Maiden Statements

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER Link to this

Honourable members, as was the practice during previous maiden statements, I would ask that when each member has concluded we refrain from congratulatory responses, so that all members have a fair chance to be able to make their maiden statements.

SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) Link to this

Nearly every maiden speech that I have read has begun with the member congratulating Mr Speaker on his appointment to high office, and I congratulate you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and also Mr Speaker, the Hon Lockwood Smith. I congratulate the Hon Lockwood Smith not only as a matter of professional courtesy but because of our personal friendship, going back to a beer we shared at Auckland University’s Shadows bar when he was getting a hard time as education Minister and I was a pimply young Nat.

Indeed, I joined the National Party at a young age, not because of any longstanding family connection to the greatest political party in the history of our nation but because then, as now, I believed in less not more government, in individuals doing as much for themselves as possible, and in reward for hard work and enterprise. Then, as now, I was generally economically dry and socially conservative, but never unthinkingly or uncaringly so. We need to do what works, not what sounds good in theory. In human affairs matters are often shades of grey, and not simply black or white. In economic times like these, rigid adherence to orthodoxies may not solve things for ordinary Kiwis. World-class health and education systems are essential. New Zealanders clearly understand this, and voted on 8 November for a John Key - led Government and the fresh approach to our nation’s challenges that it brings; they voted to move away from a slavish adherence to ideology, towards a new style of politics that is inclusive, dignified, and decent, and that believes that politics can be noble and deliver greater justice.

Can I today in this hallowed hall acknowledge my wonderful family and my amazing wife. My mother is from Waihī dairy-farming stock and my father from Frankton in Hamilton. Like so many in this nation, my mother’s ancestors came from England, while my father’s mother, Naku Joseph, was Ngāti Maniapoto and came from rural Ōpārure, near Te Kūiti. She remained in an unhappy relationship with her hard-living husband, Alf Bridges, because in those days early last century she thought that marriage to a Pākehā man was bettering herself and her children’s prospects. She continually told my father that she wanted her children and grandchildren to have letters behind their names, without really understanding what that meant. The dysfunction my father grew up with, and the sacrificial example he saw from his mother, played large roles in his becoming a Baptist minister and dedicating his life to service in many parts of New Zealand.

All my childhood and teenage years were in Te Atatū North. Just as my father has lived a life of service, so has my mother—bringing up six children of whom I am the youngest by some way. All six of us children, despite a lack of material wealth, have gone on to higher education, the surest path from poverty to prosperity that I know of.

In relation to my amazing wife Natalie, I acknowledge my debt of gratitude to her. She has sacrificed a lot because of my journey to Parliament. She is the daughter of a Welshman and a Polish woman, and she and I met in England while both of us were studying at Oxford University. She is here in New Zealand because she married a Kiwi. New Zealand must develop a fuller policy for stemming the brain drain than intermarriage; a John Key - led Government will.

My story is that I am the product of the wonderful family and world-class health and education systems with which I grew up. I am grateful to all hues of Government for the provision of health and education systems of such a standard. Following on from degrees at Auckland and Oxford universities, I have worked as a litigation lawyer and a Crown prosecutor, prosecuting over a hundred jury trials in the last several years in my electorate, Tauranga. These trials have included trials for the city’s worst murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and violent offenders.

Martin Luther King Jnr once said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and in many jury trials I have seen injustices—indeed, manifest indignities—performed on the weakest in our society as court rules worked against them. We need to make law that redraws the balance between victim and community on the one hand and criminal accused on the other. Victims and the community deserve better than the so-called justice I have seen served up to them on occasion, and although there has been tinkering previously, more reform is needed to make the jury trial a more just institution. In short, juries need to be trusted with more information, and victims need to be treated more evenly when compared with accused.

Just as constant vigilance and scrutiny are required in relation to the ancient tradition of the jury trial, so is diligence necessary regarding our rules for elections and our constitutional arrangements. Nothing is ever perfect; there is always a better way.

My already-mentioned ancestry or whakapapa, of course, makes me who I am. In reference to it again, let us remember what another MP for Tauranga, the Rt Hon Winston Peters, said in his maiden speech to this House, which is equally apposite for myself: “I am a New Zealander, I am a Māori, and I am also a lawyer. New Zealand is not a monotonous garden where every flower is the same; it is a garden where the diversity of the blooms enriches the view.” The diversity of my ancestry enriches my outlook, and deepens my empathy for all New Zealanders, no matter their race or background.

Can I at this point acknowledge Winston Peters, whom I stood against in Tauranga. As I said on the evening of the election, Winston Peters, I respect you, and I acknowledge that I learnt a lot from you while we jousted on the campaign. You have been amongst the very longest-serving members in this House, and now you are no longer here. You will nevertheless be long remembered, and I wish you well in the future. Can I also acknowledge another colourful Tauranga politician—we seem to have had a few of them—Bob Clarkson. Bob, you have been a great servant of Tauranga, inside and out of Parliament, and you put National back on the map in Tauranga. I know that your high level of service will continue, and I also wish you well in the future.

Tauranga has attracted politicians of colour because it is a place of singular loveliness. Its beaches, weather, and people are special, and renowned throughout our nation. Tauranga is a jewel in the crown that is our nation. And no longer is it the sleepy little seaside village of yesteryear. Since the early 1980s it has grown exponentially from approximately 50,000 people to become a vibrant city of the future with a population of over 110,000. School rolls have burgeoned as young families have flooded in. A baby boom has occurred in our city. In years to come, and perhaps even while I am still privileged to represent it, Greater Tauranga is, on some estimates, set to rival both Hamilton and Wellington in population terms. Accordingly, National Ministers can be assured I will fiercely advocate my city’s cause on the back of a strong case based on growth in numbers, now and going forward.

As a student in Te Atatū North and then at Auckland and Oxford universities, and later as a professional in Auckland and then in Tauranga, I have always kept the fire of my politics alight. Indeed, since 1992 I have continuously held office in the National Party, at nearly all levels.

Although to many this is not a selling point, I say to this House that I have long dreamt of standing here and delivering my maiden speech. Just as in some quarters it is no longer de rigueur to believe in jury trials, so in others Parliament is a place out of fashion. Nevertheless I believe in it, and want to do all I can to uphold its integrity and central position in our society. As I have said, I have long dreamt of standing here and delivering my maiden speech. I have wanted to, for my ancestors and family and for my future family and people. I have wanted to, as a pimply young Nat and now as a man in his 30s, because then and now I have realised that Parliament is a place that matters. This is still the place that makes a difference to the Naku Josephs of yesteryear, and to the Simon Bridgeses of tomorrow. This is still the place that can deliver world-class health and education systems, and can ensure that individuals get ahead regardless of their race or background.

