Pugh Maureen; Stephenson ToddMAIDEN STATEMENTSASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Members in accordance with a determination of the Business Committee we will now have maiden statements. Following the maiden statements the House will adjourn until 2 p.m. on 13 February 2024. I call on Todd Stephenson to make his maiden statement.TODD STEPHENSON (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker and can I wish you a happy New Year and all the best for your family in 2024.Can I congratulate the Rt Hon Christopher Luxon on leading the National Party into Government and becoming New Zealand's 42nd Prime Minister. The Prime Minister like me has gained experience working in the corporate sector and I hope this stands us both in good stead to help deliver real change for New Zealand. To the Rt Hon Winston Peters congratulations on leading New Zealand First back into Parliament and Government. People can say many things about the current Deputy Prime Minister and foreign Minister but you can't question his commitment to public service. Congratulations to all the National Party and New Zealand First MPs elected. I look forward to working with all of you over the course of this Government.Now that brings me to the ACT team. To the Hon David Seymour with the 2023 election you have firmly cemented your place in ACT history. Having already rebuilt the party to a multi-MP caucus in 2020 we returned in 2023 with more MPs and an additional electorate—good work Brooke. On top of that ACT is for the first time sitting around the Cabinet table with a significant number of Ministers. The Catholics have saints; in ACT we have what some of us like to call icons". These are people like Sir Roger Douglas and the Hon Derek Quigley who founded the party; Brian Nicolle who built it; the Hon Richard Prebble who led it into Parliament; and Catherine Isaac who anchored it in classical liberalism. David your place as an ACT icon is now assured. I also want to thank you—Hon David Seymour: You also said I'm history!TODD STEPHENSON: —not yet!—for all the support encouragement and advice that you have given me and continue to give me.This election has delivered an extremely talented group of ACT MPs with different backgrounds experiences skills strengths and approaches. I couldn't be prouder to sit alongside Cameron Laura Parmjeet Simon Mark Andrew Karen Nicole Brooke and David. I've never felt so welcomed and supported within a team and I know I'm going to learn so much from each of you.To the ACT staff here in Wellington and in Auckland thank you for everything you do for us to ensure we can deliver for voters. Without you the ACT team wouldn't be effective as a party or in Parliament.To the ACT board members and supporters thank you. It is only with your hard work and the efforts of volunteers that a political party can campaign grow and thrive. It is your efforts that have delivered the ACT team to Parliament and into Government and you should be proud.To the almost quarter of a million New Zealanders who voted ACT thank you. We don't take lightly the trust you have placed in us to deliver a better Government for New Zealand. I hope the start we are making lives up to your decision to support us. I also want to give a special shout-out to the electorate of Southland where I stood and which delivered a very strong party vote for us.To the new and returning members on the other side of the House congratulations. It is important for our democracy that people are still prepared to stand for Parliament and to take on this unique role. I look forward to working with all MPs over this term.So I stand here as the 30th ACT MP elected to this House. Given that we've only had 10 MMP elections being an ACT MP in one of the world's only classical liberal parties with elected representatives is a rare and unique opportunity.How did I end up here? Was it something I'd planned to do for many years? Well the truth is actually no. I have a reasonably simple approach to life: when an opportunity presents itself grab it.I think this approach to some extent might have been shaped by my family and upbringing. I was born in Lumsden Southland; my parents at the time were living in Te Ānau. I very much enjoyed during the election campaign people coming up and telling me they were also born in Lumsden. I actually recently discovered there's a Wikipedia page dedicated to people born in Lumsden and I'm on it! My parents had met in Te Ānau a few years earlier my mother working as a hostess on a boat taking people to the glow worm caves and my dad as a cave guide. While Te Ānau was my mother's hometown my dad had come there to teach at the local school. He had grown up in Dunedin with his younger sister Elaine and my paternal grandparents Martin and Kath Stephenson who were Scottish; their families having come to New Zealand a generation before. My mother's parents Alf and Thelma Excell were of English descent and after they were married had moved to Te Ānau to become some of the town's first full-time residents. It was there that they had three daughters: my mother Dawn and her two younger sisters Lynne and Cheryl.Before starting their families both of my grandfathers Alf and Martin served in World War II overseas. My grandmother Thelma had also served in the Women's Royal New Zealand Navy. That conflict remains a defining moment in our history and including our own. It's because of the service and sacrifice of so many that we can stand in this House today and enjoy the freedoms that they fought for. I'd like to think my grandparents would be more than a little chuffed to have their grandson here as an MP. I have many fond memories of growing up spending time with my grandparents in both Dunedin and Te Ānau.For a kid growing up in Southland Dunedin seemed like a big city with its tall buildings shops and hydro-slide. I continue to have a fondness for Dunedin. It's where I went to university and I would again return to be admitted to the Bar. I also had the opportunity of practising law with Judith Ablett-Kerr and that would be one I would cherish for ever—I really appreciate that experience.Te Ānau would become a second home particularly during the school holidays. A few years after I was born my dad accepted a position as the principal of Mimihau School—that's just outside of Wyndham and for those not from the South it's kind of near Gore. During our time at Mimihau my brother Brad would be born in Gore. He's actually a bit more of a petrolhead than me so I wonder if that was the start of it having been born in Gore—I'm not sure! Mimihau would also mark the start of our own family's "tour of Southland". Dad would grab opportunities to advance in his teaching career often with my mum working at the same school. In addition to Mimihau this would see us living in Isla Bank in Western Southland and Bluff—right at the bottom of the South Island—before Invercargill. I attended four different schools before I went to high school. Our family made many friends in these communities some of which we still see today. I have no doubt that the experience of moving school needing to make new friends and fit into new environments built a