Auchinvole Chris: Address in Reply 
Auchinvole Chris: Address in Reply 
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CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
: 
 I will begin by offering my congratulations through you Mr Assistant Speaker if I may to Madam Speaker on her election and on your being elected and the election of the Deputy Speaker and the other Assistant Speaker. For my part I shall endeavour to be the least of your worries. I will ensure that my Celtic capacity for conflict and criticism comes to the fore only in the service of others in search of the truth in defence of good government and to further the principles priorities and practices of the National Party that I am proud to be part of. 
I for one harbour no illusions about the regard in which politicians collectively are held by the wider community—to profess altruistic motives and the desire to make the country a better place is to invite the response “Yeah right!” from the great bulk of the population. Yet that is actually why I stood for Parliament—to help create a better place. I am sure it is the same for the great majority of members. Mind you every now and again one gets a lift when one least expects it. Ten days ago I was down at the Christchurch A and P show helping to meet and greet the crowds of people who were flocking to the National Party marquee. The pressure of work was constant but luckily we had drafted in a good number of MPs so we were able to take an occasional break. Forgetting I was wearing a huge National Party blue rosette I strolled into the cattle exhibit shed only to hear a small boy ask his mum: “Gosh what did he get that prize for?”. I assured him it was for being a National Party politician. 
My political interests as a National list MP are particularly focused on the West Coast and Tasman regions. A short biographical note is appropriate here. The name requires some explanation. Auchinvole is a three-syllable Scottish name of Gaelic origin from Kilsythe between Glasgow and Edinburgh. I note the Standing Orders specify only English and Maori as permitted languages in the House so unlike my friend Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples I am not able to speak to members in the language of my ancestors which would be Gaelic or Lallans so I willna be daen that the noo the nacht. I have lost my strong Scottish accent but not the Scottish characteristics of thrift. When I was advised by my parliamentary secretary—bless her who also happens to be Scottish—that the Backbencher Pub and Cafe had kindly sent a bottle of beer as a welcoming gift my immediate response was: “That’s nice. If you could put it in the fridge we’ll keep it for when we have a crowd in.” I will apply the same qualities to examining Government expenditure as the chance occurs. 
If my English pronunciation suggests to some of you lairds castles and a silver spoon in life you could not be wronger. My father was an RAF squadron leader who died soon after the close of the Second World War essentially as a consequence of his participation in it. My mother found herself bringing up five children under 13 in post-war Glasgow. I have a sharp memory of being brought up on a benefit. It is not a nice state and it is not to my mind for the State to suggest benefits are nice; life-providing and essential yes. I will always remember my first Saturday morning job that I got paid for—paid for something I did. Like many Scots at the time we moved to England when I was about 10 and our mother unfortunately contracted tuberculosis which isolated her in a hospital for 3 years. We became wards of the State and the RAF Benevolent Fund very kindly helped out and gave me the same sort of chance that Shane Jones mentioned he had—paying for me to go to a boarding school. After my mother had returned to good health the RAF fund continued to pay the school fees to allow me to complete my education at the school. I went from there into the army and was selected for Sandhurst where we wore hat badges that carried the motto “Serve to Lead”. 
On leaving that renowned moulder of men I moved to New Zealand to reunite with two of my brothers who had emigrated to this country and we went contract milking in Whangarei. I found New Zealand refreshingly egalitarian. My brothers purchased a farm in Hokianga and I worked at Northland College in Kaikohe as assistant farm manager. Kaikohe was populated predominantly by Maori people and I was provided with a total introduction into life and local society in Tai Tokerau. It was moving recently to receive tributes and congratulations from people in Kaikohe and Hokianga even though I have not lived there for 30 years. I also met my wife in Kaikohe where she was completing country service as a teacher from the West Coast of the South Island. 
