I ask whips on both sides to work with their teams to make sure that
that happens.
Greetings every one. There is a bedity on hour Angie gulf and it is
covered with love. It
brings together testimony acte of the
man
to tama nukunuku. It is a representative of those who
have passed on and so I express my
sympathys and
sympathys and I wish to acknowledge you all. Greetings. Greetings to
you all, a bird
fledgling from the Coromandel
Coromandel has alighted here, enfolded by the munga of
tang ray. Kristened
Kristened with the sacred water and sent
sent here as the mouthpiece, the ears
ears and the eyes for the people there. Therefore, I
acknowledged those who have gone
Greetings to us all. Congratulations on
on your new role, Mr Speaker. You are one of seven members
52nd Parliament who sat with my father back in
the 803 and the 903. Many
Many of us have had family precede us here, father,
grandfathers, coursens, but
but unusually two of my father's colleagues
colleagues taught me in primary school. One became
an MP and the other,
other, my favourite teacher of all time,
time, he happens to be up there in the
the gallery because his son is about to
to deliver a maiden speech. No matter where you are in New Zealand
we are all somehow connected, somehow local and
we inevitably know each other.
each other. I drove into the local petrol station after
the election to return yet another hired
trailer used
used for signs and the station attendant asked
laughed. I introduced myself to Leicester
laughed. I introduced myself to
and he told me he was a regular New Zealander
Zealander working hard to make a living and now
that I was elected he said,
discovered he felt OK about working hard as long as he had
enough to take his family on a
that opportunity. It wasn't complicated. He was outgoing and
optimistic and he felt strongly that he wanted to keep more
optimistic and he felt strongly that he wanted to keep more of what
he earned
earned so he could choose how to spend it.
spend it. Lester is indicative of many
many others in my electorate of Maungakiekie. I am honoured to be
the Auckland City Councillor for the
hard working area and now their
member of Parliament and I thank them
them for the faith they have placed in
them for the faith they have placed in me to continue as an
elected representative. May I
acknowledge the
past member of Parliament, honourable Peseta Sam
joins me here in supporttoday.
SPEAKS TE REO MAORI I have learnt
a few things about Maungakiekie along the
way. When we are told the Manukauu harbour is the
poor cousin,
poor cousin, we don't accept it, we
struggle both. When we know we have New
New Zealand's largest regeneration project
project because some of our social indicators
indicators are poor, we embrace it and
and stick together to face change. When we
When we have the nation's largest industrial
industrial area contributing to GDP, we
we value it and punch above our weight. We are
highly diverse in age and
and culture and income. The level of investment and activity
in our part of
of New Zealand is unprecedented. Between
Between the scale of Housing New Zealand's built in
Oranga to Tamaki redevelopment
redevelopment company to the emity transport project and the huge,
East West Link we are a business which part
which part of New Zealand. Maungakiekie contains the lifeblood
of our nation. While the scale of these
these projects value into the billions,
billions, the true value of any electorate is always
back at the local level. The three main
village centres,
centres, Mount Wellington, let's work on
work on one, have a distinct community feel that is hard to find
in a
keeping and fostering that village feel, before
feel, before I ran for office, among other
feel, before I ran for office, among otherthing, I
charitable trust that brokered local residents
residents and business owners to pull off social
pull off social projects for good. A far
far cry from a former role that I had
had working with high network clients
clients at Morgan Stanley in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia. We were highly motivated to model
to our own city kids the importance of service. Town
mum support, community garden, we mum
did it all. We were organic, responsive, innovative and
thoroughly committed to the principle
principle of allowing community to produce
produce the answers. When I was awarded
awarded a New Zealander of the year local
local hero award, I had someone approach
approach me after the medal ceremony and say,
civic duty family commitment. It appears
appears there really is something in the blood.
the blood. Grandad lied about his age to serve in World War I
brothers. He came back after being gassed in the trenches, built
much of pie
of pie rua and became the mayor. His son,
son, my father, became the mayor after him. Provincial life was
recall our girls brownie pack having
to parade past dad standing in front of the council
Chambers dressed in all his mayoral
annual town commemorations. Each year we were
taught to acknowledge the mayor
the mayor with the usual two finger brownie
brownie salute. I figure there is no
better time than my maiden speech, a mere 40 or so years later,
dad, to let you know
that one parade my youngest sister Angela and I decided
in jest to
momentarily turn the fingers around.
fingers around. Lucky for us, your dubious
dubious eye sight didn't catch our sleight of hand,
dad, even more lucky
death stair, didn't catch it either. I
I was 11 when dad went to parliament as
as the MP for Coromandel. I was fascinated,
fascinated, right from the start, in large part
large part due to the interesting people
people that politics attracted. Unlike today, it was often the
biggest, most dynamic
dad will recall with clarity a certain MissElsie Wild. This
woman deserves
deserves to be in Hansard. She would fill
fill every room with her presence at the
the age of 80, boom out interjection, always be right with
political predictions and if anyone dare to object, she would loudly and
publicly remind
publicly remind them that she taught both
both them and their children
recalling with clarity their lack of academic
academic abilities. Iwould like to say it was her political discourse
that grabbed
that grabbed my attention most, but in all honesty, it was hard
to go past the
past the time she ate beetroot at the pot
the pot luck event and without knowing
knowing it the beat rule juice slipped from
slipped from the corners of her mouth
mouth down her deeply ingrained wrinkles
wrinkles producing a red tributary stream effect. Thoroughly memorable.
