us who were Muslim; everyone feared their phones being tapped. That was my childhood.

But it was also just the backdrop to a bloody eight-year war we fought against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. I remember the bombs and the sirens, running to a basement and just waiting. But mostly I remember kids my age who stopped talking from the shell shock, and I still don’t know what happened to them. Then scarcity set in, because America was on Saddam’s side and we were sanctioned. We had to use coupons to buy food. Years later, we realised that the West had backed both sides of that war—sold weapons to both sides.

That is what refugees are made of.

I feel a kinship with First Nations people, with tangata whenua, because we too have been alienated from our land and our resources by imperialism—by wars that we did not profit from. We share the same degradation and prejudice; I want us to work closer together. Migrants, refugees, Pasifika people, tangata whenua—we have far more that unites us than that which divides us. I want Te Tiriti o Waitangi to be a living constitutional document in this country, leading policy, even on immigration.

My mum was a child psychologist, but she never worked because she didn’t believe in taking religious exams, especially in the mental health field. My dad was an agricultural engineer who worked on research trying to extract energy from plant sources—Green to the core. So let’s remember that our values exist in all cultures. The Middle East, just like the West, has fierce feminism, environmentalism, Government selling us off to multinationals, and—yes—religious fundamentalism. I want us to amplify the voices in all cultures who speak of democracy and equality above those who would silence them.

When that repression got too scary, my family and I fled. We landed in Auckland Airport and the fear was palpable; I can still feel it now. I was nine years old. We didn’t know what would happen if we were sent back, but we weren’t; we were welcomed here. That warm welcome is my first memory of my homeland. New Zealand recognised our rights and our humanity; that’s what that was, though I didn’t know it then. My second memory is that this country was so green. Those two vivid first impressions are going to lead my work in this House.

I became a lawyer. I never intended to do that, but I wanted to make human rights enforceable. The criminal justice system leads on human rights in our system. The most frightening thing that I’ve seen in about 15 years of being a lawyer all over the world is the sight of a 13-year-old child sitting behind a very large table awaiting his trial for murder at the Auckland High Court. I was part of his defence team. He’d thrown a rock over an overbridge, tragically taking another young life. He was tried as an adult because our system requires it. He suffered from mental illness, as do most people that come through our justice system. He was brown. He was from South Auckland. His family was so poor that they shifted houses every so often just so that they could have electricity for a while. He didn’t have a lot of schooling, because of that, and his Child, Youth and Family file was the stuff of nightmares. Our most vulnerable.

The front lines of our justice system are where I learnt about unchecked prejudice. That’s what turned me into a human rights lawyer, and I focused on children’s rights. But it was living in Africa, working on genocide trials for the UN, where I learnt how prejudice turns to atrocity. It starts with dehumanising language in the media. It starts by politicians scapegoating groups, as groups, for social ills—I think that every time I see it happen here. I saw it in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, and when I prosecuted the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia—holding politicians and armies to account for abusing their power, and giving voice to women and minorities, because we are always most viciously attacked by abusers. These experiences have instilled in me a commitment to human rights that I first got as someone who has seen the world without them.

Human rights are universal. We don’t have fewer rights because of our religion, because of where we were born or who we love. We don’t have fewer rights because we had our children out of wedlock, or because we’ve been charged with a crime. We don’t have human rights because we are good, but because we are human. There is no such thing as the deserving poor or the good refugee.

Human rights are indivisible; we have a bundle of rights. You can’t realise one without the other: you can’t say we have a democracy or free speech unless we also have the right to education, and we don’t have the right to education unless the kids we are teaching have food and homes. For too long, for about 10 years now in New Zealand, our very democracy has been undermined because too many of our rights—our economic, our social, and our cultural rights—have been breached. I want to entrench those.

Finally—and of most interest to this House—human rights are enforceable against Governments. These are our obligations. This is our mandate to govern. We can’t privatise them away. They are not charity; people don’t have to beg.

I want New Zealand to get back to a culture of expecting this from us, and none of that is separable from the environment. Protection of people’s rights and nature’s rights are intrinsically linked. Just ask the people of the Pacific—our neighbours—whose homelands are being drowned out because of waste pollution consumption that they have not participated in or benefited from.

One of the greatest threats to both human and nature’s rights right now is subjugation of our democracy to corporate interests. A rampant market on a finite planet cannot exist. New Zealand must lead by example on this, as we have done before. We’ve stood up against status quo interests on the world stage, and I want us to be that righteous little nation again.

