Turei Metiria: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turei Metiria: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Sitting date: 12 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7473. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
Tena koe. Tena koutou katoa e te Whare. Nga mihi o te Kirihimete ki a koutou katoa. 
Hon Member 
: Kia ora. 
METIRIA TUREI 
: Kia ora. 
Where will you go these holidays? Are you lucky enough to have a bach that is close to the sea somewhere a place that you and your family have been going to now year after year after year for as far back as you can remember? Or maybe you have a favourite motor camp to stay at—the kind of place where you have to muck in with other families from all over the country pitching your tents peeling the spuds herding the tribes of children and all done to the soundtrack of the cricket that is playing on your neighbour’s radio. 
The Kiwi summer holidays are something pretty special especially when you are a kid. You can escape those pesky grown-ups and go on an adventure often with a brand new day-old bestest friend ever. Those long hot summer days seem to stretch on for ever and ever until you can hardly keep your eyes open and then before you know it you are asleep to the sound of the moreporks calling. But then the new day breaks cool and full of potential and you get another chance to master your skateboard or go fishing for kai moana with your nanny and your koro and your cousins or you are being asked yet again to go and search for that extra cup of flour to help your mother who has run out for making her cake that day. These are the kinds of moments that we live for and work hard to provide for our children and the children of our friends and our neighbours. This is what Christmas is for many of us and this is what makes us truly rich as New Zealanders. 
But this is not the Christmas story for an increasing number of New Zealand’s children and it was not mine. I had a lot of freedom as a child in the summer holidays but we did not get to go away. Most of my holidays were spent wandering around those dry grassy paddocks of Ashhurst dodging the thistles in our bare feet trying not to get electrocuted by the farmer’s fences and waiting for our dad to come home from a day at work so he could take us all down to the river for a swim. 
Those were some of the best times of my summer holidays. We would mob our dad when he drove up the driveway. Then there was the ride down to the river on the back of his Holden Kingswood—can you remember those—with the door down and our legs hanging off the edge so that we could jump off and be the first to race to the cold cold water. My cousins and I and my friends and anyone else who was around would join in to spend our evenings there doing dive-bombs off the bank of the river hunting for bullies and for freshwater crays and squealing about the eels that might come out and bite us on the bum and all under the watchful eye of our dad who was usually having a good wash after a hard day’s work at the bread factory. 
Our swimming hole at the Pohangina River was our place to forget about everything. Down there it did not matter whether you were rich or poor Maori or Pakeha a boy or a girl. The river brought us all together and it gave us some of the happiest moments of our childhood. We did not have much but I did have a whanau who loved and nurtured me in a country that made sure that I had enough to eat a good school to go to and a safe clean river that I could spend my summer holidays swimming in. 
That is a country to love. That is a country to fight for—a country that protects its vulnerable loves its beautiful environment and empowers all of its children rich or poor Maori or Pakeha boy or girl to become the best that they can be. That is a country I want my kids and grandkids to grow up in and I want my neighbours’ kids to grow up in it too no matter who they are. I believe that this is a vision that we can achieve only if we work together. I believe that this is actually the only way to live with dignity and grace in this country. I believe that this is what we as New Zealanders in our modest ways quietly yearn for. 
But our lucky country is slipping away from us from right under our feet. Our country has never been wealthier yet the swimming hole of my childhood is now at risk of being too polluted and unsafe to swim in just like more than half of our lowland rivers that are already so polluted. Our country has never been wealthier but we are living at a time when the differences between us have never been wider. We are rapidly becoming one of the most unequal countries in the developed world where once we were one of the most equal. 
Our country has never been wealthier but it is hard to remember a time when it was so difficult to find an ordinary job that paid a decent wage—enough to save up some money and to be able to afford to take the kids away on holiday this Christmas. It is like we have forgotten what it is like to stand alongside one another and remind ourselves that we are each our sister’s and our brother’s keeper. But it does not have to be this way if we choose to live with compassion and generosity—in the spirit of Christmas no less. 
In this spirit the Greens will continue to work with others across this House to realise our inclusive vision for our beautiful and abundant country. With the National Government we have delivered what is turning out to be the smartest investment in our infrastructure that a Government could make: spending $340 million to insulate 240000 homes creating 2000 jobs saving the country money saving lives and keeping us warm and dry. 
It is good to be able to work across the political spectrum with the National Party and with the Labour Party to deliver for our New Zealand families. With the Labour Party we have worked together on a citizens initiated referendum that will give the public a vote on the sale of State assets. These are the assets that were built by our grandparents for our grandchildren. With Labour New Zealand First and the Mana Party we are working together to protect the manufacturing jobs that remain—few as they may be—and to find new tools to support more. 
In this spirit of working together I want to finish by thanking all of those who enable us to do our work here in the Parliament through their dedicated service. I am thinking now of all the party staff that we each have in our offices the Office of the Clerk the Select Committee Office parliamentary security the cleaners the caterers the travel office the call centre the library staff and the Chamber and gallery officials who are here with us today. You all make this place work. You go largely unnoticed by us MPs and certainly by the public but without you this democratic institution can simply not function. I know it has not been an easy time for you over this last 12 months facing cutbacks and redundancies so please know that the Green Party stands in solidarity with you. To you Mr Speaker thank you for your assistance and for your many years of service to this Parliament. 
May you all have a Christmas where your bellies feel full and your hearts feel content. May you have a Christmas that is alive with hope and rich in compassion. May you share the many gifts given to you this holiday season knowing that we can live very well together in this spirit helping others so that we may all live with dignity and grace here in our beautiful country Aotearoa New Zealand. Nga mihi o te Tau Hou ki a koutou katoa. Tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa.