Peck Mark: Valedictory Statements 
Peck Mark: Valedictory Statements 
[Volume:627;Page:22191] 
MARK PECK (Labour—Invercargill) 
: 
 Today I make my last speech to this House as a member of Parliament and can I say it is probably about 100 years too early. Tomorrow I commence a new journey with no idea of where it will lead me. 
My father encouraged me into a life of public service. He encouraged me both in his deeds as a parish priest and in discussions with me as I grew up. As I listened and learned I developed a passion for helping people. I wanted to change the world even at a very young age and as time went on I pursued interests that eventually led to my being elected to Parliament. 
But getting here was no plain sailing. John Husband will be known to many in this Chamber. He is a Southland artist and musician and was in 1993 the host of a popular radio talkback programme on Invercargill’s Foveaux Radio. I know that the Rt Hon Helen Clark certainly spoke to him on a regular basis. There was one occasion in 1993 when he uttered across the air for all to hear: “The estuary will freeze over before Mark Peck wins Invercargill.” 
Well I happened to hear that too so what to do? I travelled to Riverton—I was going out to Riverton Hospital to say goodbye to some of my union members—and I put in his box on my rather large calling card which was really large so that the senior citizens could read it the words: “Watch the estuary freeze over in November. Get your skates on special from The Warehouse.” I left that in his mailbox. That became a theme of my election campaign in 1993 and especially so when John Husband was chairing those meetings. But he was right. The last time Labour had held the Invercargill seat was in 1972. Prior to that the last time it had been won by a Labour member was in 1935. One could have put up a swede with a hat on it in Invercargill and National supporters would have voted for it! 
Not only that but I had qualities that would be unattractive to a conservative electorate—and I use “conservative” in a generous way because some of the conservative values held by people in provincial New Zealand are actually rather good values that people should adopt. I was a trade union official. I was not a Southlander. In fact I was a goddam Yankee from Kentucky. I might have been more endearing if I had been what a good friend of mine calls “a Dixiecrat”—namely a southern American Democrat. 
But what John Husband and others had not reckoned on was the incredible mood shift that was occurring amongst decent people who were concerned that the economic experiment the nation had been undergoing for more than a decade by 1993 had seriously damaged Invercargill and Southland. They had been promised a decent society. There were no longer any slogans that could explain away the high levels of unemployment the closure of business the decline in population the increase in lawlessness and the decline in social services. There was no way of explaining away why our senior citizens should be punished by having their pensions reduced at a time in their lives when they needed economic security as they never had and when that security was at risk. People had not reckoned on a little person like me frankly. 
I was totally driven by a childhood dream. My dream was awakened by my childhood experiences. I was a child living on the Mason-Dixon Line—for those who do not know what the Mason-Dixon Line is it was the dividing line between the northern and southern states of America during the civil war. I lived there during the time of the civil rights upheaval in the United States. It was the time of President Kennedy my personal boyhood hero and Martin Luther King the sensible voice of the civil rights movement. It was a time of bussing black kids to white folks’ schools. It was a time of violence towards blacks. I will never forget the bombing of the Alabama Sunday school where four little children lost their lives. The next Sunday my father led a march through Maysville in Kentucky attended by our local congregation and those people in the black community who had the courage to front up. I will never forget it. The town was lined with the good folk of Maysville who shouted abuse at those of us who dared to stand up for the black people. I was 8 years old. I knew even then that racism and injustice were wrong. Maybe I could not put a name to them but I knew what they were. 
Those early childhood days of mine made me more determined than ever that if I could ever use the talents I possessed to do good for people then I would. So with fire in my belly and a small team of activists we set about doing the unthinkable—winning the Invercargill seat for Labour. And we did. My very first duty was to deliver a pair of plastic ice skates to John Husband on the Monday morning. I suppose I was destined to be an MP. My name is wonderfully suited to politics—Mark Peck MP. I am going to patent it. It might be a nice little earner after Parliament. I will still identify my golf ball because I play a little bit of competitive golf with the initials MP. 
I really must say thank you to the people of Invercargill for their support of and trust in me to be their member of Parliament for the last 12 years. I always felt very humbled on election night. Public office is held at the pleasure of the people. They bestow that awesome responsibility critically and they judge it critically. I hope that when the ledger is finally totted up I am found to have been their good and faithful servant. 
Invercargill has come a long way since 1993. When I first came into Parliament people were saying: “Last out please turn out the lights.” I am proud of what Invercargill is now. It has a thriving student population house prices are up we have almost full employment and we have a new hospital—I will say more about that later. Coopers Corner is at last being fixed. We have new regenerated schools—I will say more about that too—and a vibrant economy. The airport is being upgraded and I tell Tim Shadbolt to get his head out of the sand if he thinks that is guilt money. That is good money. It is about providing an opportunity for our city and he should welcome it not be angry about it. 
