Mathers Mojo: Intelligence and Security Committee — MembershipText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMathers Mojo: Intelligence and Security Committee — Membership[Sitting date: 18 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1719. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MOJO MATHERS (Green): I would like to speak about the membership of the Intelligence and Security Committee. It is unfortunate that we learnt of the decisions around the membership through the media rather than being consulted along with other parties such as New Zealand First beforehand as should have happened and as is legally required. It does not build public confidence in the committee when such poor regard for process and legal requirements is shown right at the start.I have to say that as a woman I was particularly dismayed by the comment made by the leader of the Labour Party to the media when he said that he did not invite our co-leader Metiria Turei to be on the committee because he wanted someone with the skills understanding and experience to be on that committee implying that Metiria did not have these qualities which is so far from the truth as to be farcical. I was dismayed because whatever one’s politics it is abundantly clear that Metiria is both a highly experienced and extremely skilled member of Parliament who has not only 5 years of extremely stable and successful leadership 3 years as a whip and 12 years of parliamentary experience but comes from a strong legal background. Her intelligence and legal expertise would have been valuable indeed on such an important committee. It is hard to escape the feeling the male privilege played a key role in the dismissal of Metiria’s formidable skills and expertise. I find myself wondering what planet the leader of the Labour Party lives on—not “Planet Key” I hope. I would like to be generous and give Little who has been a member of Parliament for just 3 years and a leader for all of 2 months the benefit of the doubt and assume that he made these comments without thinking. But that makes these comments no less offensive to me and many other women.This kind of arrogant dismissal of women’s skills and expertise is nothing new. It happens every day throughout New Zealand when skilled women who apply for jobs are overlooked for promotion and find themselves competing with men with far less experience and skill. This dismissal of women’s skills and expertise relative to men’s is a major reason why we have a gender wage gap. Men in New Zealand earn 25 percent more for the same work as women. I would also say that as a woman with a disability I have also experienced frequently the assumption that I will not have the skills or the expertise for a particular role such as chairing a group because of my hearing loss. That is a scenario that many others are also all too familiar with.The Green Party knows all too well about the need for oversight of formerly dodgy institutions that have spied ineffectively but offensively on New Zealanders on our friends and on our colleagues including our colleague Catherine Delahunty. Because of this former background I believe that as well as Metiria’s skills understanding and experience her commitment to human rights and critical thinking would have been invaluable on that committee. She might well have brought to the committee views that some others do not want to hear such as maybe a powerful understanding of what powerlessness and humiliation feels like and maybe a haunting view of surveillance based on the experiences of how prejudice and privilege excludes and labels the potentially spied-upon. She would bring exactly what is needed on this committee.Leadership is the inspirational moment when a person can articulate a vision and build unity for the greater good. Leadership cannot be built on the assumption that male able-bodied politicians are better fitted for important roles than female politicians especially on a committee that needs to have strong oversight from a human rights perspective. The Green Party is the only party in the House that has achieved gender balance and has a commitment to gender equity through practice not rhetoric. We know the value of our commitment to this balanced approach. We know that power sharing is better than the dominant group chest thumping. We stand here today as experienced knowledgable and skilled women in a party that values us as leaders and we say to this House that you are under surveillance and we will continue to speak out for women and other marginalised groups.Metiria is inspiring intelligent and a highly talented woman who absolutely should have been considered for selection for the committee and it is a shame—an absolute shame—that her skills understanding and experience were dismissed out of hand in such an arrogant way. This is an opportunity for genuine oversight of the committee that has been missed and our country will be poorer for it.