Although it is perhaps unusual to quote from a valedictory speech in a maiden speech, let us remember former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s final words to the House of Commons last year: “to all my colleagues from different political parties. Some may belittle politics but we who are engaged in it know that it is where people stand tall. Although I know it has many harsh contentions, it is still the arena that sets the heart beating a little faster. If it is, on occasions, the place of low skulduggery, it is more often the place for the pursuit of noble causes.” My prayer in this House is to always pursue noble causes and greater justice on behalf of all who need it in Tauranga and further afield; to be in the service of those ends and no other master.

Can I end by once again congratulating you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and Mr Speaker, the Hon Lockwood Smith, and by thanking my wonderful family, my amazing wife, my multitude of terrific Tauranga supporters, and my God for getting me here.

TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) Link to this

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha ahakoa nō whea, ahakoa ko wai, mai i te Whare Pāremata nei, ā, puta atu ki ngā tōpito o Aotearoa, ā, puta atu ki te ao whānui tonu, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. E tū ana ahau hei māngai mō Kirikiriroa ki te Hauāuru ki roto o Waikato nō reira, he mihi hoki ki a Kīngi Tuheitia, te pou herenga waka, pai mārire. He mihi hoki ki te whare ariki o te Heuheu o Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Ka mihi hoki ki ō tātou tūpuna mātua i haina nei i te Tiriti o Waitangi i tērā rau tau. Ko tō rātou wawata, kia noho tahi rātou hei iwi kotahi. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

PAUL QUINN (National) Link to this

Papaki kau ana ngā wai o Te Moana-nui-a-Toi, mai i ngā Kurī-a-Whārei ki Tihirau, te ūnga mai o Mātaatua. Mai hoki i Maketū ki Tongariro, te tauranga mai o Te Arawa. Tihei mauriora! Ki ngā tini mate o te wā kua mene ki te pō, haere, haere, okioki atu. Tātou ngā kanohi ora o rātou mā, tēnā anō tātou katoa. Tēnā koutou Te Ātiwa e manaaki nei i a mātou. Kei te hau kāinga i takahi mamao mai ki te tautoko i ahau i te rangi nei, tēnā koutou. He uri o Mātaatua, o Te Arawa me Airani e mihi atu nei. Ko au te mātāmua o Te Hau Paul te tiamana tuatahi o Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa. Nō reira, tēnā koe e te Mana Whakawā, ā, tēnā rā tātou katoa e te Whare. Kia ora.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) Link to this

Order!

RAYMOND HUO (Labour) Link to this

I congratulate you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and your associates, on your appointments, and I wish you all the best for the term of this Parliament. Greetings to all members and to the diverse group of citizens that each member represents. 你们好! Greetings to you all.

It is a privilege to stand and present my maiden speech to this forty-ninth New Zealand Parliament. I wish to recognise the Governor-General and the dignified calm that he brings to that office. I should like to pay my respects to the Rt Hon Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister and leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. I am very proud to have been a part of the recent campaign under Helen Clark, upon whose vision and leadership I believe history will look back favourably. Her vision and leadership have strengthened my Kiwi identity and made me proud to be a New Zealander. Equally, I am very proud to have now become the first Chinese member of the Labour caucus, serving here under the Hon Phil Goff. I recall that my very first meeting with a Labour Cabinet Minister upon seeking the nomination to run for Parliament was with Phil at his Mount Roskill electorate office. I thank Phil for his support.

I owe my presence here to many people whom I consider to be my mentors. To name names unfairly omits others, but some do need special mention: the Hon Chris Carter, for his passion to fight for the values the Labour Party stands for, and for his trust and confidence in me; the Hon Dr Michael Cullen; the Hon Lianne Dalziel; the Hon Darren Hughes; the Hon Judith Tizard; the Hon Maryan Street; and the Labour Party president, Mike Williams. I also pay tribute to the Hon Parekura Horomia and, through him, to all our Māori colleagues in the House, and to Aotearoa’s tangata whenua. It is to them that we owe a profound debt for the foundation they laid for a bicultural nation that is now multicultural. Kia ora.

Thanks also go to many of my free-thinking friends, intellectuals, and teachers: Professor Yongjin Zhang—with whom I am proud to be a fellow alumnus—and Mr Gavin Ellis, the former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald, who duly became my first employer in New Zealand. I followed Gavin’s advice of listing all the pros and cons and adding them up to help draw a conclusion when I was not certain about vacating my legal profession in order to run for Parliament. He did not give me an answer, but he showed me how to get one. That reminded me of the way Gavin taught me, in the news room more than 10 years earlier, to distinguish between news and views when writing articles. However, sadly it appears that few media in this country appreciate the difference nowadays.

My most heartfelt thank you is extended to my wife, Yunfang, and our children. Thank you, xiao fang, for all the love, support, and wisdom that you continue to share. I know you are watching this on the Sky TV network together with other friends and supporters at home and abroad. I am thrilled to learn that the live broadcast has been arranged via the Internet as far away as Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Thank you for your support. 新西兰工党第一位华人国会议员,在这里向全世界华人问好!I offer my sincere greetings to Chinese all over the world from me, the first Chinese MP of the New Zealand Labour Party.

I am not sure whether it is appropriate, on this occasion, to thank many of my loyal clients. They often fall into a category of the most ideal clients of any law firm: rich and always in trouble. Some had troubles that were not of their own making. For instance, a young Chinese couple purchased a residential section in Auckland, but their development of this section, which was purely for residential purposes, was hampered by legislation passed in 1915 that meant consent for the required works—in this case, the excavation or cutting of less than the 40-degree minimum—could be granted only by the Governor-General. The Auckland Volcanic Cones Society demanded that work stop on the affected slope, citing the 1915 legislation. Others, however, strongly argued that the relevant provision should be repealed simply because of its redundant role.

I have just learnt that a bill is currently before Parliament that was postponed because of the election. Under the proposed amendment, the Minister of Conservation would be able to delegate responsibility to his or her officers, thus making the process a lot more streamlined. Currently, people must go to the Department of Conservation, then to the Minister, and then to the Governor-General, all because of a 93-year-old Act that was designed primarily for mining. This change would be beneficial for all affected parties. As one reporter following the case correctly suggested—showing a strong sense of humour—my election to Parliament represents some level of comfort both to the Auckland Volcanic Cones Society and the developers like my clients, because from now on my service to all parties is free.

