Pham LanLAN PHAM (Green): Ai lam chu dat nay? Ngāti Toa Te Atiawa Ngāti Raukawa ki te tonga.Kō Ngāti Aotearoa rāua ko Vietnam oku iwi. Ko Lan Pham tōku ingoa. He mihi mahana ki a koutou kua tae mai nae. Warmest greetings to you all. My name is Lan Pham. My whakapapa is of Vietnamese and Pākehā heritage and I am so proud to stand here as the first Vietnamese MP in te Whare Pāremata.There is a saying my father my Ba reminded me of: Uống nước nhớ nguồn"—"Drink the water; remember the source". Standing here today I want to begin by acknowledging my source: my incredible family friends and supporters; those who are here those afar and those who have passed on especially my amazing mum Rosalie and my mother-in-law Natalie. I want to acknowledge the fine proud people of Vietnam and also the thousands of Vietnamese who just like my Ba have settled here had families lived lives and flourished in this incredible land of Aotearoa—xin chao.So how did I get here? Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula was where I had the pleasure of running for election supported by the greatest Ōtautahi dream team—you know who you are—in the greatest electorate in the motu. It includes a fair chunk of the south of Ōtautahi Christchurch City. Mr Speaker I want to acknowledge you for your longstanding representation for Ōtautahi and my Banks Peninsula MP sisters Vanessa Tracey and Laura and of course to the Port Hills communities where no doubt all our hearts and well wishes are especially today with the devastating fires. The origins of Banks Peninsula lie with the legendary explorer Rākaihautū captain of the first waka that settled in Te Waka o Aoraki the South Island and the bountiful mahinga kai he and his people encountered and enjoyed. Rākaihautū's story is connected to mine as it's on these same lands that my great-great-Irish ancestors arrived in 1876 disembarking from the Waitangi in Whakaraupō Lyttleton settling in Akaroa.My English heritage is from my granddad who served in Egypt and Italy alongside his three brothers before an injury returned him home to safety.My Vietnamese heritage originates in Quang Ngai a beautiful coastal province in central Vietnam where Ba grew up with his parents and tribe of 11 brothers and sisters. In the midst of the Vietnam War Ba came to Tāmaki-makau-rau as part of the Colombo Plan scholarship. It was there at Auckland Uni that he met my mum. From this rather radical pairing of a devout catholic and a zen Buddhism practitioner came love marriage and six kids in our Mitsubishi carriage.Our upbringing here in Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara was full of love and rowdiness. Our door was always open to make room for family and friends who needed a home or a meal. Looking back my life and schooling at St Mary's College—just up the hill—was a constant state of blissful ignorance. I truly believed the world was this brilliant place—which it is—led by wise thoughtful leaders who looked at all the evidence and made the most sensible decisions for the good of all people and the planet.There's a saying "The biggest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it." Well as a young person I was that threat. It wasn't until I finished my undergrad degree at Massey in Palmerston North and realised that I had no real practical skills that I moved south to Dunedin enrolled in a Conservation Corps course and started using my brain.There I met not only my dreamboat husband Emerson but I began meeting and learning about our most endangered native fish species who are most commonly encountered fried as a whitebait patty. I learnt of bizarre outdated laws such as the fact that the one native fish with explicit protection was declared extinct several decades before the law was even made.I went on to work for the Department of Conservation as a freshwater ranger witnessing firsthand both the wonder and degradation of our precious waterways. I began learning about the history of Aotearoa the deep injustice of colonisation and the faulty foundations that we've built this country upon. It was over this time I began coming into contact with some of our leaders—MPs local councillors and the like—and was surprised by their lack of understanding yet the strength of their opinions and it made me wonder: who are the people running our country?It was enough of a prompt for me to take on my Master's in freshwater ecology at Otago University. Then with a group of friends started a charitable trust called Working Waters Trust. We worked with awesome landowners—mainly farmers—and partnered them up with rūnanga schools and community groups to protect and restore native fish habitat.While I loved working in these delightful bubbles of native fish worship and habitat improvement I was becoming increasingly frustrated by what I saw around me. Just over the fence were more wetlands drained and more land intensification on a vastly bigger scale. The work we were doing wasn't enough and I could see that without change at scale it would never be enough.So I sailed off on a five-day boat ride to the paradise of Rangitāhua—Raoul Island in the Kermadecs—to take up a 12-month role as biodiversity and science manager for DOC. At this time the global consciousness around the realities and urgent need for action on climate change was rising. People around the world were taking to the streets as part of the global people's climate marches. With this involving two of my favourite things—scientific evidence and people power—I had to join. So I ran a climate march for our island and was chuffed to hit international headlines when The Guardian reported that the entire population of Raoul Island had turned out to march—all seven of us. It got me thinking about the importance of showing up and organising to be a part of something bigger. On this active volcanic island surrounded by land and ocean brimming with life I realised that the boat would return me to Christchurch a week before the local government elections and I thought "If I need to sit behind a desk to protect and restore places like this for others to treasure and experience then so be it. I'm going to run for council." and I did. Working with an awesome team in Christchurch I got to work making campaign videos from the island and spreading the word. People would contact me asking "Why are you running? You don't have any name recognition you don't have enough experience you don't have X Y