Although I observed and participated
in politics and studied it and sat at the feet of political
icons like Rob Eadie and
enjoyed party life all along
along the way, at some point it needed to
needed to become my own journey. That it did in the form of the
unexpected, inexpoliceable and as
official records still record today, the
the unexplainable. One night I woke as a young parent and decided to
to discoverthat he had died in his sleep. What ensued
was a serious of random interactions with the
system, the failure over police, inquest
inquest officers, coroners and pathologists
pathologists failure to inform and communicate their
shell shocked parents still
mystifies me today. Loss comes in
mystifies me today. Loss comes in all forms. Notjust death, but loss
of careers,
of careers, loss of confidence, loss of
of relationships and marriage. My
percentage of those that end upon the death of a child.
With all our collective
collective legislative wisdom, there shouldn't also have to
be loss of faith in
faith in a system supposedly designed
designed to protect those that needed
needed it at precisely at the time they need it.
Trying to keep up with where Riley's body had gone, what
they were
they were doing to it, what they were
were attaining from it, receiving an abruptly
abruptly worded police letter informing
informing us of our coroner's court hearing date, it was all too much.
No explanations,
No explanations, no frequently asked questions
were being put on trial for the death of our son.
Walking through the valley
the valley of the shadow of death, trying to understand the legalities
and desperately wanting
to stay away from 2 world
grieving, my sense of indignity
group. I was the one that had to ask
to meet with the police and pathologists
pathologists and others to get a
we did. The indig Nancy formed a
seed that merged into a big part of
the driving force that sees me standing here
standing here today. I am
subsequently relieved that the coronial
coronial system has improved for people.
people. The 2006 coroner's act and later
later reviews better protect the interests
interests of grieving families. Politics
for me then. A flick of the pen, wording of an
amendment, an exchange in this debating
parliament's processes affect every day lives. I've
had the pleasure of being
being an Auckland Council's Cabinet as the deputy chair for
planning, covering Auckland's housing,
transport and
covering Auckland's housing,
billion of assets to make your eyes water
water but what is the reality for
fixing the broken kerbs so car tyres don't get scraped.
Speeding up the consent
be built. Going to the park expecting
expecting to see the lawns mowed. The
however you measure it the expectation
expectation is that we will make a
difference in the every day life of New
New Zealanders. We will foster the right
right economy forjobs and income, which, in turn, Fosters hope
and the fruition of dreams.
I am immensely proud to stand with the who
fruition of dreams. I am immensely
overseen growth in their previous government. 10,000 new
government. 10,000 newjobs each month for the
past 18 months is extraordinary.
host of incredible supporters who appear to have decided I'm a good
investment on their time, energy and
unfailing commitment and I can only
hope to
hope to return to favour. To the National
National Party, thank you for backing me to
back Lester and backing people to
choose their own future.
future. What I most appreciate about you and our leader, the Rt Hon Bill
English is the relentless commitment to the politics of hope. It should
always outweigh the politics of fear,
fear, even when the latter sells more media space. To my core local
volunteer team,
would
would wish for. As chance would have it, we are
they have time to run boards, a business
business and back women like me, I do not know. Sue White politics is
in your blood but for all the right reasons.
reasons. Your friendship and this of your daughter Ainslie, I hold dear.
Louise Miller, my chair,
our kids went
went school together. You always Sayed and nobody
can sport a pair of red bans in the city like you can.
Josh, the lone male
voice, we know it.
it. My friends outside of politics let's keep
let's keep it that way. You don't like the policy detail and I
like the escape.
the escape. You remind me this place is
is a bubble so if! ever get out of touch, pop me.
To
To my funny, often irreverend, close knit family, I
adore you. To my sister
bond. Remember the time we ran around the beehive as teenagers and
I fell
Ifell on Robert when he opened his secret
the next generation of kids to let loose
and dad, your rock lit presence and commitment
commitment to our family is a very large
large reason I am here today. In an age of
stuck to your convictions, the greatest and most Admiral is that
you love
you love and you serve others before you
you serve yourself. When we've hit hard times, and there's been plenty,
you adapted.
you adapted. Can I cannot thank you enough
enough for the way in which your character has
character has forged our family destiny and that you've supported me
in the pursuit of mine. Finally, to
my own precious
children, my son Riley, who, as the good book
says, lives beyond the veil, you are a
gift. My
gift. My daughters, Sydney and McKenna. Your world is not the one
I grew up
grew up in. I spent weekends rat shooting
shooting at the dump. You navigate the virtual world, streaming mass
international content
the virtual world, streaming mass
watchful eye of Google and Facebook empires.
empires. It is your world that will
rapidly change
change what we do here in these halls
halls and I am proud to have two incredibly
incredibly talented young women to guide
guide me in how to think ahead. I love
love you. In closing,
love you. In closing, Iwish us well, Mr
Speaker, and God speed to the 52
Parliament
attractive nation.
Order!
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Picture
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Picture the mighty Waikato, beautiful
scenery, well
well managed and successful farms, thriving towns, diverse but
united communities
thriving towns, diverse but united communities and continual
opportunity. As as the new member
of Parliament, Iwant
Parliament, I want to start by saying it's an absolute privilege
to have been elected to this role and
in such a magnificent part of
the country. A role