Cases like this one make my transition from lawyer to parliamentarian much easier. I have a sense of obligation to work with all parties to create durable and effective laws. Clearly, my focus is to become the best possible advocate that I can possibly be, for the best interests of our peoples, our communities, and our society. In that regard, I trust that my fellow parliamentary colleagues from a variety of ethnic backgrounds share with me the same sense of mission—that is, to bring our migrant community members closer to mainstream society. “Mainstream” may be the wrong word, but without integration, alienation will inevitably follow. So our job, among other things, is to help communicate, build bridges, and bring people together.

Many will recall that much was made of the concerns of Kiwi Asians about crime rates leading up to the election. The related press coverage prompted around 15,000 people to take to the streets in Auckland to air their fears. This was despite police statistics showing an overall drop in crime, although referring to such statistics would get any messengers, including myself, into trouble. But what cannot be denied is that these people were genuinely concerned about their safety, and that they took exception to the police’s priority policy. They argued that sometimes we cannot distinguish between property-related crimes and life-threatening ones, as was demonstrated with the death of Joanne Wang after her handbag was snatched in Manukau.

Many Asians have migrated from countries with civil law jurisdictions, where the inquisitorial system enables the courts to determine the truth in the first instance. When the prosecution is successful, sentencing is delivered to fit the crime and its specific circumstances, but here in New Zealand many Asians do not understand or appreciate our adversarial system of justice, or due process. When their expectation of a speedy and fair delivery of justice is not met, they often become frustrated. This is where we as MPs can help guide our new New Zealanders to understand and appreciate these differences.

I want to promote in this House the value of looking forward, not backward. But it is worth noting that the process of migrant integration, or settlement, requires two-way communication, not one-way application.

Until about the early 1970s, New Zealanders did not talk much about ethnic groups, what rights they might have, and how a variety of them might be accepted or incorporated into the political arrangements of the country. Rather, they thought about race. As Professor Andrew Sharp said at the Learning and Practising Democracy symposium in 1996, when we had our first election under MMP: “Chinese and Indians were thought of as races too, indeed as ‘race aliens’—the point of saying which was to deny that they could assimilate into the population at large.” On the other hand, Professor Sharp went on to suggest that “the more you think of yourselves as not ‘ordinary New Zealanders’ the less you will feel your interests and your cultures to be represented.”

I am confident that New Zealand can, and will, do remarkably well—indeed, it has already done reasonably well—in constructing a multicultural society. The rationale—if I have not oversimplified it—is that, for example, we are free and encouraged not only to be Chinese, or some variation of racial, linguistic, and ethnic Chinese, but also to be an ordinary New Zealander. To celebrate our differences is to promote our common purposes. Positive media will therefore play an important role. The ability for ethnic minorities to move from the margins of social and political life relies, largely, on the willingness of mainstream opinion to hear their voices, and the ability of the media to correctly report their differences.

To some extent, ethnic minorities are vulnerable. If we allow ourselves to satisfy the appetite of the commercial mass media for stereotypes in whatever form, we are facing a risk of inflating intercultural misunderstandings rather than alleviating, minimising, and overcoming them. After all, this is not just your home; this is not just my home: this is our home—our Aotearoa!

I came to New Zealand in 1994, and, after some initial cultural shock in terms of settling in, I came to appreciate and celebrate the differences. I regard myself as someone who is extremely lucky to have been a witness of change and transformation, not only of China under reform but also of New Zealand in an increasingly globalised era, when multiculturalism has become entrenched and when New Zealand’s identity is consistently shaped and reshaped.

I taught myself to speak English when I was a teenager in China by listening to the radio. This was furthered by my middle-school teachers in Qianshan and my brother-in-law, Professor Jianming Xu. Of course, he was not a professor at that time. He had the same fate as his peers, and at the age of 16 he was sent to a remote countryside to be “re-educated”. He taught himself English and science, and 20 years later he graduated from two top medical schools with one bachelor and two doctoral degrees. I followed that DIY spirit and was lucky enough—and successful enough, if I may add that—to be one of the very privileged few to attend university in China in the early 1980s.

My upbringing plays a big part in who I am today. My father was a doctor and my mother was a head nurse at that time. In their early 30s, they volunteered to move from the big city to a remote countryside town to help locals fight a parasitic disease known as Schistosoma, or blood fluke. On many occasions I witnessed how my parents resuscitated patients and saved them from death. This was approaching the later stage of the Cultural Revolution. Being a medical doctor working in harsh conditions in a remote countryside town did not mean you were immune from persecution. My father, like other “intellectuals”, was ordered to stand still at the main entrance to the hospital, holding a wide whiteboard with his name painted in black, followed by the title “counter-revolutionary medical expert”. Sixty minutes a session, three sessions a day—those in power believed that this would help him to be scrutinised by the public, which would eventually help him to “purify” his mind.

Like any naughty 5-year-old boy could and would do, I duplicated a smaller whiteboard and voluntarily joined the roster. I even invited my father to write my name and my title on the little whiteboard with something like “little counter revolutionary medical expert”. And guess what? He did! The Cultural Revolution ended shortly afterwards, and from then on I secretly believed that it was me who brought the nationwide political turmoil to an end with my little whiteboard.

In hindsight, my journey to this honourable House stretches back to my birth in that small rural town, from that small stage I once shared with my father and from the desire for free will that I inherited from my parents. That experience was relevant. It influenced—and will continue to influence—my politics and world outlook. I have learnt to be resilient. I have learnt to be kind, caring, and more philosophical when confronting difficulties. To those who have asked me of my secret weapon behind successful careers in Beijing and now in New Zealand, I say it is a simple one: double your efforts, halve your expectations.

Let me borrow from what the Hon David Cunliffe said in his maiden speech in February 2000: “Where there is a wrong, right it; where there is injustice, fight it; where there is hunger, feed it; and where there are no jobs, find some.” I am so proud to be part of the Labour team that has striven for those very principles under the great names, including Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser, Walter Nash, Norman Kirk, David Lange, and Helen Clark, and that will now continue to do so under Phil Goff. Kia ora. 谢谢! Thank you.

CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) Link to this

Tēnā koutou, koutou te kāhui tōrangapū o Aotearoa me Te Wai Pounamu. Tēnā koe hoki e te Mana Whakawā o te Whare nei. He kupu whakamihi tēnei nō roto mai i te awa o Ōtākou me ōna wahapū ki a koutou e noho nei ki te Waha o te Ika. Tēnā koutou, tēnā hoki tātou katoa.