Z"—typical perceived barriers that young diverse or non-political people hear when they consider running for political roles.When I returned to Christchurch for the election I got the shock of my life to discover the highest-polling candidate for Environment Canterbury was me: 55000 people across Christchurch voted for me. Across all local government election results that year only the Mayor of Auckland and Mayor of Christchurch received more votes than I did. It was a pivotal moment for me. I realised these elected roles are an open opportunity for people wanting to make a difference in the world. They're roles that to function require a diversity of representation experiences and ideas and they're a key part we so often overlook in making change. So big ups to all members in this House for taking up that challenge by putting your hands up.Across the two terms I went on to serve on Environment Canterbury the most powerful influence on me was witnessing the constant dedication of mana whenua in upholding their rights and equally their responsibilities as kaitiaki and in their exercise of tino rangatiratanga in spaces which have more often than not simply failed to give regard or effect to them.I want to acknowledge in particular those amazing rangatira whose relentless contribution to the kaupapa of upholding Te Mana o Te Wai and te Oranga o te Taiao cannot be overstated—particularly Peter Ramsden Mandy Holme and John Wilkie who have now passed and the current and past chairs and whānau of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu who I've been privileged to walk alongside some of whom are here today. Ka nui tonu ngā mihi ka nui tonu te aroha. [Many thanks and much love to you.]All of these experiences have helped me now understand that I am shaped by this whenua—the harbour and hills of Te-Whanga-nui-a-Tara; the rivers lakes and oceans across the motu. I've learnt lessons through the history of this land the death of my mum the birth of my own children and understanding my own heritage.I've had my breath taken away by the phosphorescence surrounding Te Hoiere / Maud Island by the breach of a humpback whale and her calf off Rangitahua and by the glimmer of a glitter-gold kōaro gliding through a stream in the Otago high country.I am wholeheartedly committed to understanding and healing the injustices of our past and upholding He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti as the extraordinary foundation of our path ahead. I want to make it crystal clear as a representative of the rich multicultural fabric that makes up this country to every person of every ancestry that justice for Māori will not take away or erode your own rights as some may claim. Addressing the injustices of our past and moving forward to uphold Te Tiriti is something we can all be part of and all have a role to play in. I promise you: if you engage and seek to listen and understand you will be more enriched and feel more connected to your own place of standing on this land—that is the generosity and the invitation that Te Tiriti offers us. I'm grateful for that and grateful that life and circumstance has given me the privilege to be here in this moment with all of you because ultimately what a time to be alive and what a task ahead of us. A time when we live in an upside-down world where the protection of trade routes has a higher priority than the protection of human life; where the profits of corporations and banks have more sanctity than the ecological integrity of our forests our oceans and our children's future; where despite all our innovation and technology we neglect to secure the fundamentals of life on earth like clean drinking water like a stable climate to grow food like housing our people—the things that connect and sustain us. So we're at a crux right? A crossroads where transformational radical change is necessary. But what exactly is so radical about it? When I joined the Green Party I was struck by how often people would use that word "radical". "Oh Lan" they'd say "why did you join the Greens? They're too radical for me."Well let's unpack. The term "radical" is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "going to the root or origin; touching upon or affecting what is essential and fundamental." I am so proud to be part of a bigger-picture kaupapa focused on the essential and fundamental things in life that support our earth ecosystem to function a kaupapa focused on designing a world that prioritises the essential work of caring for each other as fellow human beings and caring for our planet as the basis of our economy and our society—not as a nice to have not as a when we can afford it but as an essential. It's focused on what should be a not so radical idea: that the foundation of Government decision-making should be informed by mātauranga evidence and long-term mokopuna decisions over short-term quick fixes individual reckons and Google research. Some may call this radical but to me it's more accurately plain common sense. My hope is that we are a wise enough group of elected members that we can collectively turn our minds and our experience to what is truly essential and fundamental for this country and our future. But I've been around decision-making tables long enough to know that it doesn't matter what my or any one individual's aspiration is; what matters is our collective action our shared plan. What matters is what we do together.A wise friend once told me "Proceed as if success is inevitable." In this story of unprecedented global challenge success to me looks like a world that recognised the true wealth of our society is based on care and connection to each other and a world designed within the Earth's ecological boundaries and that gets us the ultimate reward: a legacy of abundance for future generations. So let's proceed as if success is inevitable: to lead the world in waging peace justice and care for all life as deliberately and powerfully as those who today wage war genocide and destruction of our planet. Sure we're in the thick of our own mess right now but I want to finish with the wise words of Vietnamese monk Thích Nhất Hạnh: "No mud no lotus." The opportunity to bloom is today. It will be extraordinary and here is your personal invitation to all be a part of it.Mō tātou ā mō kā uri ā muri ake nei—for us and our children after us. Kia ora.[Applause hongi and harirū]Waiata—"Ko Te Tiriti"The House adjourned at 6.25 p.m."