Belich CamillaCAMILLA BELICH (Labour): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe me ngā mihi i runga i tō kopounga. Ki te whare e tū nei te papa ki raro tēnā kōrua. Ki te mana whenua o te rohe nei Te Āti Awa Ngāti Toa Rangatira Ngāti Raukawa tēnā koutou. Tēnā tātou ngā mema katoa o ngā rōpū katoa tae noa ki te Āpiha o te Whare tae noa ki a koutou e mātakitaki ana ā e whakarongo ana.Ehara ahau i te mātanga reo engari e tika ana kia kōrerotia i te reo tuatahi te reo tūturu te reo takitaki o te whenua nei o Aotearoa o Niu Tirani. I te wā e tamariki ana ahau e ako ana ahau i te reo i te kāinga i te kura tuatahi i te kura tuarua i te whare wānanga o Wikitoria hoki ā i tēnei rā kei te ako tonu atu ahau. He hiahia nōku kia tukuna iho tēnei taonga ki ngā tamariki katoa o Aotearoa kia mau kia ū kia kōrerotia hei reo whakawhiti whakaaro hei mea tohu i tō tātou nei Aotearoatanga. E pūmau ana au ki te kōrero Māori i ngā wā e tika ana ahakoa aku hē kia puta atu aku tūmanako mō ngā wā e heke mai nei.[Mr Speaker thank you and greetings on your appointment. I acknowledge this building that houses us and the land that it stands upon. The host tribes of this area Te Āti Awa Ngāti Toa Rangatira Ngāti Raukawa I extend my greetings to you. To us all the members of all the parties including the Clerk of the House as well as to you who are watching and listening to these speeches greetings.I am not a language doyenne but it is appropriate to use the first language the original language the lead language of this land of Aotearoa New Zealand. When I was growing up I learned Māori at home at primary school at secondary school and at Victoria University and today I am learning still. It is my wish that all children in New Zealand have access to this precious gift whereby it will be retained and established in daily conversation as a sign of our New Zealandness. I am committed to using Māori whenever it is appropriate to do so notwithstanding my errors to express my aspirations for the future.]I was born in the 1980s when many activists fought for the revitalisation of the Māori language. Because of their work I had the advantage of a father who although he was Pākehā was learning te reo Māori at polytechnic. Because of this I could speak some te reo Māori before I could read in English. I was then lucky enough to receive a bilingual education at primary school and I continued to study te reo Māori at secondary school and then at university. I'm learning still.I support the aspiration of the late Huirangi Waikerepuru who said Kei te hiahia au kia tū angitu te katoa o Aotearoa ki te kōrero i te reo Māori i te reo Pākehā hoki kia kounga te rere o ngā reo e rua." ["I would like to see all of New Zealand succeed in being able to speak Māori as well as we speak English so that we may be competent bilinguists."] He wanted everyone in New Zealand to have the same advantage he had of speaking Māori and English equally well. I cannot say that I speak the two languages equally well but to do so remains my aspiration. In my time in the House I will seek opportunities to speak and continue to learn and support te reo Māori. It is a taonga generously taught to me by my kaiako Māori. Through the use of te reo Māori I hope to be able to honour them and honour the relationship that Pākehā and Māori have under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Mr Speaker when we campaign to enter this House we learn to tell our story and this is mine. It is a story of political activism of seeking change. It is the story of why I am here. It is a story of a family who first immigrated to this country 179 years ago. My ancestry in Aotearoa stretches back to the first Pākehā settlers in Nelson to Dalmatian gum diggers and their families and to immigrants who arrived in the 1920s. My grandmother Valerie Belich who is watching this speech today at home was born in the first year of the Great Depression something she often points to as an unlucky start in life. I would like to acknowledge her in her 92nd year. Her oldest friend Gabrielle Rikihana is here today and has lent me her whānau's beautiful kākahu to wear. E kore e mutu aku mihi ki a koe Gabrielle.[Gabrielle I am for ever indebted to you.]My grandmother has always encouraged her children grandchildren and great grandchildren to be welcoming to be kind and of the importance of family. She had a long happy marriage to my grandfather Jim Belich who left us five years ago. He was born on the gum fields of the North and remembered canvassing in support of Labour's first Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage. On the night of the 1935 election he remembered gathering at the only home in the area with a radio to listen as the results came in. He was later an active member of Walter Nash's electorate committee in Lower Hutt and much later in his life after a career in advertising which also involved Norman Kirk's 1972 election campaign he was elected the first Labour mayor of Wellington in 1986. My other ancestors had less public careers. I'm a descendant of dressmakers sailors tailors domestic servants bricklayers gum diggers typists factory workers quarry workers State servants writers and farmers. I am proud of their work. I was taught from a young age to always respect the dignity and the rights of labour and that a job worth doing is a job worth having. I believe I'm the fourth person of Croatian descent and the first Croatian woman to sit in this Parliament. I also acknowledge Dorothy Jelicich who brought the first Croatian name to this House in 1972. I want to take this opportunity to honour the Dalmatian women who came to New Zealand to make it their home. Many left all they had ever known knowing they would never see their families again and for a life of hard physical labour in the gum fields or the land. These women kept their culture strong and their families strong despite their marginalisation in the Anglo-Saxon community. More recently families from my ancestral homeland repeated this journey coming to New Zealand to escape the terrible conflict of the former Yugoslavia. So for all the mothers the tetas the babas and prababas my presence here is also for you. My parents are committed trade unionists. They came together while both members of a union executive. There is a photo of me at the first Public Service Association (PSA) women's conference at the age of three days old. One of my earliest memories in fact is attending