Moroney SueSUE MORONEY (Labour): The Parliament of Aotearoa New Zealand has it better than many other parliaments around the world. We govern a beautiful peaceful country where the climate is mostly agreeable good for growing food and great for getting outdoors. But our people are our greatest asset. They are fair-minded and hard-working and they value tolerance and resilience. Our young land shakes us up from time to time but we do not face the challenges of other countries—wars political unrest unforgiving droughts or ongoing devastating floods—so it should be relatively easy eh? The greatest ongoing challenge we face is how we improve our collective wealth in a sustainable way and how we distribute that fairly so that everyone benefits from it and yet we are getting that relatively simple task wrong. Increasing homelessness a growing need for food parcels from food banks children going to school hungry worsening domestic violence too many people waiting for too long in too much pain and one of the highest suicide rates in the world are all outward signs that our relatively wealthy country is not getting it right and can do much much better. In my maiden speech of almost 12 years ago the basic right for us to have decent work in order to live rather than living just to work was at the forefront of my first speech. So it is no surprise that my first achievement under a Labour-led Government was to have my member's bill ensuring meal and rest breaks at work picked up and passed as a Government bill in 2007. Along with working to secure the funding to clean up Te Aroha's toxic Tūī Mine it was a good start. It is deeply ironic that my last act in this Parliament will be debating the exact same member's bill in my name to get that basic right reinstated after the current Government took it away in the intervening period. Talk about coming full circle. Look I know that there is something to be said about synergy but that is just plain ridiculous. Along the way I have injected my proposal for a commuter train service between Hamilton and Auckland into most speeches no matter what topic we were actually debating in Parliament at the time. I worked to help people with desperate housing needs who faced unnecessary stonewalling from Government departments and had problems getting the help they needed on complex problems in our fourth-largest city and did I remember to mention that Hamilton is indeed our fourth-largest city? Yes I do think that Hamilton is our most underrated city. It is a relaxed but high-performing hub of innovation and creativity and with the right leadership it has the opportunity to learn the lessons from Auckland's mistakes so that it will grow and continue to be a place for people to live to raise their families and to thrive. I also tabled some large petitions in Parliament including one on pay equity with 15800 signatures; one to establish that Hamilton commuter train with 11500 signatures; and a plea to bring back Hamilton's community policing model which was signed by 550 people. On every one of those big issues National blocked the petitioners from even being heard and I think that is wrong. In 2009 I exposed the Government's plans to cut funding for early childhood education services. Its target was qualified teachers and it came on the back of scrapping the planned increased teacher ratios for under-3-year-olds. Quality for our youngest learners at a time when their brain development is at its best was under attack. It was the same year I wrote my bill extending paid parental leave to 26 weeks for very much the same reasons that I was arguing against those cuts to early childhood education. That year the growing global financial crisis loomed large and the Labour caucus did need some convincing that it was a priority but it was great training for when I presented the idea to the New Zealand public. That happened at Easter 2012. Yes my bill rattled around in the biscuit tin for 3 long years. At 2 p.m. on the day it was drawn out at the midday ballot I plonked myself next to Peter Dunne and reminded him that he had promised to support this measure. The Green Party New Zealand First the Māori Party and the Mana Party also supported 26 weeks' paid parental leave. It was game on. Two amazing young mums Rebecca Matthews and Fleur Fitzsimons established a coalition of community organisations to support the proposals and the 26 for Babies coalition was born. It was amazing to run a positive campaign from the Opposition benches that required communicating a message that resonated with New Zealanders while keeping the support of five other political parties. I relished that challenge. To this day I still feel exceptionally proud to represent a country where at the height of the global financial crisis most New Zealanders agreed it was a priority to put children first by funding 26 weeks' paid parental leave. This campaign was full of remarkable moments but I want to highlight two events. The first was when my bill had a one-vote majority. I was preparing to speak in the second reading—the first time around—and I glanced at my phone to see that one of those votes had just left the building. Te Ururoa Flavell had just quite rightly rushed to the birth of his first grandchild leaving my bill one vote short of passing. We thought Well surely the National Party will allow Te Ururoa his vote." given we were debating paid parental leave and he had rushed off to welcome his mokopuna but National denied him that vote. So we swung into plan B. Grant Robertson took points of order while I spoke Louisa Wall got on the phone to Te Ururoa and Trevor Mallard worked with the Speaker's office to test a new provision called compassionate leave which Nanaia Mahuta had argued for. And there it was right there. The Labour Party which this country needs was using all of its