Once I was married an agricultural career path led me into marketing with the Dairy Board in Christchurch Wellington and Auckland respectively. I had responsibility for the South Pacific operation regularly visiting South Pacific countries. I revelled in the chance to export New Zealand primary products and the opportunity to work with so many people of different ethnic origins. In 1992 I started into primary product exporting on my own mostly fish fruit and timber products. When our two children completed their education Elspeth and I asked permission to leave home. We moved down to Moana at Lake Brunner on the West Coast 9 years ago an emigration not unrelated to the fact that my wife is a Coaster who wished to complete her teaching career where it had begun—equipping Coast children with education. 
 Living and settling on the Coast took me right back to egalitarian Glasgow. There is a humour and a neighbourliness that is special to the region; an inclusiveness that sees one joining the fire brigade working on community associations taking an active part in church life and enjoying a good yarn with one’s neighbours. In my mind it is as close as one can get to a classless society and it is a great place to live. I stood as a trustee for the West Coast Development Trust after the Forest Accord was broken and was given the second-highest vote in our region. I had concerns that the trust was an imposed solution and needed Coast ownership not someone somewhere else telling us what was best for us. Maori members of this House will be aware of that discomforting and emasculating sentiment—but more of that later. Over the same period Ngai Tahu have been demonstrating their ability to become an economic force in their own right. Although the initial granting of funds in both cases was the kicker it was the will and the ability to take it up and run with it that has been the significant event. 
Benjamin Disraeli known as the father of conservatism aptly said: “The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches but reveal to them their own.” That is why I guess I embrace the National Party philosophy enunciated by Don Brash in the campaign. It works. That is why I believe in less government and find the move towards more regulation and more proposals for distribution of wealth by stealth stifling and counter-productive to a region’s well-being. I sometimes wonder whether those whose careers have essentially—and I hasten to add quite properly—involved the distribution of wealth rather than its creation tend to take the latter process for granted. I am not an economist and I do not pretend to be. I have no desire to be known as a smart alec or a smart anything else but I unashamedly support the National Party philosophies and policies espoused and enunciated by John Key and I look forward to continuing to do so. To grab tax at the front end especially when one considers the carbon tax proposal is not just revenue gathering it is plunder. No Government can act as a robber baron yet expect productive sectors to develop. 
If we look at the West Coast we see that the drivers are farming mining and tourism. I note that Landcorp has commenced selling some of the Coast’s Government-owned farms. It should sell more of them. The Government should also accelerate replacing the strategic Arahura Road-Rail Bridge. That would help farming a lot if only to ease the anxiety currently surrounding that bridge. Modern mining is taking the Coast into a new era. Tourism is an industry that is going to grow. The local infrastructure though will not cope if left as it is particularly with the added impetus of the Rugby World Cup. Eighty-seven percent of the region is enclosed in the Department of Conservation estate. We need more than a draft plan of conservation and we need the Act to allow more discretion to the Minister in managing the estate. 
In Tasman the drivers are fruit fishing forestry and Fonterra. With fruit apple trees are being lifted out of the ground at the same time as orchardists are gathering in Wellington to seek Government action on access to the Australian market. Fishing boats are tied up—a combination of fuel costs exchange rates and quota are limiting the profitable opportunities. In forestry poles and posts are moving OK because of the growth in vineyards but logs and timber sales are suffering from unrestricted cheap imported timbers. Fonterra with the unfortunate fire at Takaka has reduced its staff from 90 to somewhere around 30. Personal and business tax reductions in Tasman would be a boost to the local economy. 
So what as a National list MP am I going to do for West Coast - Tasman? I intend to concentrate on the associate roles I have been given of energy (mining) and tourism and on working as a member of the National caucus primary production committee. As a start I will later be seeking leave to table a member’s bill—the Conservation (Net Gain) Amendment Bill in the name of Chris Auchinvole will give the Minister and local conservation boards more flexibility in disposing of stewardship land in exchange for land of greater conservation value. It will be put in the ballot on 8 December. 