I never intended to run as the first ever refugee MP but I quickly realised that my face and my story mean so much to so many, so my fear of tokenism dissipated. I had such an outpouring of support from all over New Zealand and the world—even Trump’s America—and I remembered getting notes and emails from my female interns, mostly of minority background, back in the UN, telling me what it meant to them to have someone like them forging that path. Some of them are carrying that mantle now. I realised then that it was important for that process to have a former victim of governance by repression and mass murder stand up in those courtrooms that are normally dominated by Western men.

So this is a victory for a nine-year-old asylum seeker. But it’s also a victory for everyone who has ever felt out of place, who has been excluded, or who has been told that she has limits to her dreams.

For getting me here, I thank the voters. You’ve humbled me for ever. You voted for diversity and fairness and nature this election when you voted Green.

I thank our Green activists and our staff, especially our Auckland staff. You worked harder and harder as things got harder this election. You will inspire me for ever. To my campaign team—especially Ron and Daniel, who are up there—and my second, political, family, the Chalmers clan: I’m so happy you are here. Your support is life affirming to me.

My parents, both strong Iranian feminists—you lost everything. You lost your friends, your family, your professions, and your language because you weren’t willing to raise a little girl in oppression—thank you.

And to maybe the most political person I know, although a very large, loud white boy—my partner. Thank you for stopping me mid-rant—it seems like a lifetime ago now—when I was lamenting the loss of activism in politics and some of my favourite MPs. I was saying, “Who’s going to be the candidate that will stand up to the GCSB? Who’s going to be the candidate who will be the new Keith Locke?”, and you said, “You will be that candidate.”—and I was. We’re both political, we are both adventurers, but you are also patient. I thank you for that, and for love, but mostly courage, on that day and every day.

I stand here as a child of revolutionaries, as a child asylum seeker, as an international human rights lawyer, as an activist, as a Green, and my standing here proves New Zealand is a place where a nine-year-old asylum seeker, a refugee, a girl from the Middle East, can grow up to one day enter Parliament. It proves the strength and the goodness of New Zealand’s values.

He oranga whenua, he oranga tangata, ka ora tātou katoa, nō reira, e Te Whare, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa!

[Good health to the land, to individuals, and to us all, and so to you, the House, salutations, acknowledgments, and accolades to you collectively and to us all!]

[Applause]

Ā, “Whakarongo atu ki ngā ngaru e whati ana i runga i onepū, i runga i te taniwha ko Whātaitai. Whakarongo atu ki te mahi a Tangaroa, kua rongo au i te tai, ko Rongotai tēnei e kōrero ai, tīhei mauri ora!” Ko Tainui te waka, ko Taupiri te maunga, ko Waikato te awa, ko Waikato-Tainui te iwi, ko Kīngi Tūheitia te tangata, ko Horohoro te marae, ko Paul Eagle toku ingoa, tēnā koutou katoa!

[And so, “Listen to the waves breaking upon the sand and the deity, it is indeed Whātaitai. Listen to the performances of Tangaroa, I hear the tide, this is Rongotai indeed talking, behold the breath of life!” Tainui is the canoe, Taupiri is the mountain, Waikato is the river, Waikato-Tainui is the tribe, Kīngi Tūheitia is the man, Korokoro is the marae, and Paul Eagle is my name, salutations to you all!]

Mr Speaker, honourable members, whānau and friends—the whānau are still coming in, the friends are here, and I’ll keep going. Look, it’s a privilege to stand here before you as the member for Rongotai, and the first Māori male to win a general electorate seat for the Labour Party.

To be an MP in this House is an honour for which I owe a tremendous debt to a good many people—the wonderful people of Rongotai, for starters, and many others who are here in the gallery today. Thank you for coming. Unfortunately, I can’t name everyone in the time I have this afternoon. However, there’s one person who I must name, and that’s my wife and closest friend—there she is—Miriam. Thank you for believing in me, and thank you for giving up your 40th birthday to doorknock and deliver brochures for me instead.

💬 Hon Members: Oh!

I know. I also acknowledge my predecessor and mentor, the Hon Annette King, and her husband, Ray Lind. Annette, I humbly follow in your footsteps today. Thank you for your wisdom, for your remarkable patience, and for your advocacy. Thank you for also being my weight watcher and ensuring I can’t open an account at Copperfields.