talents resources and networks together fighting to improve the lives of working people and their families and what an awesome sight that was. I was still on my feet arguing for the bill when I got the sign that it was all agreed and that all the votes would count but then the National Party cast an incorrect Māori Party vote against the bill and the vote was lost. The Māori Party was prevented from correcting its vote that evening but did so the next day. So the bill survived its second reading but it was a night full of the type of high drama that seemed to accompany that bill at every single turn. The second standout event for me was straight after the last election. The election result meant that bill was suddenly just one vote short of passing its remaining votes. Even though our campaign had already gained 4 more weeks' paid parental leave I was determined to get more support for families so I amended my bill for families of multiple births babies born early or babies born with a disability to get extra leave. Even though it brought the already reasonable costs right down National still would not vote for it. I needed one more vote. So I said to my colleagues "I'm off to see David Seymour from the ACT Party." and they said: "Good luck with that." I tended to agree but I knew that I could not look those families in the eye if I had not done everything possible to get that extra vote to help them out. So off I went. David Seymour told me he was opposed to extra paid parental leave but I asked him to listen to my proposed amendments anyway and when I finished describing them to him he said: "Well why wouldn't I support that?". Instead of falling off my chair I looked straight back at him and I said: "Yeah I thought you'd say that." So because of MMP families with babies born pre-term can now get up to 13 weeks' paid leave on top of the 18 weeks that other families get. I find nothing more satisfying than when complete strangers come up to me on the street and tell me about the extra time they now have with their babies but I cannot wait to see 26 weeks' paid parental leave delivered in the first 100 days of the incoming Labour-led Government. This is one bill that deserves to be rushed through under urgency as it has already faced select committee scrutiny twice and both times it has gained a parliamentary majority. I also learnt more about financial vetoes than I had ever hoped to know about. You may be surprised to know that I think the financial veto does have its place in an MMP Parliament but I think it should be outlawed where the measure has majority public support has been subjected to scrutiny and official costings by a select committee and still commands a majority in the Parliament. Yep I am proposing constitutional change. Talking about our constitutional arrangements brings me to the extraordinary events that have unfolded from the fraud I exposed at the Ministry of Transport. Naming fraudster Joanne Harrison was one of the best decisions I have made. My phone rang red-hot with information on her from around the globe and within 15 days she was back in New Zealand arrested and charged with fraud so that was one good outcome. Wherever she went she did two things: she worked hard on establishing a trusting relationship with a middle-aged male running the show and she got rid of people who were on to her. It was a successful formula because while her fraud almost always got found out her victims were so ashamed of how easily they had been duped that they swept it under the carpet and so she was able to go on her merry way largely unscathed. It was obvious to me that she employed exactly those same techniques at the Ministry of Transport but the ministry refused to answer my questions until her court case was over and this delayed that information coming out by 6 months. In the meantime the unthinkable had happened. Martin Matthews the CEO at the time the fraud was committed was appointed to the crucial watchdog role of Auditor-General. The integrity of the role of Auditor-General is vital to our constitutional arrangements. In my view the person in that role must be above question. I knew that people working at the ministry those in associated organisations and the media had questions about Martin Matthews' performance in relation to the fraud and so did I. At the select committee the ministry had to confess to poor recruitment processes and it struggled to explain why 3 years' worth of fraud had not been stopped earlier. The ministry also refused to investigate my concerns about the restructuring of the finance department which Joanne Harrison had had a hand in and so did the responsible Minister. Eventually the State Services Commission did and it found that four diligent whistleblowers were disadvantaged in their employment by Joanne Harrison. Those heroic public servants have now been vindicated and celebrated. It is another good outcome. It also exposed inadequacies in the whistleblowers' legislation in the way the Official Information Act was being used and it resulted in promises to fix them up. That makes it a third good outcome from this work. On Thursday Martin Matthews resigned from his role as Auditor-General. That is the fourth significant action to come from this episode. But I know that Joanne Harrison has wrecked many lives and reputations from her dishonesty over three decades and I do not want the next reputation she wrecks to be that of the New Zealand Parliament. The one major lesson that I take from this episode is that transparency and accountability are the best disinfectant for fraud and dishonesty. So I call on the Speaker to publicly release the investigation report. It is the best way to move forward and learn the detailed lessons our Public Service needs to have the benefit of. My advice to future parliaments is simple: if