Davis Kelvin: Maiden Statements 
Davis Kelvin: Maiden Statements 
[Volume:651;Page:204] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
Whakarongo mai whakarongo mai. Whakarongo mai ki tenei uri o Ngatokimatawhaorua e tu atu ra i te akau o Ipipiri. E tuwhera atu ra te awa o Taumarere-herehere-i-te-riri. Ka rere ma Otuihu tae ki nga rekereke o Tapukewharawhara. Raro i a Puketohunoa ko Puhangahau takoto kau nga koiwi tupuna ara mai he tetekura. Ka hiki te manawa i te kakara reka o Te Karetu. Nga kaitiaki o te ahika ko Ngati Manu. Tiheiwa mauri ora. Tena tatou katoa i whakarauikatia mai i raro i te tahuhu o to tatou nei Whare. Tena ra hoki koutou e toku whanau whanui kua patu mai i nga huarahi mai i nga pito tawhiti o te motu ki te tatu ki konei hei tautoko i te kaupapa o te ra nei. Tena tatou o tatou mate maha. 
[ 
Hearken listen to my words. Take heed of this descendant of Ngatokimatawhaorua. I stand on the shore of Ipipiri at the mouth of my river Taumarere-herehere-i-te-riri. It flows by Otuihu and reaches the heels of Tapukewharawhara. There at the base of Puketohunoa is Puhangahau the final resting place of the ancestors. A new frond has arisen. My heart is imbued by the sweet scent of Te Karetu. Ngati Manu are guardians of the homelands. Sneeze ’tis the breath of life. Greetings to us all assembled here under the ridgepole of our House. Greetings to you my extended family who set out on the highways from distant points of the land to be here to support today’s event. And greetings to you our many dead 
.] 
Mr Assistant Speaker I acknowledge and congratulate you on your election to your position. I also acknowledge the leaders of the Labour Party the Hon Phil Goff and the Hon Annette King. I look forward to working with them both and with the Labour caucus and to making a contribution to our team and nation. Also I would like to acknowledge and congratulate the Rt Hon Helen Clark on her formidable leadership of the Labour Party and indeed on having been the Prime Minister of New Zealand for the last 9 years. I thank Helen for the way she honoured my people of Ngati Manu earlier this year when she visited our valley and marae and endorsed my candidacy. 
With affection I acknowledge my family and friends—those who have been able to traverse the length of Te Ika-a-Maui to be here especially my wife Moira and my father Panapa as well as those who could not be here including my children Kelly Billie and Reweti; my mother Glenys; my brothers Patrick and Greg; my sister Sonya; my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law; my mother-in-law and father-in-law Tom and Raewyn Hoddle; my numerous nephews and nieces aunties and uncles and cousins; and my whanau from Ngati Manu. I also acknowledge my many tribal connections in the mid-north to Te Kapotai Ngati Hine Ngapuhi whanui Ngati Wai and Ngati Whatua. I acknowledge in the far north the iwi Ngati Kuri Te Aupouri Ngai Takoto Ngati Kahu and Te Rarawa and also those of my iwi further south—in particular Ngai Tai Ngati Kahungunu and Ngati Raukawa. 
I am honoured to have stood for Labour in the seat of Te Tai Tokerau and although disappointed not to have won it I acknowledge my whanaunga Hone Harawira who was successful—tena koe e Hone. I also congratulate and acknowledge all other Maori members of Parliament and hope that Maori will see the benefits of our presence here. 
I hail from the valley of Karetu. Across the road from our marae stands Puketohunoa one of our ancestral maunga. On the summit of Puketohunoa once dwelt my tupuna Whetoi Pomare. From his whare named Tihema he had sweeping panoramas of the valley and across to Ruapekapeka the site of the last battle of the northern land wars. At the foot of our maunga Puketohunoa flows our Karetu creek which runs seaward and connects with our tupuna awa known as Taumarere-herehere-i-te-riri. One of our Ngati Manu waiata connects these three features to one another in the lines: “Tu ana matou ki runga o Puketohunoa ka titiro atu ki Ruapekapeka ka hoki mai ki te puna o oku matua e e karekare nei e ko Taumarere.” 
[“ 
We stand on Puketohunoa and look upon Ruapekapeka and back again to the rippling waters of our parents’ bathing pool it is Taumarere 
.”] 
If one was to drift in the current of first the Karetu creek past the foot of Puketohunoa then into the flow of Taumarere one would eventually pass by the cradle of our nation Waitangi where as we all know in February 1840 a number of Maori chiefs including my tupuna Whetoi Pomare drew their moko on to a piece of paper that is now known as the Treaty of Waitangi. I would like to believe that when my tupuna Pomare etched the shape of his facial tattoo on to that piece of paper he did it in the hope that his actions would ensure the future prosperity of his whanau his hapu and his iwi. The world has changed 168 years later beyond what my tupuna could have imagined. But what has not changed at least in my whanau is that in the six generations since from generation to generation through to my grandparents parents and my brothers sister and myself is the understanding that our actions today leave a legacy for generations to come and must contribute to the ongoing prosperity of whanau hapu and iwi. 