a protest outside this very House asking for fairer pay for early childhood teachers when I myself was in a pushchair. These early memories must have been formative and I am proud to continue to be a part of the labour movement as a Labour MP. As a lawyer my career has been spent representing workers and their unions while working here in New Zealand and also in England and Wales. I believe if things had been different my friend and mentor the late Helen Kelly who I worked with first as a student president and then in unions would be here in this House today perhaps as a Minister alongside her good friend Grant Robertson.In 2013 when Labour was firmly in Opposition Helen was already imagining a different future. This is what she said to the 2013 Labour Party conference: "We need a new vision—not a cut it drill it pollute it close it and impoverish it vision not one where most Kiwis are seen as the problem with a small rich group seen as the solution; one that recognises the best of human nature and that our individual happiness is dependent on each other's rights and needs as much as our own. It is the only sustainable model for long-term wellbeing and it is the point that differentiates the labour movement." This is also my vision and I will endeavour to continue Helen's work.Before I look towards the future I would like to acknowledge the people who got me here. To all the volunteers who freely gave their time to the campaign in Epsom this election thank you. Under the excellent leadership of campaign manager Sam Jaffe we had over 50 active volunteers and we increased the party vote. I would like to especially thank Sam and Alex for your huge contribution your time and your expertise. I'm very grateful. Thank you for being here today too. To Labour Party president Claire Szabo and the hard-working team at Fraser House including Diane Lacy Tim Grigg Rob Salmond thank you—and a huge thank you also to Hayden Munro and the New Zealand Council members some of whom are here today.To my family many of whom are here today thank you for your ongoing support. To my friends here and watching online thank you for your friendship and for your encouragement. I would like to say a special thankyou to my good friend Fleur Fitzsimons. Leadership is about letting people grow and flourish. You embody that better than anyone I know. Many of us here have benefited from your strong encouragement and support.To my mum and dad I'm here because of you because of the unconditional love you showed to both me and Laura and because of the values and principles that you instilled in us. To my sister Laura thank you for being a wonderful sister who loves my little girls like they were your own. To my husband Andrew we met because of our shared values and desire to make New Zealand a better fairer place. I'm grateful for you and your love and support every single day.To my girls Honor and Edie I hope you can see now that when mummy comes to Wellington she is here to work in Parliament and not to have a holiday without you as you have claimed. It is a big sacrifice that you both make and I hope one day you'll be proud of this Government and what we have achieved for New Zealand. For my part I couldn't be prouder to be your mother—always my most important role.As an MP who is pregnant I stand proud and very humble to be here but without fear of judgment and without regret. The fact I can do so is because I stand on the shoulders of the many many parents who have worked so hard to be active parents and MPs. Our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has shown what is possible. In this as in so many things her leadership is helping to transform Aotearoa.I was here in the public gallery for the Prime Minister's speech 12 years ago and she said to Helen Clark that Helen Clark had made her proud to be Labour. Now I wish to say the same to the Prime Minister. Through your leadership you have made all Labour members in this House so proud to be who we are and fight for the change we think is important. Thank you.Mr Speaker I also want to recognise your work to recreate Parliament as a friendly and welcoming place for mothers and fathers and all who care for children. I know you have achieved a great deal both in the executive and legislative branches of Government but I suggest to you it is your committed and uncompromising work not just to invite but to welcome families babies and parents into Parliament that may be one of your most enduring legacies. So I and we thank you.There is much to do to improve the lives of New Zealanders. I come here to serve and to work hard for all New Zealanders to stand for equality and justice and against inequality and injustice to make progressive change for all New Zealanders especially working people and importantly all our children. I am committed to the vision of the Prime Minister to make New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child. This was earlier the vision of my grandfather Sir Jim Belich whose knighthood recognised his service to children as the long-serving president of UNICEF New Zealand.I am also proud of the work that this Government has done on equal pay and recognising the often undervalued contribution of women. We have seen a new law following the groundbreaking case brought by Kristine Bartlett and her union E tū. I want to acknowledge E tū including John Ryall and their lawyer Peter Cranney for this important work. You have changed the law and helped fairly value the work of working women and in turn supported these women to value themselves. In doing so you've helped make fundamental change in New Zealand. I am confident this Government will continue to deliver for working women because we still have much more work to do.I am proud that one of my first votes in this House was to acknowledge the climate change emergency we face. It is beyond important that we recognise and act on climate change not only for our future but for the future generations of our country. There is no climate change vaccine; there is only the hard hard work of radically changing the way we live on this earth. All of us must make this change.When I leave this House one day I hope to be able to say that I came here to serve and that I made a difference. I will be working hard every day in this role that I am so honoured and humbled to hold in order to achieve this. Nō reira e te Māngai e koutou katoa huri noa i te Whare tēnā tātou katoa.[Applause]"