[Greetings to you, the political collectives of New Zealand. Greetings also to you, Mr Assistant Speaker of this House. This acknowledgment from the waters of Otago and its harbours, to you living here at the mouth of the fish—Wellington. Greetings to you collectively, and to us all.]

I dedicate this speech to my grandmothers, Ellen Kinney and Peg Thompson, two strong-willed but compassionate women who would be proud, if somewhat astounded, to see me standing here today.

I want to talk about honesty, aspiration, and community. I stand here a New Zealander, a union member, a member of the Labour Party, a mother, and until very recently the owner of a small business.

I acknowledge Māori as tangata whenua and the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi.

I thank the people of Dunedin South for putting their trust in me to represent them as their member of Parliament. I thank all the volunteers, supporters, and members of the New Zealand Labour Party who worked tirelessly on the campaign to win Dunedin South. You are the bedrock of our party. I warmly acknowledge Pete Hodgson, the MP for Dunedin North, and David Parker, who imparted to me much wisdom in my journey this year, and Mike Woodhouse, the new Dunedin National List MP. I hope we will all work together constructively for our city.

As the first Labour woman to hold the seat of Dunedin South, I pay tribute to all the people who have come to this House before me to represent Dunedin South and St Kilda in all its various forms. David Benson-Pope has worked hard for the community and the Labour Party. It has been a hard few years for David and his family. I wish them well. Before him were the inimitable Dr Michael Cullen, Bill Fraser, James Barnes, and Fred Jones. The Dunedin South electorate has a long and proud history. For decades it has been a safe Labour seat and it remains a safe Labour seat. We are a staunch and steady lot.

The electorate extends from the working-class suburbs of South Dunedin, Caversham, and St Kilda, to Green Island, Fairfield, Brighton, and Mosgiel, from the lush Taieri Plains to the Lammermoor Range, and includes Graeme Sydney’s Maniototo up to Middlemarch and Hyde, which includes the beginning of the Otago Central Rail Trail and the historic Taieri Gorge Railway. The glorious coastline of St Clair and St Kilda, and the Otago Peninsula, are home to some of the rarest wildlife in the world, and my home too.

I am a passionate Dunedinite. I was born in Wainuiōmata but grew up in Dunedin. Like many New Zealanders, I went away to see the world and was gone for a long time Six years ago I uprooted my Australian partner and two little boys from Melbourne to return to Dunedin—the best decision we ever made. There is something special about Dunedin. We are innovative. We are edgy. We manifest the can-do attitude of New Zealanders and the stoic nature of our early settlers to take whatever life offers and make the best of it. And we do make the best of it, every day. Dunedin, particularly South Dunedin, can claim to have nurtured many of our most creative and talented people. Janet Frame and James K Baxter both hailed from Dunedin South, along with myriad other writers, painters, poets, sportspeople, and musicians. But for many in Dunedin South, the low-paid and pensioners, life is hard. Seventy percent of people over 15 have an income of $40,000 a year or less. I am here to make sure their voices are heard.

I was raised in a Catholic household to do the best you can for yourself, your society, and for the people around you. I hail from mostly peasant Irish stock. My father, Kinney, worked in the Department of Justice, and from him I learnt the values that underpin the Civil Service: behaving ethically, taking responsibility for your actions, and doing the right thing. My mother, Shirley, taught me with her strength and tireless commitment to voluntary work the difference between right and wrong, and to always try my best. At St Dominic’s College in Dunedin—which has produced two Labour MPs, Marian Hobbs and me—I was one of “those” Catholic girls who questioned everything, pushed boundaries, but ultimately took away strong principles of social justice and fighting to redress disadvantage. And inner strength. I pay tribute to the principal, Sister Albert, who instilled in me a sense of fairness and dignity.

I am not a practising Catholic, but I draw strength from the collective spirit, fellowship, and underlying values of Catholicism and many other faiths. My faith is in the ability of people to act together to do good. I have a belief in the importance of all people having a voice, whatever their background, and faith in the principles of community.

Becoming an MP was not a pathway I had mapped out for myself, but, rather, a combination of circumstances, timing, and my readiness. Almost my entire working life I have been driven to work on issues that affect working people and the disadvantaged. I have been motivated by a resolve to fight injustice, and I hope I always will be. My first political act was to protest against the Springbok Tour in 1981. I clearly recall what apartheid meant for our country at that time, and I know where I stood on that issue. But being a mother is by far my greatest motivation. The responsibility of bringing up two little people has made me focus on what I really believe, and examine my values. As my children have grown, that drive has grown stronger.

I stand here today because of what I believe, and because I am committed to doing something about it. Should we not, as a nation, want more people who truly reflect our community to stand up for what they believe? It worries me that so many are disinterested in, and turned off by, politics. Why? One reason is that they fear what might happen to them. They fear that they will be exposed to unsustainable public scrutiny. Of course people standing for office should be accountable. But none of us, including me, is without blemish.

One of the biggest tasks ahead of us is to restore faith in politics and politicians. I believe that politicians of all parties have lost touch with the public we are trying to serve. It is not confined to New Zealand, but it is up to us to do something about it. How many of us have struck the repeated refrain from our constituents that politics is a joke, that all politicians are as bad as each other, and that the contest of politics is more important that the issues? In this latest election, more than 20 percent of registered voters did not vote, and in the Māori seats 35 to 40 percent did not vote. Is it good enough to accept that perception is the inevitable reality? No, it is not. It is time for a new politic, a new way of engaging, out of which emerges greater participation and faith in politics. We start by listening to the people around us and taking them with us. The real politic occurs in the collective beliefs and actions of people in their communities.

And maybe it is time to consider making voting compulsory, as it is in Australia. The ancient Greeks, who gave birth to democracy, held that it was every citizen’s duty to participate in decision making. Well, let us have the discussion.

I spent the 1990s in Australia, and witnessed the rise of the Howard Government, a period of great internal upheaval, and the rise of economic rationalism and a shift to social conservatism. It was a period characterised by attempts to silence the voices of many people and make fear and negativity the currency of the day; a period where so-called choice for working people meant taking away their rights, new immigrants were placed in detention, indigenous people were marginalised, and crime was used as a weapon to drive through draconian laws. This was when I learnt about the politics of dishonesty. And the politics of fear.