I must also thank the Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban and her husband, Dr Peter Swain—I saw them walk in—for believing in me from day one. Winnie, your tenacity to push me to achieve my dreams and aspirations has been incredible. And thank you for being my Pacific mum. Your advice to attend church every Sunday and eat lots of chop suey has paid off.

A maiden speech in Parliament marks the beginning of a member’s political life. So when writing my speech, I wanted to make sure that my words today would stand the test of time, and that’s why my maiden speech is dedicated to my son, Tamarangi, in the form of a letter to him. As I stand in this debating chamber, I’m filled with hope for my son’s future and that of all children in Aotearoa. Now, he is a little young to understand what is happening to his dad right now, so when he gets older I want him to know that right from the very beginning of my political journey he was and will always be at the centre of all I do.

Here goes: Dear Tamarangi, it’s your dad’s first official speech on the job. I’ve already got lost a few times in this big place, but don’t worry, son. I’ve figured out that I can get from my office in Bowen House to Copperfields and back without passing the whips’ office, and fingers crossed, no one tells Annette King either.

You are sitting up in the gallery right now with your mum, and, although you may be more interested in watching Moana on the iPad, my heart swells at the sight of you. You see, Tama, your Auntie Annie used to be the member of Parliament for Rongotai, which includes your home, the Chatham Islands. Rongotai is the place where you will grow up and belong.

After serving the people of Rongotai for 24 years, Auntie Annie, hopefully, decided to spend more time with Uncle Ray, and your dad got the nod—whoo!—from the Labour Party and the people of Rongotai—whoo!—to carry the mantle on. And I’m grateful for it. With the help and support from a whole lot of people, they put their trust in him and on election night he won the great seat of Rongotai and became its new MP.

Your dad wanted the job because he wants to serve and care for others. He wants to make sure everyone has a home, a good education, access to affordable healthcare, and a place to belong. Like your birth mother, my birth mother wanted to give me a better life than she herself could. She once told me, “If the DPB had’ve been around when you were a baby, I could have kept you.”

In 1973, the late Norman Kirk and the then Labour Government introduced the domestic purposes benefit. But your dad was born in 1972—a year earlier—which meant that when my birth mother found out she was pregnant with a child she could not afford to care for, to a man who couldn’t care for her, she had to let me go. And, sadly, there was no State support or sympathy for solo parents back then. My birth mother had already been judged for her actions, but she wanted more for me than she could give: a safe home, a warm bed, good clothes, and a full tummy—I think I got that last one.

But it wasn’t possible at the time, so the difficult decision was made to give me up for adoption—a decision that changed our lives forever. It would be more than 20 years before I’d see my birth parents again. My birth mother told me of her sadness and how she missed me and worried about how I was doing. At shopping malls, she would look at each little Māori boy and wonder if it were me. But over 45 years later, it’s still nice to know that she wanted me and would have kept me if she could. But it’s even more rewarding to know that because of Kirk and a Labour Government thousands of mums and their babies got the support they needed to stay together. And that’s even if your dad wasn’t one of them.

I don’t like to think that my birth mother gave me up. It sounds as if she gave up on me; when what she did was give me a loving family, a happy childhood, the best shot at life a boy could ask for, and a place where your dad truly belonged. I understand this more than ever, son, because when we adopted you, your dad realised how hard the decision for our birth mothers must have been, because to decide to let go of a child is the most selfless act any person can do.

But your dad was lucky enough to be adopted into a wonderful family: people who opened their hearts and gave me a decent start in life. Fortunately, for me, son, they gave me the things my birth mother could only dream of, and that was that safe home, a warm bed, good clothes, and a full tummy. My mum, son—your gran—worked for many years in the health sector and tirelessly volunteered her time for good causes; and my dad, your poppa, was a minister in the Methodist Church for 49 years, and both were heavily active in the Labour Party. They instilled in me the importance of caring for and serving people and the significance of getting involved in political action if things that you believed in weren’t right.

The Springbok Tour came to our shores in 1981 and gave me an insight into what it meant to stand up for your values. Churches became hubs for a campaign activity against the rugby team from a country who treated people of colour differently. Your poppa and his Methodist minister mates, all wearing their collars, hit the front line with homemade shields, batons, and Gran used to wonder if he was going to be put in jail or come home all beaten up.

But it was then that your dad learnt that sport and politics do mix, and it taught him that doing something popular wasn’t always the right thing to do; it was standing up for your values and what you believe in that really mattered most. Gran and Poppa also gave your dad a thirst for knowledge, a good education, and strong values to live by—Labour’s values. But, most importantly, son, your gran and poppa gave your dad a place to belong.