I wish to pay tribute to all those who assisted me during the election campaign: electorate chair Margaret Moir who won the seat for National in 1990 and who is present in the House today plus key strategists and mentors Barry and Jane. I pay tribute to those who worked so tirelessly in the branches in Hokitika Greymouth Westport Motueka and Takaka particularly Bill and Violet Dan and Diane Bryan and Margaret Hilda and Ivan Colin Mike Elizabeth and Jack and—bless her—my wife Elspeth. I am grateful for the help and encouragement from Nick Smith and team. To Neil Walker from Hawera I say thanks. From the other side of the hill help literally came to the party and I am indebted to deputy leader Gerry Brownlee for leading the Blackball debate as the campaign opener and to all who came over to help. To Roger Bridge the regional chair to his regional council to the list committee to the team at HQ and to Judy Kirk party president I say: awesome gosh thanks next time! 
For me the election was a continuum of the campaign which has not stopped. I read a very perceptive article in a recent  
North and South 
 magazine that I thought gave a carefully crafted analysis of the results. “A majority is always better than the best repartee” as Disraeli said but I think of the apt quote from the epitaph of Rob Roy McGregor that summarises a thousand years of Scottish history—best described as a thousand-year brawl—“Let them tak’ who have the pow’r and let them keep it who can.” I think it is yet to be tested as to who holds the power and whether it will be kept. The Duke of Wellington said after Waterloo: “ Next to a battle lost the greatest misery is a battle won.” I do not think that National is in a heavy loss situation. National has doubled its troops in the House and similarly in electorates with staff and offices. 
Policies continue to find increasing institutional and public support. It is great to be part of a skilled fresh and vibrant parliamentary team with enough multi-level leadership transition potential for the next two decades. National is equipped to serve the country as never before and I am deeply grateful for the chance to be part of it. Every day National grows stronger and it is reflected in our voices minds and spirits every morning. Every day the other side grows weaker and we see it hear it and sense it every morning. It was Churchill who said to practise magnanimity in victory and defiance in defeat. National is practising magnanimity and the other side is being defiant. 
The present Government avoided defeat at the hustings. There are others who benefited from the spoils of war and others still who it could be said. engaged in looting. That is a capital offence in battle and could still prove to be so in politics. Others stood true to their colours were ignored in the spoils completely and must be starting to wonder what they fought so hard for. For me and it is a personal view the troops who had a notable victory were a small unit that arose from the ashes of previous disappointment and grief with the Labour Government who came forward with hope as their main argument and who had to go to battle in a taxi. 
I wish to salute the address given by Pita Sharples and his call for conciliation and a sharing of cultural values. I heard a speech from the heart when I listened to him but then Scots and Maoris both believe in oral tradition. It was as if he were singing a song from previous generations echoing through the centuries. It caused an echo in my Celtic heart too for Scottish crofters also lost their lands in the Highland clearances. The Irish had to cope with famine. The Scots lost their language and their right to independence. Thank God we could come here but—hello—it all happened again. Closer to home and to modern times the people of the West Coast have had to tolerate decades of an imposed stereotype of welfare dependency unemployment and being undervalued as a region and as a people. Continued welfare did not change that any more than continued welfare will change the situation for Maori. Attitude determination opportunity commodity prices improved productivity new people moving in and improved education have changed that on the Coast. To me the Maori renaissance is at a fascinating stage and is full of complex choices for Maori people. How will they know when it has worked for young Maori? May I suggest it will be in the same way it worked in Scotland—which was when the young Scots believed they had succeeded because they were Scottish not in spite of it. I welcome the day when that happens here. 
In conclusion I say that people—all people all ethnicities—have to be included as any part of any solution and not as the problem. I answer the song of Sharples with a prayer of my own a Presbyterian prayer. My prayer is that those of us with like minds in this House can pick up the tattered banner of one nation with shared cultural values—pick it up with our hands whatever age gender and ethnicity each of our human bodies glories in. And having picked it up we can hold up the banner with our minds—arguing bickering and debating as we do so until we start agreeing. If we can do that then the banner can be restitched restored and made resplendent by our spirits. If we can do that the banner of one nation can be unfurled by the warm breath of our various gods sent to caress our souls—and to God be the glory for aye and for aye e faa vau e faa vau lava atua uata ake ake for ever and ever amene.