I do not want those sorts of politics to emerge in New Zealand. I am in the Labour Party because it is committed to transparency, and it does have values of decency, fairness, and honesty at its core. I want to articulate a vision that is greater than one of individual aspiration. I do believe in aspiration, that all of us should have the best opportunities in life and be encouraged to get ahead. But getting ahead is not just about material wealth and not just about individuals. Doing well is about fulfilling your potential. But it is also about caring for the people around you, whether they are your family, your whānau, or your community. We are in this House today because we aspire. But I hope that it is not just aspiration for our own personal ambitions, that it is aspiration for all New Zealanders.

Above all, I believe in community. Community is at the heart of what Labour means. With strong communities, you have social cohesion. You have people feeling connected and settled, and being able to look outwards to what they can achieve. I believe in a society where children are at the core of all policy decisions, where addressing the causes of child poverty is at the forefront of all that we do. Children are our future. They need the best environment to grow up in, and strong, safe communities.

I also care passionately about our country’s natural values and the importance of preserving them for the future. For me it is about the people and the planet. You cannot have one without the other, and it is the huge challenge of our time to reconcile the two.

It is a travesty that this Government does not consider it a priority to invest in a low-cost means to make houses warm and dry. I think of the houses where small children are constantly sick with asthma and other respiratory conditions. I think of the woman I spoke to on the doorstep of her uninsulated South Dunedin flat in midwinter who did not get out of bed before midday because she could not afford to heat her home. Her story is common across South Dunedin, and what a difference warm and dry houses would make to those people’s lives. In Dunedin there are 40,000 residential dwellings that were built before 1978 insulation standards, many of which need urgent attention. Under Labour, the billion-dollar energy efficiency fund, which has been canned by the National Government, would have assisted families to make their homes warmer, drier, and healthier, reduced their power bills, saved energy, and reduced carbon emissions. Numerous speakers in the House this week have referred to this critical issue. I ask all members to press for an investment in insulation and heating of housing across New Zealand. We have the means to do it. Do not ditch this policy.

And I believe that rail is an extremely important part of our future. It was the right decision to buy it back. I hope this Government will invest in KiwiRail, and acknowledge that integrated public transport is essential for economic growth and to reduce our carbon emissions. Getting more cars and trucks off roads is a public good.

I worked for 20 years in the communications industry. I started off as a journalist and moved into public relations. I have worked in Australia and New Zealand, largely in the private sector. I have run my own business for the last 6 years. I understand that small business is the backbone of our country. I also understand the importance of balance and fairness in the relationship between employers and employees to drive productivity. Introducing a law that allows employers to fire workers at will in the first 90 days is not about fairness; it is about exploitation and will create insecurity.

Instead of taking rights and protections away from ordinary people, we should create new opportunities. Let us use information technology to punch above our weight and drive economic growth. Already, 1.5 million New Zealanders are connected to the Internet, a third of our workforce does at least some work from home, and there are 200,000 home-based businesses. We need to pay more attention to building strong communities that provide people with better choices: the ability to work flexibly, to live in well-resourced communities with strong public transport links, and to live in good-quality housing.

Along with some other Labour colleagues I too support New Zealand becoming a republic, for us to become a truly independent nation. The time is right for a public conversation about this important issue.

And we urgently need to openly discuss the role of Government in our lives. National and ACT say less, not more, that the Government should get out of people’s lives, and that private sector investment is more important than State investment. Contrary to these views, I believe that most people look to the Government for stability, security, support, leadership, and action. And for strong public services.

The fifth Labour Government fulfilled those things and will be judged by history to have been a very good Government, a strong and wise Government. I pay tribute to two important people in this Parliament, and in the lives of all New Zealanders. Helen Clark is the role model for generations of New Zealanders. She embodies leadership, inner strength, courage, and determination. She has kept our party strong and placed New Zealand high on the international stage. Michael Cullen has made a huge contribution to our party’s thinking, and to the shape of our country. He is a finance Minister who took the tough calls and protected our future. His humour, sparkle, and eloquence are not matched in this Parliament.

I look forward to serving under the able and energetic leadership of Phil Goff and Annette King, and to working with, and learning from, my caucus colleagues.

In closing, I pay tribute to my parents, Kinney and Shirley, who are here today; to my sisters, Judith and Katherine, who have always stood alongside me and from whom I draw inspiration; and to my little family. To Doug Lilly, my partner, my friend, we embarked on this journey together and I could not do it without you. My two boys, Callum and Riley Curran, you are the most important people in my life. You are the future. You are the reason I am here in this place, but your welfare will always be my first priority. I may be an MP, but I will always be your mum.

And, finally, I say to the people of Dunedin South that you will be my touchstone and my backbone. I will do my best to listen to you and involve you, and I endeavour to work with you to restore your faith in politics, strive to make opportunities for you to fulfil your potential, and strive to make our communities strong.

E aku rahi, e aku iti koutou i areare taringa mai ki tōku whaikupu tuatahi, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka huri.

[To my chiefly people, big and small, who listened attentively to my maiden speech, my acknowledgments to you all.]

CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) Link to this

Kia ora koutou katoa. E kui mā, e koro mā, e te whānau, ngā iwi o te motu, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Greetings to you all. To you, the gracious men and womenfolk, the family, and the people of the land, greetings, greetings, and greetings to us all.]

It is with tremendous pride and a great sense of responsibility that I rise almost for the first time as the new member of Parliament for Rimutaka. As a genuine Hutt boy I feel deeply honoured to have this opportunity to serve and represent the community that has given so much to me. My speech is notable at least in the sense that maiden speeches from my part of the country are reasonably infrequent events. In the last century the part of the Rimutaka electorate formerly known as Eastern Hutt elected just four members of Parliament—Sir Thomas Wilford, Sir Walter Nash, Trevor Young, and my immediate predecessor, Paul Swain. It is my sincere hope that the good people of Rimutaka will choose to continue this tradition of stability in the future and I will have many more opportunities to address this House.

This time 2 years ago I was just settling into a new life in London. Never did I imagine that 2 years later I would be standing in this House. My time living away from New Zealand gave me a much greater appreciation for all that I love about Aotearoa New Zealand. While I was away I missed the beaches, the mountains, and the forests, and I missed the unique diversity of cultures that makes us so special. There is nothing quite like watching an All Black haka in a cold and dreary London pub to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck and your heart call out for home. Living and travelling throughout the UK and Europe also gave me an insight into things that I think we could do much better here at home. As a backpacker I made it right around the Continent by train, by bus, and on foot, and it made me realise just how far we have to go before we live up to our own propaganda about being a truly sustainable nation.