There are thousands of Kiwis who are adopted, including over 40,000 Māori, who still today don’t know where they’re from. They deserve better, because whakapapa is essential to Māori identity and social inclusion. Son, you will know your whakapapa and Chatham Islands heritage. You will never be invisible, and you will be firmly anchored in this universe.

Your dad will work steadily to ensure that no law is made in this Parliament that will impede or hinder anyone from knowing their true identity and where they belong. Further adoption law reform is needed, and your dad will seek to promote a member’s bill to do this, because it’s time the secrecy ended once and for all and we open up adoption to the thousands of Kiwis who are desperate to provide Kiwi kids with the best shot in life. Your dad will do this for you, my son, and for all the sons and daughters of the many who are yet to find a place where they can belong.

But, my boy, like I said, this speech marks the first address in my new role, and your dad has lots to do. Your mum and dad want to make sure you get the best opportunities in life; that you inherit a country where you can go down and safely play in the Owhiro stream there in Happy Valley and not get sick; a country where you fall over and you get hurt and you can go to your local hospital, Wellington Hospital, and get the help you need; and that when you grow up and come to buy your own home you can afford to buy the home in Rongotai—if you choose to rent, your home is warm and dry. And, son, when you are at school, you have the option to learn Te Reo no matter where in Rongotai that school might be.

Your mum and dad want this for you and for every child growing up in Aotearoa. That’s why your dad is here today because kids are going without, parents are struggling, healthcare providers don’t have enough resources, and people can’t afford to buy their own homes. So, son, I’m going to need you to give a big cuddle to some of the people that helped get your dad here today, especially our Rongotai Labour whānau who are here, and the many sitting next to you in the gallery today—and, of course, your mum, Miriam. She loves you as much I do—sorry, as your dad does—but she has stuck by Dad through it all. So be kind to your mum, son. Clean your room, put away the dishes, and tell her that you love her, because without her, your dad wouldn’t be here in the New Zealand Parliament today.

But it’s also time to give you a wee apology. Being an MP is a big job, and at times I’ll miss out on going down to Kilbirnie Park, watching you play for the Pōneke Rugby Club, having dinner with you and your mum, and reading you that all-important bedtime story. But I promise to be the best dad to you that I can be, and to work hard to ensure that I do you proud by being a strong representative of Rongotai. Know that, from the very beginning, you were at the heart of my political journey. But, my boy, this does not mean you can have a car when you turn 16.

I love you, your dad.

Tōku tama, ngā mema o tēnei Pāremata, nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[My son and members of this Parliament, therefore, greetings, acknowledgments, and accolades to you collectively and to us all.]

[Applause]

Waiata

E Te Māngai, tēnā koe, e Te Whare Pāremata, tū tonu, tu tonu.

[Salutations to you, Mr Speaker; continue, and remain standing, Parliament House.]

On 2 October 1849, a brave young Englishman left his home in Swindon and travelled to London with his mother, father, and three siblings. As the dark-haired 21-year-old said goodbye to his family on the wharf, he proceeded to board a ship, beginning a 12,000-mile journey to the other side of the world. Robert was leaving behind a society based on class, entitlement, a lack of opportunity for the common man, and widespread poverty. He hoped for a better life, a more equal society, and a country where if you worked hard, you could succeed, regardless of which family you were born into.

While on the boat, he formed a special relationship with a 16-year-old girl named Blanche. Upon arriving in Nelson, they were married. Robert became a policeman, mainly presiding over goldfield matters. He and Blanche had three children, they worked hard, and purchased some land and built a house, all of which stayed in the family for the next 150 years. My great-great-great-grandparents Robert and Blanche Strange had hope and aspiration, and in 19th-century Aotearoa they combined that with opportunity in order to bring about success.

I’d like to begin by thanking my wife, Angela. I appreciate your friendship, support, and unconditional love. Thank you for making me the man I am today. As I promised you 21 years ago, marrying me won’t be boring.

To my four children, who are watching this at home—Jack, Brooklyn, Chloe, and Charlotte. You keep my heart soft. I love you all.

While I was writing this speech on my computer, my son came up to me and he said, “Daddy, I know how you can write it really quick.”, and he started tapping random words into the computer. You’ll be pleased to know I have only partially taken his advice.

