Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. It's a real privilege to get a slot in today's general debate because we're celebrating the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage today and I want to dedicate my slot to this celebration. I'm really proud to stand here and celebrate this day with you all—congratulations. It's a real privilege and honour also to be the first Indian-born woman member of Parliament in our Parliament.I am really proud of both countries that I belong to—my birth country and my home country. As I said I am Indian born. I am really grateful to be born in the generation that I am because I know that those women who were born before me worked really hard in both countries. Here in New Zealand yes our suffragists led by Kate Sheppard—I want to acknowledge them and I want to thank them for all the hard work they did in opening doors for us. Back home in India in those days—I'm talking about my grandparents' generation—villages used to be typical villages. Some villages didn't have schools and girls were not sent to another village or town or city to access education. It was only men who got access to education so obviously that gender gap increased. I also come from the country where some—I say some—families desire male children over female children. Some families will go to any extent to make sure that their child is a male child and this is despite all the efforts by the Government of India—and I want to acknowledge the Government of India for the hard work that they are doing in this space.When I was growing up I didn't know that I would find myself in this beautiful country that is the first self-governing country to give women the right to vote. I didn't know that I would be standing here in this House having the opportunity to celebrate the 125th suffrage anniversary with you all but I knew that my upbringing was the best. I knew that my parents looked after me and my sisters without any prejudice despite all the surroundings that I have talked about. I want to mention that I'm not the only girl child; we are four sisters. So I want to thank my parents for the efforts that they have put in us. They provided us everything that we needed to achieve to do well in our lives. So there is a role for every one of us and that is to provide opportunities to younger generations younger girls and that is how I see this example.We have so much to celebrate in our country. We are continuously advocating for women's rights. We are fighting for our rights. Yes today while we are celebrating the 125th suffrage anniversary we should also acknowledge and celebrate that we know what we want to achieve. Yes the list is long and I want to add more things to that list and that is intersectional feminism. When people talk about feminism we just bring one dimension to that but I think we need to bring more dimensions to feminism and that is people who are migrants like me and people who come from ethnic minorities. Having said that I am here not because of my ethnicity and I am here not because of my gender; I am here because of my hard work and I'm really proud to be part of the National Party which believes in hard work and rewards people for hard work.We are the first country to give women the right to vote. Yes it is our wish to be at the forefront for the social change that is right for our country that is best for our country and it's a great privilege to be part of this continuous momentum for inclusion. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker.