Ngobi TerisaTERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): Thank you Mr Speaker. E ngā mana e ngā reo e ngā iwi e ngā rau rangatira mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. E ngā tāngata whenua karanga mai karanga mai karanga mai. He mihi mahana ki a koutou. E Te Tiriti o Waitangi nāu te tīmatanga o te Kāwanatanga mihi mai mihi mai mihi mai. Nō reira tēnā koutou katoa.[To the leaders to the spokespeople to the tribes to the distinguished ones greetings one and all. To the tribes of this land welcome. My warm greetings to you also. To the Treaty of Waitangi you began our Government thank you and greetings to those of us here today.]Faafetai i le Atua i lona faatasi mai ma faamanuia mai ia te aʻu ma loʻu aiga paʻaga ma uo. Ou te talitonu i le Atua e fesoasoani mai ma faatasi mai o aʻu tonu e fai alofa ma fesoasoani mai. My grandparents Bill and Kitty Watters arrived from Glasgow on the Captain Hobson in 1956 with £60 in their pocket two weans and the promise of a job. My mum Sia Watters née Chong-nee left Samoa in 1975 to live with her sister here in Aotearoa with the hope of a better life. I am a proud daughter and granddaughter of immigrants.I come from a Labour Party union and service-to-community strong whānau. My dad is a past vice-president of the Service Workers Union and could often be found at the end of a picket line or campaigning for the Labour Party. My mum would often spend her evenings sewing clothes from factory offcuts and deliver these to those in our community that needed it. Mum even managed to make little stuffed toys which she would take to Birthright as well as more clothes for babies. Both of my parents reinforced to my two brothers William and Kieran Watters and I the importance of having a voice standing up for your rights and service to community. Regardless of the colour of your skin your gender your age who you love how much money you may or may not have and your level of education in our household we knew we had a voice that it was valid and we were worthy too. As a mixed-race Pasifika Scotswoman I don't fit neatly into the Pālagi world or the Scottish world. I first noticed this when I was about age nine. The kids at school used to call me Bounty Bar"—which happens to be one of my favourite chocolates by the way. They said it was because I was brown on the outside and white on the inside. At college I was encouraged to look only at gateway career options rather than pursue an academic pathway. Despite these challenges I learnt to walk in both worlds. I have found for the most part it is about educating others about what it means to be a proudly indigenous Pacific and Scottish wahine warrior and never to justify it. Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki: Kia ora.TERISA NGOBI: Thank you Anahila.As you can see from my upbringing there is a natural alignment with my personal values and those of the Labour Party who I am humbled and honoured to represent as the member of the Ōtaki electorate. The Labour Party supports diversity ensures the rights of workers and wants all New Zealanders to live their best lives as do I. Working at Work and Income as a case manager during COVID lockdown a kuia told me how grateful she was not to have to sit in the cold with a blanket wrapped around her and she could now run the heating in her house and know she can afford to pay her power bill at the end of the month thanks to the introduction of the winter energy payments. I also had a young mum tell me how the increase of $25 to her household meant a packet of nappies two 2-litre bottles of milk and she could now put $9 on her son's uniform account.Out in our electorate I have business owners and their employees tell me how grateful they were to be able to access the employment wage subsidy scheme. Without it they said their businesses wouldn't have survived. Furthermore their businesses were thriving with people spending money locally in their shops. I am humbled to be part of this first majority Government to be elected under MMP and I believe it is the result and a lot of this is down to the leadership of our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern—thank you. I am also grateful that we are able to change history and now for the first time ever a Pasifika woman has been elected to the Ōtaki electorate as part of the biggest intake of Pasifika MPs doubling last term's numbers. When I say thank you to the people of Ōtaki thank you does not truly show how grateful I am. They voted for diversity kindness compassion and a better Aotearoa for everybody. I will work hard in our electorate and I will pursue the election promises I made during the campaign. I will seek better access to health services transportation continue to support our commitment to the four-lane highway in Levin and add value where I can to reducing poverty and inequalities. Being born and raised in Levin with a short stint overseas in the UK working in health and disabilities as well as residential social work I came home to Ōtaki electorate and continue to live in Levin with my whānau. I missed my church community St. Joseph's the beautiful Tararua maunga looking out at Kapiti Island the normalisation of te reo Māori as you walk throughout the electorate the best bacon and egg pies and orange chocolate-chip ice cream. But most of all I missed the community spirit of the Ōtaki electorate that ties us together from Foxton right through to Paraparaumu. Our electorate has been grateful for the Provincial Growth Fund that supports much-needed projects in the Ōtaki electorate such as the Foxton river loop Taraika Ōtaki Māoriland Waikanae riverways and Paraparaumu Gateway project. This is a great start. However there is much more that still needs to be done to improve outcomes for the Ōtaki people. Our region has examples of innovative and green projects such as Energise Ōtaki solar farm yet just a short distance to Levin Lake Horowhenua a taonga to the people of Muaūpoko and the Horowhenua is highly polluted. This