To my mother and father—my mother is here today—thank you for all you have invested in me, from coaching my sports teams growing up, making me practise the piano, and always being available to talk whenever I needed you. I’ll do my best to make you proud.

To my brother and three sisters, I appreciate you all. We’re in this life together. Growing up, my brother Daniel and I shared a room for 18 years, often talking long into the night, picking World XI cricket teams.

To those in the gallery today—friends and family—I appreciate you making the effort to be here.

I would like to acknowledge my fellow MPs from both sides of the House, all of whom care deeply about our country. I would also like to thank our parliamentary staff, who serve our democracy with professionalism and enthusiasm.

My parliamentary career was almost over within two weeks when I inadvertently sat in the Hon Damien O’Connor’s chair during one of our caucus meetings. Fortunately, my family connections with Damien were enough to smooth it over.

You see, Damien knew my late grandparents Murray and Dawn Strange. Murray, a dairy farmer in Collingwood, Golden Bay, had three ambitions in life, which he stated in the late 1960s: number one was to milk 300 cows, number two was to produce 100,000 pounds of butterfat in a calendar year, and number three was to be president of the New Zealand Rugby Union. The first two he achieved in 1982—and was likely to have been the first in the South Island to do so—and after much perseverance and dedication, in 1984 he did become president of the New Zealand Rugby Union. The All Black captain that year was the late Jock Hobbs.

My grandfather proved that good things come from small towns—Morrinsville, anyone? Regional New Zealanders are not just there to make up the numbers. They’re the engine room—the tight five—of our economy.

My grandparents often spoke about a time in New Zealand history when everyone was basically the same. In the pre-1960s, before refrigeration, people relied on each other for their very survival. One farmer would kill an animal and share it among the others, and then another farmer would do the same, and on it would go. They had haymaking gangs, all the children went to the same local school, and a strong sense of community permeated every aspect of New Zealand society. Community is at the heart of everything we do. When people lose their sense of belonging, they become isolated, often causing harm to themselves and others.

In 1976, my 19-year-old mother gave birth to me in the Nelson general hospital. My father worked for the Public Trust Office, and still does to this day. At age 12, we shifted to Hamilton, where I began attending Hamilton Boys High School. After training as a schoolteacher, my mother applied for 70 jobs without getting one. Then one day she came home and announced, “I got a job.” “Great,” my brother and I said, “where?”, and she said, “Hamilton Boys High School.”

The motto was “A wise man carves his own fortune”. I was taught the importance of hard work, dedicated focus, and respect for authority. I would like to acknowledge in the gallery today former Hamilton Boys High School old boy and Labour MP, Martin Gallagher. I would also like to make mention of current and recent Waikato-based Labour MPs, the Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Sue Moroney, Dianne Yates, and the Hon Mark Burton.

My path to Parliament came via the Taupō electorate in 2014 and Hamilton East in 2017, before being elected via the Labour Party list. I would like to sincerely thank both the Taupō and Hamilton East Labour Party members and volunteers. Your tireless support for a change of Government and a new way of thinking has brought all of this about.

I was bitten twice during this year’s election campaign—by dogs, that is—prompting a local reporter to pen the phrase: “Twice bitten, still not shy.” I believe this mantra will serve me well in this House, as I will certainly not be shy about standing up for the hopes and dreams of those who are not achieving their full potential in our society.

I’m passionate about Hamilton and the Waikato. Hamilton is a wonderful place to live and raise a family. It’s a cradle-to-the-grave city. I would like to acknowledge Hamilton’s Mayor, Andrew King, and the two National Party MPs, the Hon Tim Macindoe and the Hon David Bennett. I will be a strong advocate for Hamilton and the Waikato region.

Hamilton is a growing, vibrant city, as the Hon Phil Twyford found out on the weekend. Due to the large number of people visiting Hamilton, his car was stuck just north of the city for an hour in traffic.

This explosive growth is creating a number of infrastructure challenges, particularly in terms of housing and transport. Also, a number of our city’s assets are beginning to age. Much of this growth is from Auckland. After years of making fun of Hamiltonians, thousands of Aucklanders each year are now packing up their rucksacks and venturing south over the Bombay Hills, realising that the Waikato is a pretty awesome place to live. And we have the best cricket ground in New Zealand. Many of my favourite memories have taken place in Hamilton, including the birth of our four children, in which I played a small but important part.