Since arriving back home in New Zealand I have made a point of catching the train to work whenever possible, and cycling where I can. The residents of the Hutt Valley are keen users of public transport, but we have a long way to go before we make it a truly world-class service. Anyone who has tried to bike from Upper Hutt to Wellington during peak-hour traffic will also know that we have a way to go in regard to cycle safety. I am aware that there is active discussion about improving the cycleway between Pētone and Ngauranga, and I believe that we need to progress that with some haste.

In many ways the Rimutaka electorate embodies the rich diversity that I love about New Zealand. The Hutt Valley is home to a wide range of cultures, ethnicities, and families with a wide variety of economic means. Our rolling green hills and fresh clean river represent the wonderful natural environment we take for granted throughout the country. There is no place I would rather call home and no place that I am prouder to represent in this Parliament than the Hutt Valley.

I acknowledge all of those who have come before us. Standing in this House we do indeed stand on the shoulders of giants. I acknowledge two giants of the Labour Party here in the House today, Helen Clark and Michael Cullen—I wrote that before I realised I was going to be standing next to you. For the past decade they have led our country with great strength and dignity, and I honour their lifelong commitment to making New Zealand a better place. I believe that the fifth Labour Government will be remembered for restoring the balance between our right to individual freedoms and our responsibilities to one another as members of society.

It will be remembered for ensuring that the needs of the competitive free market are balanced by the need for the Government to set a few boundaries and ensure that the most vulnerable are protected. The past weeks and months of economic turmoil have demonstrated very clearly that the great promise of humanity will never be realised if we leave our most vulnerable exposed and unprotected in cruel economic winds. We will never live in a truly harmonious and prosperous society unless we turn our backs on the “What’s in it for me?” mantra of individualism that pervaded our public policy decision-making for much of the 1980s and 1990s.

Growing up in the Hutt Valley during the 1980s I saw, first hand, the impact the great rolling back of the State had on many of our families. Many of the kids I went to school with had parents who had worked in the public services and found themselves on the economic scrap heap, thanks to Rogernomics. Those parents struggled to provide their kids with the basics in life. Their problems were compounded when what little financial support they did receive was cut by the incoming National Government in its now infamous “mother of all Budgets”. Like mine, they were loving parents who wanted the best for their kids. I utterly reject the notion that they could have got ahead, if only they had worked harder. They had no jobs, and there were no jobs to get. In many cases they had only minimal skills and qualifications and there was no support available to gain any. As a society, we simply turned our backs on them.

We live with the legacy of that action today. Those tough economic times created a huge divide between those in our country who have, and those who have not. The result was a breakdown in our collective community spirit. As a society, we became indifferent to the lives of those around us. We see that indifference to others in the terrible growth in violent crime. We see it in the tragic level of child abuse that goes unreported, until it is too late. We see it in the graffiti and vandalism that has invaded our public spaces. We cannot solve these problems by turning away from them, and we cannot solve these problems by pretending they are someone else’s responsibility.

I believe that a major challenge for this and future generations will be rediscovering our sense of community spirit and responsibility. We need to rediscover our faith in collective institutions and processes. I too am ambitious for New Zealand but the prosperity that I dream of will not be measured by the size of our cars or the number of holiday homes we own. It will be measured by the strength of our compassion towards one another. It will be measured by the collective efforts that we take to give our kids the best possible start in life. It will be measured by the respect we show to our older citizens. It will be measured by the steps we take to help each other up the ladder of opportunity. We need to move past the notion that our welfare system should be little more than a safety net at the bottom of that ladder. It can and it should help people up. I have little time for those who, having climbed that ladder themselves, think it is their right to pull it up behind them.

We need to look very carefully at the support available to our families and recognise the tremendous importance of families and whānau in all of our lives. I would not be standing here today were it not for the love and support I received from my parents, Rose and Doug, who are sitting in the gallery this afternoon. They are joined by many of the wider whānau, the friends and family who have supported me throughout my life and helped me realise all of the opportunities that are available to me. I recognise that my success in life, and my ability to grasp the opportunities in front of me, is as much a tribute to the love and support I have received from those around me as it is to my own individual efforts.

I carry with me the values that my parents taught my brother Dave and I, and, hopefully, at some point he will be watching this speech on the Internet in Dublin. They taught us to place ourselves in the shoes of others and treat them as we would like to be treated ourselves. They encouraged us to measure ourselves not just by our own happiness, but by the happiness that we bring to others. Growing up, I never considered myself a rich kid, but my brother and I were raised with an abundant supply of love and support, and there can be no greater wealth than that. Our parents were always there when we needed them and they gave us all of the time that we needed. I do sometimes wonder whether the overwhelming emphasis we place today on paid work is undermining the importance of family time. How many of our social problems that we face today would be overcome if only we took a little more time for family and for those around us? Perhaps the people in my Rimutaka electorate would stop worrying about the significant growth in the size of Rimutaka Prison if we started measuring our response to crime by the steps we take to prevent it in the first place, rather than by the number of people whom we lock up after the event.

Too often we are asking our social institutions to compensate for the breakdown in our family lives and in our social networks. The education system is a classic example. I recognise the critical role of social workers in our schools, but also I recognise they are the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, not the fence at the top. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the thousands of dedicated teachers we have in our schools. They carry an incredible responsibility and it is all too easy when debating education to resort to a “blame the teacher” mentality. There may be some teachers who could do better, but I believe that the vast majority of our teachers are dedicated and hard-working, and they quite literally change lives.

I believe that we need to rethink the competitive model of schooling that was introduced through Tomorrow’s Schools. When schools compete, the real losers are the students who have no other option than to attend the poorer performing schools. They are often from poorer families, are frequently brown, and sadly they often do not enjoy the same level of support at home that others in more affluent areas do. If we are to ensure that Kiwi kids get the best possible chances in education, we need to ensure that every school is a great school and every teacher is a great teacher. We can start by looking very carefully at the physical learning environment in our schools and the level of resourcing that they have available.

The state of Upper Hutt’s State intermediate and secondary schools was a major issue during the recent election campaign. One of my priorities over the next 3 years will be ensuring those schools get the $30 million in additional funding they were promised. Like so many throughout the country, those four schools are trying to make do with old facilities, built for the schooling needs of the 1960s and the 1970s. They are no longer fit for purpose. I visited most of the schools in the Rimutaka electorate over the past year and I know that most of them are struggling to provide their teachers and students with the learning resources they need, given the level of funding they have available.

