Auchinvole Chris: Valedictory StatementsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeAuchinvole Chris: Valedictory Statements[Sitting date: 23 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19377. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National):Thank you very much indeed Mr Deputy Speaker for the call to give my valedictory statement. It is a privilege that is given to retirees: 15 minutes of uninterrupted discourse where the opportunity is given to say it the way it really is and the way I see it and I intend to do that now. If we glance overseas back to Westminster where our parliamentary system began before it was improved by the New Zealand system we see that the parliamentary media over there have adopted the sobriquet of “pale male and stale” for those whom Mr Cameron has decided should no longer hold Cabinet warrants. How cruel! How cruel is that to sensitive people? Well if you cannot take the heat do not stand in the kitchen. This is Politics 101 after all.Mind you all jokes aside I have always thought that members of the media try to see in others that which they least like about themselves. Let us think about that for a moment. Every day at a quarter to two as we come to the House I have in my diary “available to media”. I approach the melee of people cameras and microphones. Sometimes they say: “Gidday Chris.” That is it. There have been perhaps three times when I have had that wonderful surround sound of microphones and cameras—very exciting. Unfortunately it was always over a tragic association with Pike River rather than the sort of fun that our Ministers have.But does the Westminsterial sobriquet apply over here? Are we as retirees pale male and stale on this side of the world or on this side of the House? I do not think so. Oh no I do not think so. Well not yet at any rate but as my old friend Roy Hodgson in Rūnanga used to say—a good old coalminer—“Hang on. Let’s have a think about that.” So I have given it a bit of thought.Pale? OK I certainly do not have a ruddy or dark complexion but roseate enough on a frosty morning not to be described as pale.Male? I make no apology for being a male. I hope I am seen as a considerate compassionate and communicable male and I make no apology for that. If I have faults—and I am sure I do—well I do not think I can blame my gender for my behaviour without it being a cop-out. There ain’t nothing wrong with being a bloke if you behave yourself properly. I am pleased none the less that our new National candidate for West Coast - Tasman is Maureen Pugh thereby enhancing the opportunity for gender balance in the party.Stale? I do not think so. I have achieved more for the electorate in the last year in the cumulative improvement in West Coast - Tasman health infrastructure than ever before and have we not had such a wonderful Minister of Health? I have contributed as much on an annual basis to select committee work in the last year as in any other and have spoken more frequently in the Chamber. I have had a speech that went trending on Twitter. Lianne Dalziel had to say it was “trending” and not “trendy”. It was viral on the internet in the opinion of TV3—and this was after I had actually announced my retirement. So stale? No.So if that is the successful rebuttal of the Westminsterial criticism of gentlemen of European ancestry of a certain age and career achievement and if I have successfully rebutted that why the hell am I retiring? That is a good question but here is an answer because it is a question that does require answering. When I joined the National Party—signed up by Keith Holyoake who said “Be careful when you sign that membership form. You may end up in Parliament.”; that was in Kaikohe circa 1968—I actually made a commitment to work to support the party; not to seek to support myself but to support the party. I am now 69 years old and although so many people say I do not look it well I am!Hon Chris Tremain: Nah you don’t look it.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: Well thank you. I do not know of any other serving National MPs who are 69 years old but as we sign up to 3-year brackets of tenure would you really want to still be trundling around Parliament at 72? You need quite an ego if you thought you could not be replaced effectively by a younger person. I guess the only extenuating circumstance would be if you were a party leader who had a Scottish mother from the Isle of Skye but even then you would be pushing it.I guess this is the reality. Keeping a balance of diversity—age gender and ethnicity—in a caucus is a long game not a short one. Have we not all benefited from the inclusion of people of diversity and different ethnicity in this Parliament? I have got one sitting right beside me here Kanwal Bakshi who makes a huge contribution and National has certainly changed under the John Key leadership. Each of us has to think though about the future of the party and the part we want to play in it. We would all like to be here for ever but with my own retirement and the retirements of colleagues from National now the real effect will be first in 2017 when National will have an incredibly strong team—fresh but all with 3 years’ minimum experience as MPs youthful yet mature vigorous and energetic and may I say multi-shaded gender-balanced and fresh. That is the way it will be on this side of the House.I have no wish to be partisan but hey consideration should be given to how we will look as a party in comparison with one another in 3 years’ time or indeed in 6 years’ time because you have to plan that far out for refreshment and strength should some of the party’s older incumbents cling to the backs of their seats—and some of us do have a tendency to do that. Speaking entirely for myself I wish to be part of a refreshment process rather than a stagnation process within the party which will occur if people do not leave and allow replacements to come in. I think that the best way to do that is to retire at my present stage. So although I am not personally seeking re-election I am of course still steeped in the process of the election cycle.The political messages though that are put out by all the parties have a different emphasis if one is thinking as a voter rather than as one to be voted for. It gives you a different slant on things. It is interesting to see the way parties want to differentiate from one another. One of my regular phone-callers on the Coast brought this to my attention when he asked: “What about those parties that want to bring back smacking? Is it because they want us all to smack kids or do they have a secret dream of being smacked themselves if only the law would allow it? You just don’t know nowadays do you?”