The prosperity of all Maori is necessary if we are to fulfil the words of our great Tai Tokerau rangatira Sir James Henare when he once said: “It is preposterous that any Maori should aspire to become a poor pakeha when their true destiny prescribed by the Creator is to become a great Maori.” What makes Maori great? I believe all Maori who achieve their potential or beyond and bolster the standing of their whanau and community achieve a measure of greatness. As a former principal it was immensely rewarding to witness the joy and satisfaction on the face of whanau when their children achieved. I was acutely aware though of how thin those ranks of achievement are in many of our schools. New Zealand history shows that Maori can succeed in the face of adversity. But this success needs to become the norm rather than the exception. The greatness of a nation is linked to the distinction of its people. 
I come to the House seeking to make a contribution that enriches our nation through expanding the ranks of those Maori families who seek educational achievement. The lessons of the chalkface have value and ought to be borne in mind as we debate how to innovate fund and improve our system of education. Being a great achiever begins for our children when they enjoy aroha—that is unconditional love from parents and caregivers who realise that raising children is not a right to do as one likes but an obligation to the next generation. Educational engagement and achievement is vital to Maori greatness and prosperity. We will achieve more with one full generation of highly educated Maori than we will from the last 168 years of grievance. We need Maori to be educated so that we become the people of influence and the decision makers. 
I have spent 20 years at the chalkface in education. I enjoyed a 14-year career as a principal and am especially proud of the achievements of the board of trustees staff and students of Kaitaia Intermediate School which in 7 years saw a school turn from almost total academic failure to academic success. We proved at Kaitaia Intermediate School that Maori do not need to wait decades or generations to see improvements to Maori achievement and well-being at school. It can happen almost immediately. With the right approach by principals teachers bureaucrats politicians and others within the system Maori can and will make immense and rapid gains in achievement. Those will lead on to gains in Maori health and life expectancy financial well-being leadership positions and influence and being able to collectively and fully contribute to our country. 
We must ensure our education system engages Maori from their first day of school right through until their last day at end of year 13 and on to a lifetime of striving for knowledge wisdom and understanding. For many Maori disengagement from the educational system is but the first step in disengagement from society in general. Maori will never achieve greatness or beyond our potential unless we are educationally successful. Therefore it is imperative if Maori are to achieve great things that we get the education system right for Maori. 
Conversely we Maori have to realise one of our greatest weaknesses is to blame the system. We know that history has conspired against us. We know a heck of a lot happened to our people that has set our progress and development back and has resulted in our struggle to prosper and achieve greatness. But as critical as I am of those who deny the effects of the damage the system has done to Maori over the last 168 years I am equally critical of Maori who blame only the system for their own failings. Do we as a people have the courage to accept responsibility for our lives? It is time for us to collectively step up and as we say para te huarahi—blaze a trail. I have sat in hui where the talk has all been about the injustices the grievances and the excessive navel-gazing that stagnates the mind and saps the energy and the soul. It is time we stopped wallowing in self-pity and instead looked for solutions. It is time our hui were all forward thinking positive and solutions based. 
Last Wednesday I attended a seminar where a group of Maori gathered to discuss information and communications technology. These people were educated professional and motivated. There was no self-pity there was no talk of grievance and there was no talk of injustice. There were problems and frustrations but they searched for solutions. We need to replicate that sense of purpose and mission in our hui our marae and our homes. Blaming the system implies we are too weak as a people to help ourselves—that we are victims. Bad stuff has happened but we must cease to be victims. Maori need to sort ourselves out. Education is the passport but we need to put ourselves on the flight to the future. Obviously policy process and ideology are a part of the journey and it will happen with a collaboration of the spirit. 
A kaumatua said to me earlier this year that the problem with our Maori youth is actually us the adults. His words to me were: “We need to lay off our youth and sort ourselves out.” If we want our Maori youth to act in a certain way to achieve personal greatness then they need Maori adults to be the role models and demonstrate how that is to be done. If we are serious about wanting to prosper and provide hope for our kids then Maori adults need to step up. We Maori men need to step up. It is said that being a male is a matter of birth but being a man is a matter of choice. Likewise being a Maori is a matter of birth but being a Maori achiever is a matter of choice. We Maori men must have the courage to lead our whanau and hapu towards prosperity and greatness. We are renowned for our warrior spirit but it is time that warrior spirit manifested itself in new ways. We need to replace anger grievance and self-pity with dignity determination resilience and forgiveness. 
I conclude by stating that I have hope for the future: the future of my children and the future for us as Maori. I believe that by lifting Maori educational achievement and by us as Maori having the courage to take control of our present we will as a people achieve prosperity and the future greatness that is our destiny. That road to greatness has been paved with trials and tribulations. But those trials and tribulations never stopped Sir James Henare a boy from Motatau deep in the heart of Ngati Hine from standing as an example of how our destiny as Maori prescribed by the Creator is to achieve greatness. I look forward to the contributions I can make to this forty-ninth Parliament as an educator a politician and a Maori for the benefit of the whole nation. 
No reira tatou ma huri noa i to tatou Whare rau rangatira ma e te whanau tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
So to all of us throughout our House the many leaders and the family greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to us all 
.] 
Waiata