We need to recognise that technology has changed our school system dramatically in the past decade, but, unfortunately, the funding system has not kept up. If we are to realise our full potential as a nation in the coming decades, education will be critical, and it will not just be in the school system. At this point I would like to acknowledge our new Speaker, the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith, and the vision of a seamless, lifelong education that he articulated during his time as Minister of Education. I believe it was the right vision then, and it remains the right vision now.

It is perhaps somewhat ironic that it was whilst protesting the last National Government’s policies in tertiary education that I became actively involved in politics at a national level. Following a protest march to Parliament I found myself enjoying Her Majesty’s hospitality at the Wellington Central Police Station. Eleven years after being forcibly removed from the grounds of Parliament, I find myself back on the inside, although in a very different sense. Having experienced parliamentary urgency for the first time last week, I can say the feeling of containment is very similar, although the surroundings certainly superior.

I remain as committed today as I was 11 years ago to breaking down the barriers to participation in higher education. I am incredibly proud of all that has been achieved over the past 9 years, from putting an end to the massive tuition fee increases to the introduction of interest-free student loans. I am deeply disappointed we are one election victory away from achieving a universal living allowance for students.

However, we also need to recognise that in a modern economy a great deal more learning is going to be taking place in non-institutional settings. The time I spent working in the industry training field convinced me of the enormous value and potential of on-the-job learning. We need to do more to ensure that is adequately supported. In particular, I believe we need to look very closely at the level of support we provide to small employers who take on apprentices. Many of the people living in the Rimutaka electorate are former employees of large manufacturers such as General Motors or South Pacific Tyres, or of the former large Government departments such as the Post Office or the railways. Those organisations were much more than just large employers; they were also places of learning. They trained many of the tradespeople whom we have in our workforce today.

As increasing numbers of those people are nearing retirement age, we will need to find new ways of ensuring that their skills are passed on to new generations. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the retirement of the baby-boomer generation will be one of the biggest challenges we are going to face over the coming decade. In recent years we have seen a considerable growth in the number of rest homes and retirement villages in the Hutt Valley, and with half a million New Zealanders nearing retirement age, that trend will only continue. I firmly believe that the care of our older citizens is far too important to leave to the vagaries of the free market. I find it morally repugnant that the assets older citizens have spent a lifetime accumulating can be scooped up in a few short years and added to the profit margins of large corporate conglomerates. Older citizens deserve so much better.

To paraphrase former US Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, the moral test of a Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick and the needy. As our world grows ever more complex and demanding, reconnecting with each other will be one of the great challenges of the 21st century. We have never been more mobile than we are today, yet we have never had higher rates of loneliness and depression. Technology connects us with friends and family across the globe, yet we have never been less likely to know the names of our own next-door neighbours. We need to reignite the fire of our collective spirit; we need to rediscover what it means to live as part of a community. Compassion, respect, friendship, love, tolerance, and forgiveness need once again to become values embedded in all that we do.

I thank the people of the Rimutaka electorate who have given me this opportunity to serve. Particular thanks go to the Rimutaka Labour campaign team: George and Josephine Collins, John and Anna Young, Janette Granville, Bill Werry, Julie Englebretsen, Ian Dunwoodie, Claire Norris, and Jan Smith. It was a long and exhausting campaign, but you rose to the challenge. I thank my family, and all those others who have supported me along this journey. I hope I live up to your expectations. He aha te mea nui o te ao? Māku e kī ake, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata. What is the greatest thing in the world? I say, it is people, it is people, it is people. Nō reira, kia tau te rangimārie ki a tātou katoa. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) Link to this

Mr Assistant Speaker, I am honoured to stand in this House today, and I join my colleagues who have gone before me in congratulating you on your election as Assistant Speaker. Maiden statements are a bit like words spoken in a heated argument; like it or not, they will come back to haunt one. Today I will share with members the words that I wish to haunt me: my values and beliefs, and the things that have brought me here. I do so in the hope that should I ever abandon them, I will have the good grace to leave. But I cannot begin without first paying tribute to the previous leader of the Labour Party, Helen Clark. There are many reasons why I joined the Labour Party, but it was Helen who made me proud to be a member. My generation grew up under Helen’s leadership and many do not know how good they had it. I have no doubt that her leadership will leave a legacy well beyond my own generation.

I cannot pinpoint exactly when my interest in politics began, but I know it began when I was young. I was born in Hamilton, but in the 1980s my family relocated to Murupara, where my father took up the role of the local police sergeant. My memories of that place are vivid. I knew that a lot of people had lost their jobs, but I did not understand that it was due to the privatisation of the forestry industry and to a complete lack of central government support. I knew that there were suicides, and that the girl who used to babysit my sister and me one day turned yellow from hepatitis and could not visit us any more. But I did not understand the linkages between these things and the poverty of the community I was living in.

My passion for social justice came from what I saw; my love of politics came when I realised that it was the key to changing what I saw. And there is much to change.

The fifth Labour Government made good progress on what I believe must continue to be our focus—reducing poverty in this country. Labour has ensured that no elderly person lives below the poverty line, but that does not mean that many do not still live a very hard life.

Labour lifted 130,000 children out of poverty through Working for Families, but that does not mean that many do not remain there still. I will not pretend that the response is simple; it is not. The majority of children living in poverty now are dependants in families where the main means of support is a Government benefit. But if we believe that our welfare State is a necessary safety net and a support for those unable to support themselves—as I do—then the children living in these circumstances should not be living in poverty. These children are not part of an underclass, as I have heard them called; they are part of our community, and we have a responsibility to continue the momentum of the previous Labour Government and to finally rid ourselves of poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand. This is our collective challenge.

Murupara and the wonderful people who live there, and who continue to work hard to rejuvenate their community, formed just one of the many lessons I have learnt. Demonstrating my parent’s absolute love of big cities, my family relocated to Morrinsville. I have very good memories of growing up in this small rural Waikato town. It is a key productive region of New Zealand, and is the region of my family. My grandfather dug the drains there, my other grandfather farmed there, and I had the privilege of campaigning there in the last election. It is a place that keeps me grounded.

I attended Morrinsville College, which is a fantastic school and an example of why we should be proud of our public education system and the teachers working within it. I only wish that my education could have extended to the universal teaching of te reo Māori, so that more of my generation could converse in our national language rather than in the more common offering of German, French, and Japanese. Education in language builds understanding. I join colleagues who have gone before me in calling for the universal and compulsory teaching of te reo in our schools, and for all of the necessary resource that goes with it.