you have to go to the Serious Fraud Office to satisfy yourselves about the person you are about to appoint as Auditor-General then they are almost certainly the wrong person for the job. My next bit of advice for future parliaments is even more simple: have more women. But not just any type of woman—I want to see women of courage women of principle and women of great determination because who else will call out the Minister of Finance when he deliberately exaggerates and nearly doubles the cost of extending paid parental leave? Who else will take on the old boy network and the Wellington mafia over the Auditor-General's appointment? Who else will ensure that women can claim equal pay as per the recent union victory and who else will shake up the systems that promote patronage over performance? Unless we truly believe that men are just inherently better at representing the needs of our communities than women are then there is no excuse for the decades-long dominance numerically of men in here. I am encouraged by the wave of support generated by our second woman Labour leader Jacinda Ardern. When I think about what Helen Clark endured and then conquered this is real progress. I want to encourage more parents into this Parliament. My boys were 6 and 7 when I was elected to Parliament. I worried I might wreck my boys' lives and some people told me I would. I can report that that did not happen. What mum would not love to have this message exchange with their teenage son? Him: "Congrats on bringing the Auditor-General down Mum." Me: "Thanks darling. If only I could get you to tidy your room then I would be truly powerful." Him: "Power over people is not a desired skill. The power to hold people accountable is." There are so many layers of parenting gold in that exchange it is priceless. But he still has not tidied his room. My other son was with me when I was told that the party hierarchy did not want me back in Parliament. When I decided to resign as a result his strength and wisdom were outstanding. "Tell it like it is Mum." he told me "That's what you've always done." What a wonderful value to be reminded of at that moment. It takes a village to support an MP to do this type of work. My village has been large and solid as a rock. I thank Labour Party members for trusting me to represent them. I hold party members in the highest regard because they are committed to the collective good social justice and a fair go for all. Those who have supported me most are too many to name so I am going to use one person as a representative of them all. Maxine van Oosten has been my campaign manager for the past three elections. She is smart she is great fun she is kind she is principled and she is hard-working—thanks Maxine. I have been fortunate to have had wonderful and committed staff over the 12 years. In Wellington I have been supported by Wendy Daniel Angus Hodgson Rebecca Fox Paul Grant Catherine Pantling and Ted Greensmith-West; in Hamilton Jill Hobden Jenny Patching Ellen Hayward David Symon Janine Jackson and Melanie Dorrian have all held the fort at various times but I want to make special mention of Melissa White who has been with me in Hamilton for 9 years. This talented woman has raised two children as a sole parent while helping out many Hamiltonians with complex issues and keeping me at the forefront of local issues. Melissa you are a star. I have been fortunate to have mentors like Helen Clark Margaret Wilson James Ritchie Mark Gosche Carol Beaumont and John and Gloria Marshall giving me advice whenever I asked for it. My family have been amazing. I think my parents—who are here tonight—have really only just come to terms with having a politician in the family. They see me being opinionated and fiercely determined and they seem genuinely perplexed about where I get it all from. My brothers nieces and nephew have coped well with it too. My sister Catherine died before I came to Parliament but she had already shaped and supported the person I am before then. Mum and Dad are also amazing grandparents to our boys. Quinn and Logan I am beyond proud of the principled smart witty young men you are. Thanks for letting me use your exciting basketball tournaments as my downtime from politics and also for keeping my feet firmly on the ground while being my main source of inspiration. That brings me to my husband Shane. Shane we have a true partnership. Whether it be our fight for social justice or the way that we have raised our two boys we have always done it as a team. In this job you come across passionate and principled people and you come across great political strategists. It is rare to come across a person who has all of those abilities but Shane you are that person. You have those abilities in truckloads and we have many adventures ahead of us. I have had this incredible opportunity to represent my country at this level for 12 years. It has been one wild ride and a great honour. I am at the top of my game and that is not surprising because I am at that age when women are in their prime career-wise. I have learnt so much about myself and our world during that time and I am proud of what I have achieved as an Opposition MP with my small but perfectly formed team. I do wish I had had the chance to deliver change from the relative luxury of Government because that mission to improve our collective wealth in a sustainable way and then distribute it fairly so that everyone gets a chance to benefit from that is unfinished business. But it is the type of business that does not just have to be finished in Parliament alone so I pledge to do my best to use the knowledge the skills and the confidence I have gained here and elsewhere to finish that business. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Applause]WaiataSitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m."