significant amount of resilience which would later assist me in life.My parents had decided that my brother and I should only attend one high school. So we both attended James Hargest High School—now James Hargest College. I really enjoyed high school. It is actually my recollection that I never had a single sick day during my entire five years—someone's probably going to check that now. Our high school year group also got on very very well and I'm delighted to have some of my high school friends here in the gallery today. It was during high school that I became more aware of current events and politics. I grew up during the fourth Labour Government and the significant and necessary changes they made to advance New Zealand.After high school I wouldn't live in Invercargill again but still consider my hometown. It is where my brother Brad; his wife Lizzie; and my three nephews Scout Dustin and Murphy live. Scout is continuing the family tradition of going to James Hargest.My parents would continue to happily live and work in Invercargill for many more years. Sadly in 2010 my mother Dawn would pass away after a short illness. She was an extremely determined woman always willing to try something new and ensure my brother and I had a great upbringing. I'm sad she didn't get to meet her three grandchildren her numerous nieces and nephews or my partner Alex but her presence is always with us and I know she would have been extremely proud of what Brad and I have achieved. Dad would eventually leave Invercargill after he retired moving to Te Anau. He would find love again marrying Robynne in 2022 and we would gain an extended family. It's great to have you here Dad and also Robynne up in the gallery. In 1993 I went to the University of Otago and studied law and had the quintessential "scarfie" experience. In the same year as I started university Sir Roger Douglas had published Unfinished Business and then along with the Hon Derek Quigley founded the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers. It was over those early years of university that I discovered what I believed in that I was a classical liberal and I found my political party. The ideas of individual freedom and personal responsibility that the role the State should be limited that Governments shouldn't do anything the private sector could do more effectively and efficiently and of course low flat tax—these all resonated with me. So while I might have explored my sexuality trying both sides before picking a team I've never done that with my political parties. I joined ACT New Zealand on its formation and went on to campaign for the party at four general elections work with it thanks to Priscilla Tate and I was twice elected to the ACT Board. In November this year ACT will be 30 years old. While it makes me feel a little bit old it's a significant achievement that Brooke van Velden who was only one when the party was formed has never known a political landscape without ACT. I'm proud only to have ever voted ACT supporting the party even in the bleakest of times when the liberal flame was almost extinguished.In 2006 I embraced the opportunity to work overseas and moved to Australia. This would result in an extremely fulfilling career the majority of which was spent in the medicines sector. The medicines industry is a great example of private investment in the capitalist system. These companies are everyday harnessing science collaborating with stakeholders and getting investment to deliver the latest medical treatments. It's a great example of where the private sector is doing something no Government could or should do. No Government could manage the complexity let alone accept the considerable cost and risks involved. My work in the medicines industry also allowed me the opportunity to work with various patient communities and some of their healthcare professionals. This has been extremely rewarding as I got to understand the day-to-day issues of people living with various diseases and also learnt the importance of patients having a voice in the healthcare system. Thank you to everyone who works in the health sector and the patient community particularly those I've had the pleasure to work with. I know the difference your efforts are making every day. I'm committed to working with David Seymour to deliver a modern efficient and effective medicines access process so Kiwis can get the world's best treatments. We won't be able to do this alone and so I look forward to continuing to collaborate with those in the sector.After my long association with ACT and my background of work in Australia around the middle of last year a series of conversations took place about me standing. So I reflected on my history with ACT and what I'd learnt in the past 17 years. I'd been responsible for strategy and held leadership roles. I knew about government and public policy. Many times I'd aligned people on a common goal developed a strategy to achieve it and then worked for an outcome. I knew that no company's place in the world was certain and that to be great they must continue to innovative understand their customers and stakeholders and compete for capital and talent. I thought these could be useful skills and insights to help address the significant challenges that New Zealand faces. And in the end I didn't really have a compelling reason to say no—so here I am.We live in an increasingly complex and global world and we must ensure New Zealand doesn't fall further behind its peers. I'm here to play my part in how we rethink how our Government operates and delivers for Kiwis. And while I'll bring a classical liberal lens I'm always willing to speak with others who share a desire for a better Government—for a better New Zealand. Finally there is one person I do want to talk about: my partner Alex. Almost 14 years ago Alex and I met in the way which is now so common: online. Alex is an amazing person: great company super intelligent funny and incredibly kind and caring. He's also always taken a keen interest in my professional career. He is my greatest advocate cheerleader sounding board and always provides advice and feedback. I got a lot of advice and feedback on my campaign from Alex and I also look forward to the debrief on this speech tonight. I want to thank Alex's family: his dad John; brother Paul and wife Visjna; his nephew Kiwan; and niece Talia for welcoming me into the family and also understanding and letting us move back to New Zealand. Thank you Alex for joining me on this next chapter of our lives—I love you very much.While ACT has a number of principles and values there is one I'd like to read to you all: "Each person must be judged as an individual by reference to the person's own personality character and actions and not as a member of a group defined by race gender sexuality religion political belief or other group characteristic." So it is on my own merits as everyone should be that I want to be judged by my time in this House. So thanks to everyone who is here to support me today I really appreciate you coming. And with that it's now back to the business of a better Government for a better New Zealand. Thank you Mr Speaker. [Applause]"