. He does have a point.The other point he made—and I am absolutely sure it will not cause any offence—was to ask why some parties insist on having binding referenda. He said: “It sounds to me like the way people always try to tell us what we should do and should not do with natural resources on the Coast when they do not even live here themselves.” He went on to say: “The really strange part is that the parties that say we should have binding referenda are always minority parties and by their own mandate they should not expect to be in Parliament because they did not achieve majority support.” He has a point. He has a point and I really look forward to continuing to benefit from the West Coast wisdom and the philosophical observations of people once I am outside and home again.I do not intend to speak any further on the new and emergent parties that hope to hold us in thrall to their whims and wants. In my view MMP is a reality that I think would be a pity to lose. As well as providing opportunities for new philosophies one of its vulnerabilities is that it can attract charlatans from time to time but the electorate is I trust developing a maturity in the way that it views and uses MMP.So what have I been able to contribute and what have I gained from my 9 years in this place? For me the most significant part of the parliamentary process as a backbencher is the select committee system. This is our second House our senate our House of Lords as this is where the public have a direct interface with the legislative process. This is where the public are asked what they think of the legislation being put forward. In my experience the adversarial relationship between parties and individual members is subsumed to less of a partisan system where members each consider the evidence put before them in submissions from people often based on a personal or observed experience. I have always been impressed by the sincerity and depth of explanation that the public provide. Organisations too be they corporate bodies commercial organisations or community groups come in with carefully prepared and sharply focused submissions to argue a point. Each and every submission is considered weighed and then reported back to the committee by the appointed officials who are assisting the committee.I would like to think that my main opportunity to make a contribution here has been through the committee process and I am extremely grateful for the appointments that I have had to those committees. I have developed a deep appreciation of colleagues from all sides of the House in the way that we have the capacity to work together within the committee system. It is always a bit of a surprise when you come out of the committee system. I remember when we did the review of the—oh I will not bother to deal with the individual Acts—but after some of the complex ones where we had worked together very well as parties we would come out and suddenly you could hear people speaking as if they wanted nothing to do with it and saying how dreadful it was. I can remember saying to a Minister once “This was not a reflection of the way those members spoke in the committee.” and they said “Chris they are not speaking to you in the committee. They are speaking to their membership in the public and it is not to their advantage to look as if we all work together too easily.”But representing people be they individuals or entire electorates is a big privilege and the West Coast - Tasman electorate will always be special for me. It is a delight to see that people have actually come up from the West Coast and Tasman to be with us today and I think we will give them a little clap for that. It is a hell of a long way to come. It is particularly nice to see three—one two three—Young Nats. There are four or more Young Nats in the back of the gallery. They have been with me since the third form I think at Greymouth High. They are at university now and they are doing very well.The West Coast - Tasman electorate will always be special for me. There were aspects of political opportunity that held special appeal for me when I first arrived in 2005 but I chose and was advised to concentrate my attention on serving the electorate and I have stuck with that prime intention. All politicians in my experience wish to achieve the best they can for the people they represent with each party having separate ways of achieving that and I have always been comfortable with promoting the policies of National. There have been good times in the electorate and times of awful tragedy. Both the good times and the tragedies are part of the political journey as an MP and it has been very pleasing to me to have seen the level of agreement between parties in processing the Pike River royal commission recommendations towards workplace health and safety reform.It has been a great time to be in Parliament over the last 9 years. New Zealand plays a significant part in world affairs as a small nation with a developed and still developing economy. People are not afraid of New Zealand. We do not threaten people because of our size or aggression or anything like that. New Zealand views are listened to and sought. I think it is fair to say that we have been well served by Foreign Ministers from all parties over the last few decades and we are regarded as a very responsible world citizen. I hope the influence we have built up can be used in some of the complex and tragic dynastic problems that are occurring at the moment between Governments to the detriment and horrifying physical cost to all their citizens.Finally I looked up “valedictory” in my Chambers Dictionary. Normally it is a final speech of a graduand leaving a place of learning. For me that is a fit. It is a fit leaving here. Thanks directly to my National colleagues and to the Prime Minister and his staff for the leadership they have provided. There is no greater call than that your country needs you and gosh New Zealand does need you John Key. Thank goodness we have you as Prime Minister. This is a dynamic place. It has managed without me before—before I arrived—and it will manage without me after I have left.Hon Members: No!CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: Well all right all right. You are so kind. But it will honestly. Members and staff will concentrate on themselves the job in hand and their individual and collective party aspirations as before and that is what should happen. I will not be any more memorable than any other politician who has served here and moved on.But here is the one thing I wanted to leave with you: I do not expect the majority of you to remember me in any shape or form but I will remember each of you—each and every one of you—for all the transactions we have engaged in. I will treasure all the exchanges we have had I promise you that be it at the select committee in the debating chamber in Copperfield’s in Bellamy’s or in the gym; on social occasions on formal occasions in private conversation in private meetings or in public engagements; be it with the security staff Parliamentary Service staff the travel team the media team with Brent’s messengers the Clerk’s Office IT help services—bless them—the communications unit the research unit the library the exemplary In Style Travel taxi service headed up by Paul Rossiter Air New Zealand Koru Club the electorate teams the Young Nats my office staff past and present and bless them those who have left us: the late Dan Strong my electorate chair in Motueka and the late Margaret Dougan who worked for me and supported me in Motueka. To the voters of West Coast - Tasman and the National Party who provided me with 9 years of representation for the West Coast - Tasman electorate and to my darling wife Elspeth and my family I thank you all and I thank each and every member no matter which party you choose to belong to or which path you choose to walk along. Thanks for 9 unforgettable years. Thank you.