Children have been a strong focus of this 52nd Parliament, which is wonderful to see. They are not just our future; they are our present. Our tamariki and mokopuna deserve the best start in life. I believe many of the social issues we are encountering today can be linked to challenging and often difficult family environments. We must strengthen the confidence, skills, and knowledge that parents, grandparents, and caregivers have in the task of raising their children. Kids who have support over the crucial first years are much more likely to do well in school, more likely to move New Zealand ahead in decades to come, and less likely to live in poverty and commit crime.

We need a productive, export-led economy that encourages New Zealand businesses to focus on high-quality niche markets. If we want better wages, we need a dynamic manufacturing sector, supported by Government and built around enterprising, innovative companies, with a well-trained, productive, and engaged workforce.

In my 20s, I worked as a church minister. We would run hot dinners for those who were struggling, help out at-risk youth—one of whom we fostered for a period of time—prepare and deliver food parcels, help families reunite, and care for the elderly. I developed the skills to engage with a wide variety of people, and the altruistic aspects of the job were very rewarding.

When someone breaks an arm, the injured limb asks the heart for more blood. The heart can either say, “No, it’s your own fault. You shouldn’t have been climbing that tree.”, or the heart can provide extra blood for a period of time until the limb has recovered, knowing full well that when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer.

In my 30s, I worked as a schoolteacher. I believe we need a diverse education system with a wide curriculum that caters for many learning styles. Education changes lives. It’s the single best way to lift people out of poverty and deprivation.

As a music teacher, I taught a year 8 boy I will call Jimmy. According to national standards data, Jimmy had spent every moment of his primary school education well below the standard. Twice a year, for eight years, he was told, “You’re a failure.” However, when he came to my music class, Jimmy excelled. He had a natural sense of rhythm, and quickly mastered the drum kit. For the first time in eight years, he was top of the class. As time went on, I could see his confidence grow, which then spilled over into other areas of his schooling.

As a teacher of the arts, I was not just teaching guitar, drums, keyboard, and rock band; I was developing confidence, creativity, and cooperation. Which employer would not want those attributes in their employee? And creativity in particular is going to become more and more important as our job market continues to evolve.

The key to fixing the much-talked-about educational tail is by addressing social issues: a full stomach, children getting enough sleep, ending child poverty, and encouraging parents to see the benefits of their child’s education.

In my 40s, I’ve become a member of Parliament. I bring with me my life experiences, including extensive overseas travel, and a belief that I can add value here. I will never forget the sense of honour and humility and the weight of responsibility I felt when I first entered the doors of this building. It’s vital that we as MPs remain in touch with the grassroots members of our society. We must continue to lean our ear to the whispers of the most vulnerable and broadcast their message loudly for all to hear.

In today’s “me first” society, a number of people have become isolated. I believe Government must work with community groups, churches, iwi, sports teams, and other organisations to promote a shared sense of well-being. When people are connected, they can dream. When they dream, they can achieve. And when they achieve, they can help others achieve.

And what does this achievement look like? It’s the young family turning the key in the door of their first home. It’s the small-business owner competing with the multinationals in a globalised market. It’s the solo parent throwing their graduating cap in the air as their children look on with pride in their eyes.

There’s a generational change taking place in politics across the globe, as a new group of people say, “Let us have a go. We’ve got a few ideas on how we can improve our world.” And it’s not just about age; it’s about having a progressive, collaborative philosophy. It’s about putting people first.

I believe climate change is the number one global issue currently facing our planet. New Zealand can lead the world in this area. As our Prime Minister recently said, we owe it to ourselves, our children, and future generations to mitigate the effects of climate change.

In closing, I recently read a children’s book where a young boy is told by his father that he loves him, regardless of what he does. The son replies, “So even if I do bad things, you will still love me?”. “That’s right.”, his father says. After thinking for a while, the child asks, “Then why should I do what’s right?”, to which his father replies, “I don’t know. You tell me, son.” After a few seconds, the son responds, “Because I love you, too.”

I love our country. I appreciate the diverse, colourful culture we have created over hundreds of years. We’re not perfect, but we value honesty, hard work, equal opportunity, and genuine community. We’re not 19th century Victorian England; we are Aotearoa New Zealand. Kia kaha.

Kia kaha! Nō reira, e kī ana te whakataukī, “He waka eke noa”!

[Be resolute! The proverb says, therefore, “A canoe used without restriction!”]—a canoe in which all belong. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Applause]

Haka

Waiata

Sitting suspended from 6.10 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

I move, That this debate be now adjourned.

Motion agreed to.