What has pleased me more has been to see the diversification in Invercargill. Yes it will always have agriculture as its base and as long as it is economically feasible to do so aluminium will be produced. But in recent years we have seen a move into smart technology value-adds tourism and niche products. That did not happen by accident. It happened as a result of a Government that said to the regions: “You matter.” In Southland Topoclimate was the thing that gave hope to people that the regions mattered once more. 
Those of us who are constituency MPs will have gained real enjoyment out of helping people with their problems and dealing with what on occasions can be seen to be inflexible bureaucracies. On a lighter note some of the most blessed people come to see us. One gentleman who came to my office genuinely believed I could fix his cataracts. A lovely old lady who used to come and see me told me quite seriously and quite often that she was the Queen’s sister. That was wonderful because I always knew that on any occasion when we had a serious citywide problem we would get the help of her sister. 
The change that really appeals to me though is our new hospital. I know the effort that went into getting that hospital and I know that the negotiations with Treasury were extremely raw. I want to thank Dennis Cairns for refusing to accept second best. He took on the battle and the hospital in Invercargill now is a compliment to him and his team. 
What has pleased me even more than that over the last 6 years is the change in areas of social justice. The removal of the Employment Contracts Act and its replacement with fair labour laws the restoration of the pension and its future-proofing the re-establishment of an apprenticeship system and the targeting of assistance for families through the tax system have all brought about substantial relief and assistance to the people who need it most. I spoke to one young mother the other day who told me that as a result of the Working for Families package she can now take time off to stay at home with her children. Her income is actually better through working fewer hours and she is investing that time in looking after her children. Surely that has to be good if we are looking at social investment for the future. 
Now I want to talk about the schools’ review. That is probably the single issue that has driven me from this Parliament 99 years earlier than I wanted to go. I want to say something about that review. I went around those schools 3 years before the review took place and said to them that they should look now at what economies of scale they could make. One did not need to be a rocket scientist to know that if a school had a roll of 100 or just over 100 it was not going to survive for terribly much longer. It is difficult to persuade people to negotiate away their own jobs so nothing happened. There is no easy way to close schools. Everybody is against it. It is the reverse of motherhood and apple pie. But it was the right thing to do. Even in this my last hour in this House I say that it was the right thing to do. For Invercargill to have a solid schools network rationalisation had to be made. The results I am getting from the people who talk to me now tell me that we have strong schools that are working well. If I am the sacrifice for that so be it. History will judge that issue better than the petty politics that preceded it and I stand firm that that was the right thing to do in Invercargill. 
I want to mention two issues that stand out for me as a member of Parliament. Without going on about all the years in which I did this and did that I want to say that two issues were important to me. The first was mental health. Shortly after I arrived in Parliament there was an armed offenders incident at H and J’s Outdoor World. A man called Eric Gellatly held up the shop and threatened to kill anybody who tried to get him. That incident ended with Eric being shot dead by the police armed offenders squad. Eric was mentally ill. His family had tried to get assistance for him as had the people who were working with him but to no avail. The snap debate that followed in Parliament ended with mental health going to the top of the policy agenda. From that came the Mason inquiry and from that came ring-fenced funding which meant that health boards could not siphon that money off into other areas of their operation. 
I am confident as a result of that that Eric Gellatley’s death was not in vain. There will always be incidents in mental health. No Minister of Health and no politician will ever be able to stand in this House and say that people will not take their own lives because of course they will. That is the nature of the illness. But I am confident that Parliament did its duty on that occasion. Even though it might have been dragged kicking and screaming into the process of doing it Parliament did its duty. 
I want to talk about the Pardon for Soldiers of the Great War Act—legislation that I championed. New Zealand is the first jurisdiction in the world to deal with the stain of dishonour that is visited on the families of those soldiers and I am proud of that. Campaigns are under way now in Canada and the UK to similarly remove the stain from the families whose loved ones were executed during World War I. Some have said that that bill revisited history and put the norms that we understand now on the situation that existed back then. I disagree. The campaign was about exposing the awful reality that those soldiers faced in that particular war and their frailty as human beings. It was about setting that right and giving those families that live with this now today some serenity. Later on this year the Prime Minister will be presenting medals to those families whose loved ones were executed during World War I. I acknowledge the role of Dr Aaron Fox who has managed to contact the next of kin of all those soldiers. I have seen the effect that that Act has had on the lives of two of the families in particular and I know that the Act matters. 