Morrinsville College was also the place where I experienced my first election, campaigning on the weighty electoral issue that girls should be allowed to wear trousers to school. I was elected to the Morrinsville College board of trustees and was subsequently appointed to the suspension committee as the student representative. It was tough. I sat face to face with my peers who were facing removal from the education system. Although I had no qualms about handing down punishment to those students who were bullies in our school, I also saw many come before us who quite clearly had no emotional or financial support from their families, from their caregivers, or from their community.

So much lies in our beginnings. Research tells us that young people who find themselves in front of the criminal justice system have also experienced instability in their homes. They have witnessed violence, and three out of four are likely to have grown up in families that did not have enough to get by. We will never find durable solutions that genuinely prevent issues like disengagement in education right through to entry into the criminal justice system if we continue to look at the shallow end of the problem.

Morrinsville brought with it other experiences. When I was 14 I got my first job, at a fish and chip shop, and eventually I ended up at a grocery store, as a number of my colleagues have done. It was the 1990s. I earned roughly $5 an hour, I joined a union that struggled to support us under the realities of the Employment Contracts Act, and I saw the real consequences of working for a hostile management team.

I saw the importance of unions again in 2005 when, on a whim, I packed my bags and moved to New York. While I struggled to find work I volunteered in a soup kitchen and on a campaign for home-care workers who had been without an employment contract for over a decade. I busied myself as a campaign assistant—coming up with chants that sounded fine in a Kiwi accent, but never sounded quite right when belted out by Americans—and I organised the workers. Their very presence on that picket line threatened their livelihood. It was an experience that deepened my commitment to having a balance in employment relationships—a balance that I was shocked to see so severely disrupted in my very first week in this House.

I have never given up on finding new ways to change what was going on around me, but I am the first to concede that I am not a normal young person. At this election young people made up 50 percent of those who did not bother to enrol. They are in the age group that is least likely to vote but is most likely to be affected by the decisions we make here.

I have the privilege of holding the youth affairs portfolio. There are many issues within this role—health, education, justice. However, it cannot be just about speaking on behalf of young people but also about giving them the opportunity and reason to speak for themselves. Like many who have gone before me, I too believe that civic education plays a massive role in doing this. But so does the simple impact of our example. We all have the responsibility to help restore a little faith in our political processes, to continually show the relevance of politics to young people and the wider community, and to find new and better ways of listening and responding. Some may call this participatory democracy; I just call it our job.

One of my first opportunities to see all sides of a member of Parliament’s role was when I took a job in Phil Goff’s office. It was an honour to work for Phil. I saw at first hand just how hard he is prepared to work for New Zealanders and his commitment to them, and I am very honoured to work with him once more.

Like so many Kiwis, I also took the opportunity to travel abroad. I studied at Arizona State University for a semester. Midway through my time there two planes flew into the World Trade Center and everything around me changed. I have watched as international politics has continued to change while serving as the president of the International Union of Socialist Youth—an umbrella organisation of over 150 progressive youth movements from around the world. This role has sent me to some far-flung places around the globe, from Bhutanese refugee camps to the people of Western Sahara, to Lebanon, and to Jerusalem and the West Bank and the wall that divides the two.

Some people have asked me whether I am a radical. My answer to that question is very simple: “I am from Morrinsville.” Where I come from a radical is someone who chooses to drive a Toyota rather than a Holden or a Ford. I am, though, a social democrat. I believe in what I believe strongly—the values of human rights, social justice, equality, and democracy, and the role of communities—and I believe we have a role to play in defending these principles abroad. Anyone who has moved abroad will know what it is like to reflect on one’s home from afar, and I have always done so with pride; not just for our position on foreign affairs but also for our thriving music and film industry, our culture and our heritage, and our country’s beauty. But these things do not merely exist. They must be fostered and must be protected, and with more than empty rhetoric.

I fear that our pride in New Zealand’s clean, green reputation is already misplaced. It is shameful enough that we are about to lose New Zealand’s most proactive legislation in response to the impacts of climate change that we have seen to date. It is unspeakable that, in addition, we now have a parliamentary select committee to question the science of climate change itself. We had the potential to be a world leader. National told us we should be fast followers, but now all I see are the many, many losers—the future generations whom some people in this House do not yet believe they have a responsibility to. Well, I do.

There are other things that time spent working in an international environment can teach you. I spent 3 years in the United Kingdom working as a public servant—a career I have a great amount of respect for. This role took me from the UK Cabinet Office to the Department for Business and Enterprise, where I was an assistant director working on regulatory issues. I spent most of my time—this is probably a shock to members on the other side of the House—talking to small businesses, local authorities, and even police officers, trying to understand the delicate balancing act between creating a regulatory environment that protects citizens whilst also allowing business and public services to flourish. I am very mindful of the importance and the need for both. With a strong economy comes the chance to further strengthen public services and create a fairer society for everyone.

But personal experiences are only a very small part of the thing that brings you to a place, and I have to acknowledge the role of my family. My parents have always challenged me and supported me. They have shown me that the world is not black and white, nor is it rose-tinted, and I honour them. I honour my mother, who gave up everything for her girls in an era where choices were made between family and career. I honour my father for his dedication to his family and to the New Zealand Police for the past 35 years. He has seen the most horrific side of human nature, but has always shown compassion and a commitment to building communities in New Zealand and now in Niue. And to my dear sister, Louise, I say that nothing bores her more than politics, which is why her support has meant so very much to me.

But apart from my dear Auntie Ann, it was my nana who was the true political beast in my family. Gladys was staunch Labour. Sadly, I never had the opportunity to ask her what made her so passionate that she would switch off the TV if Muldoon ever came on, and would leave it off for at least 10 minutes to make sure he was not polluting her screen any longer. I know that I can do no better than to make Gladys, Harry, and Annie proud.

To my Waikato campaign team, including my wonderful grandparents, who fought hard alongside me in a seat that has been held by National for the past 40 years, I say that next time we will take it on the specials. To all my friends and to the new and existing Labour team; to Darren, for all the leave that I know he will grant me and for dispensing the kind of advice that proves he was born middle-aged but also that he was born wise; to Marian Hobbs, the old conscience of this House; and to Michael—I am proud to be the youngest member of this Parliament but even prouder to serve here with him as the father of this House—I thank them all.

So there it is: the answer to that golden question. It is the things I have seen, the lessons I have learnt, and the people of New Zealand whom I wish to serve that have brought me to this place. These are the very things that I wish to haunt me for as long as I have the privilege of serving here. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.