highlights that there is still much to be done to protect and restore our environment. My time at Oranga Tamariki as a contract manager allowed me to see the incredible work agencies such as Youth One Stop Shop Horowhenua and Kāpiti Youth Support do supporting our rangatahi and most vulnerable with a range of health issues as well as helping them to gain access to alternative education opportunities. Working on these contracts also showed the gaps and where these groups are underfunded the prospect of them not being able to continue to provide a full range of services they currently provide to our rangatahi doesn't bear thinking about. The Ōtaki electorate has the oldest population in New Zealand—all our kaumātua. It ranks first among general electorates on several age-related issues yet there is no hospital in this electorate nor is there public transport to get to either Palmerston North or Wellington hospitals as our regular rail stops at Waikanae. From Waikanae north we have one train that does one trip once a day except for in the weekends. It is also set at around $30 per round trip. This is unaffordable for many of our students low-income families and seniors. We need to improve transport infrastructure in the region while also considering options to improve hospital-level services within the electorate. I will prioritise this work with my Government colleagues to address these issues for the people of the Ōtaki electorate. More support and resources are needed to tackle the high rates of family violence and deep deprivation—especially in the northern part of our electorate—and the lack of affordable housing in the Ōtaki electorate. Last term was a great start in reducing child poverty and inequality tackling the housing crisis that we inherited from the previous National Government and putting a real focus on climate change but much more still needs to be done to ensure the wellbeing and living standards of all New Zealanders are raised. In my time in this House I will be working tirelessly to progress this mahi. Mr Speaker standing here before you as the newly minted MP for Ōtaki I must acknowledge those who have supported me to achieve this great honour. I would like to start by thanking our Labour members supporters and volunteers from all corners of our electorate from our nannies—who made some of the best sausage rolls I've ever tasted and as you can see I've tasted loads—our letter-writers sign-wavers door-knockers phone-canvassers and hoarding teams to those who gave me a cup of tea and a sympathetic ear. No words will truly express the love and appreciation I have for you all. Also the rainbow takatāpuhi fa'afafine communities Pasifika communities women's branches—especially of our Valkyries ladies—union and Māori communities with a special thanks to Ngāti Tukorehe. I have to make special mention of our amazing campaign manager and my beautiful friend Rebecca Ellery-Winchcombe and her team who drove a hard campaign. Thank you to my Thursday sisters for keeping it real and holding it down for Henry and my babies while I have been away and to my Watters and Chongnee families for your unconditional love and support. They say it takes a village and our village is proof of this. I must also acknowledge those that have passed: my grandad Bill and Kitty Watters Tom and Trish Waho Dianne Metcalfe Grandpa Laulu Viko Chongnee Uncle Kelly Uncle Silio Uncle Taki Chong-nee and Auntie Anne Watters who I know would have been with us in spirit—especially Dianne. As much as they say breast cancer took you from us too soon so did poverty. I want to acknowledge some trailblazers role models who have inspired me in my political journey so far: Vui Mark Gosche Luamanuvao Winnie Laban the Hon Carmel Sepuloni and the Hon Nanaia Mahuta. There is so much power in seeing people who look like you doing the role you aspire to. Married to an African myself I would like to thank brother Ibrahim Omer for not only putting your hand up and representing the African community of Aotearoa but for providing my children with a role model that they can look up to. Fa'afetai tele lava to the Pasifika caucus who have been so supportive. As a new person settling in you have wrapped your support around me and given me invaluable guidance. I would especially like to thank the Hon Aupito William Sio and the Hon Jenny Salesa who supported the Ōtaki electorate and myself during our campaign. I also acknowledge the support from other Ministers and MPs who came to the beautiful Ōtaki electorate especially Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson who gave us a whole day of your very precious time. Also the Hon Andrew Little and MPs Adrian Rurawhe and Greg O'Connor thank you for your ongoing counsel. To my mum and dad Bill and Sia Watters for giving me a social conscience and reminding me to use my voice to fight for justice access equality and the rights for all people—I am so proud to be your daughter. You were always opening your doors to those seeking advice on unions and Pasifika advocacy and sharing what little you had with others. I love you both very much. Lastly my husband Henry Ngobi and our babies Azaria Vito and Tebasawa. Henry you are the kindest most humble and genuine man I will ever know. You're an amazing role model to our babies. Boys I know this is a big change in our lives with me not being at home as much. I hope that one day you will understand that Daddy and I are doing this so that the world you grow up in and your friends grow up in will be a better and a fairer place. This is me trying to be the best mum I can be ensuring the decisions made give you boys the best chance in life. I love you beyond words. I cannot stress enough how very humbled I am to be part of this progressive Government and the opportunity to make a change for the better for all New Zealanders. I will not waste this opportunity nor will I ever take the next three years for granted. Fa'afetai tele lava. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Applause]Waiata"