I want to say something about race relations and as an American I think I am entitled to do so. If we listened to the debate in New Zealand we would think our race relations in New Zealand were bad. I say poppycock to that. New Zealand should start to celebrate its diversity. I have had enough of those politicians who come in here and say that our race relations are bad. What is bad is a nation that has reserves for its Indians. What is bad is a nation that institutionalises racism against blacks. What is bad is a nation that is only now pursuing the lynchings of decades ago. It is time that this House stopped the phoney debate on race relations and celebrated its diversity as a nation. I hope that future generations of politicians will lower the tone of this debate in the House and let us get on as a multicultural nation and celebrate our diversity. 
I can see the whip moving. I am just about out of time but I am not finished and I will finish soon. I want to spend a moment thanking some of my activists. I acknowledge two who are now deceased—Danny Cairns and Maurice McGowan. I visited big Danny Cairns; he was a huge man. He gave me a cuddle days before he died. He had just had an argument with his boys about mowing the lawns. He said to me: “Mark so long as I have strength I’m going to mow those lawns because I love the smell of cut grass.” I will never forget him. I will never forget Maurice McGowan. 
I also acknowledge Noel Valentine who will be listening to this speech at 283 Ness Street in Invercargill. Noel has been my mentor since I have been a member of Parliament. I know that he is listening to this debate today and he was the last candidate who stood against Ralph Hanan in 1966. Noel was not one to tell me what I wanted to hear. Noel would always tell it like it was. 
I thank my electorate staff: Judy Christie who no longer works with me John Watson Stacy Dow and Nicola McLaughlin. They have managed to get me in the right place at the right time and God knows on some occasions that has been a challenge. I thank my parliamentary staff: Kay Martin Trish McLean Helen Toner and Lorraine Griffiths. I particularly thank Helen who has come back to work with me since the birth of her son. Helen has been able to work with me at a time when I have undergone some enormous change in my life and I thank her for that. 
I thank the select committee staff: the wonderful people I have worked with such as Julian Kersey Matthew Louwrens Graham Hill Michelle Malyon and Paul—I am terribly sorry I have forgotten his name but I am feeling a little nervous just now. I particularly thank Anthony Flux in the Parliamentary Library who worked me through my economics assignments. The messengers have been really good to me at a time in my life when I have been a little down; they have been there and have made me feel good. And I thank the Status Taxis drivers as Janet Mackey did—I never graduated to Crown cars—for the way they looked after me too. Rest assured I will use their services every time I am back. 
I arrived here in 1993 in a daze. I had to pinch myself to remind myself that I was a member of Parliament. Twelve years later I leave. I no longer have to pinch myself. I know that I am a politician. The question is whether I leave here bitter and resentful or whether I leave here with some hope for the future. 
Only a few short weeks ago I would have said that I leave here bitter and resentful. The most important question that ever gets asked around the time that jobs are being given out is: “Why not me?” In my case it was never answered in the affirmative. I could never accept that it was my own behaviour that caused me to miss out on those jobs. I became so obsessed with my own defects of character that on 12 January this year I nearly killed myself. I faced a serious personal crisis and I was given no serenity to deal with that personal crisis as there were considerable rumours around here. I knew that there could and would be mischief done to me. So I made a full disclosure and I told my story. Although I might have been a bit discomfited in the process of doing so I gave others hope. Alcoholism affects many families in this country. For an MP to stand up and say: “I’m an alcoholic and I have a problem and I am dealing with it.” is something I am proud of. I also want to say that I have been overwhelmed by the messages of support and good wishes. I thank all those who have taken the opportunity to contact me. I wish them and their families all the best. 
The Chinese symbol for crisis and opportunity is the same. The crisis I have suffered has given me an opportunity to sort my life out not by denying my past but by cleaning up the wreckage of the past making amends and moving forward. I am indebted to Trevor Grice and the people at the Capri clinic for the help they have given me during a very difficult period of my life. I was going to talk a lot about rehab but I want to say one thing. It is a bit rich to expect families to deal with rehabilitation on their own. At that time they need a break from their family member as well. 
Now I want to say a few things to my family. They are here today in the gallery. To Jenny Christopher and Andrew you are the most amazing children you have done so well so early in your lives and I love you all. To Stuart who cannot be here today you are a father-in-law’s dream mate. I thank you and I wish you and Jenny all the best for your future. To Margaret we are still together Margaret against all the odds. We got through it and we are still here and I love you dearly. To my granddaughter Lara who is in the audience today as well there will come a time when you will say to me: “Grandad what was it like to be an MP?”. I want to say Lara that it is a privilege a great pleasure and a dream come true. I want you to live your dreams too. Would I encourage my children or my grandchildren to go into politics? You bet I would. It is time to go. There is one good thing about me going. It will be the first time since 1972 that the next member for Invercargill is slightly more than 5 foot 3¼ believe it or not. 
Debate interrupted.