Barry Maggie: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Barry Maggie: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 16 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:515. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore) 
: 
 E te Whare tena koe. E nga mana e nga reo e nga iwi o nga hau e wha tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. To the leaders to the many voices to all the diverse people and communities of the four winds I honour and respect and greet you all. I acknowledge you Mr Speaker my parliamentary colleagues and Sir Don McKinnon. I am indeed honoured to be one of the 26 new members of this 50th Parliament which more than any other before it best represents us: the rich cultural and ethnic diversity that is modern New Zealand. Greetings to all my friends up there in the public gallery who made the effort to come along here today. Thank you very much for all your ongoing support. Thank you too to the National Party to the president to the board members to Peter Kiely and to those assembled—the loyal stalwarts. Many from the North Shore have made the journey here today; many others are watching it on the television or the podcast—there are so many ways to get involved in this auspicious occasion. I acknowledge you all with gratitude. Special thanks go to my North Shore team. I stand here today because of your accumulated wise advice your enthusiasm and your tenacity. A year ago many of you did not even know me and I am humbled by the loyalty the trust and the faith that you all had in me to deliver for the electorate your treasure your taonga.  
Heartfelt thanks to my partner Grant. We met during an Outward Bound course which turned out to be an excellent training ground for the campaign trail. Grant has been my mainstay and my No. 1 supporter and I most certainly would not be here without him. All my love as a mother goes out to my son Joe. He has taught me more about life in the past 14 years than anyone else ever has. I am incredibly proud of him and very thankful that he is here with us today. My boy Joseph Vincent was named after his two grandfathers. On my side we hailed from Counties Cork and Kerry and my son’s father Paddy Marron was born in County Monaghan. Paddy who is up there in the gallery next to our son Joe arrived here in New Zealand from the Emerald Isle on the good ship  
Southern Cross 
. It was the very day of his third birthday and he was clamouring for his presents as they do. His father told him that he was giving him a very special gift: a new start and a new life in a new country. My people were farmers and this was their land of opportunity too. They were practical people who worked the land and much like myself were fond of reinvention and recycling. 
 Actually as the crow flies I have not come very far at all—about half a kilometre really from where I was born in Tinakori Road. These parliamentary buildings—the precinct as they are known—were always part of the backdrop of my life. It was my favourite shortcut into town through the leafy grounds past the statues of the great and the good. I went to Sacred Heart School the convent primary school across the road from here in Guilford Terrace. My family went to mass at the Basilica in Hill Street which is the church where my parents were married where I was baptised and where we held both of their funerals.  
My mother Agnes was the first single woman the Bank of New South Wales had ever given a business loan to. She opened her florist shop round the corner from here in Molesworth Street in 1939 the age of the corsage the funeral wreath and the American soldiers—all very good for building what became a highly successful business. Raised on a farm in the Depression years Mum was a hard worker and to save enough money for her first home she also ran a boarding house and as part of her wartime duty she worked nights at the glove and munitions factory. On weekends she was the mainstay of the dig for victory vegetable garden team here in Thorndon. To borrow the Sam Hunt line I am the fruit of old loins. Mum had me her only child when she was 43. Never one to peak too early she later learnt to play golf—hitting a hole in one at the age of 72. Agnes was a remarkable and a determined woman who taught me many things including the value of a strong work ethic the importance of trying your best if you want to achieve the things that matter and never ever giving in on what you really believe in. In her later years she taught me how to live in the moment which was perhaps one of her greatest gifts to me.  
David the old man had a sharp mind and a quick temper. He was very fond of a drink and an argument and I learnt early on to justify my point of view or keep quiet. These are skills I feel will come in very handy in this Chamber. Dad had falsified his age to enlist to fight in World War II. He was keen to serve his country as his father Edward had before him at Gallipoli. I was raised to believe that in peacetime the highest form of public service is to be a member of Parliament. I know that they would all be very proud of me standing here today in this Chamber as the first politician in my family.  
My forebears picked this extraordinary country as the place they wanted to call home and now my family and I have chosen to cross the harbour and be part of the North Shore community. It is a great privilege for me to be here today representing them following in the footsteps of such honourable men as George Gair and Wayne Mapp. And I am breaking in some new ground of my own becoming National’s first-ever woman MP north of the harbour bridge. I was born in the year it opened in 1959 and I can assure you that we will not be waiting around patiently for another 52 years for a second harbour crossing. The North Shore is defined by water—the glorious Waitemata Harbour the Hauraki Gulf and the freshwater playground of Lake Pupuke. Shore people work and play on the margins between the ocean and the land. We enthusiastically sail windsurf paddleboard swim and fish. There is a sense of satisfaction really in being different from either our big city or our rural neighbours. There is a tangible sense that we are indeed fortunate to be still enjoying that “end of the golden weather” lifestyle that was made famous by local playwright Bruce Mason. Laid back—yes indeed—but never lacking when it comes to energy and vision. 
The North Shore is an unashamedly aspirational community. We have a rich cultural history and the mountains in Devonport were amongst the earliest areas of Auckland to be settled. It was occupied by Maori from the 1300s European settlers with their colonial architecture began arriving from the mid-1800s and there was a permanent naval presence by 1841—still strong to this day. Gradually farming was overtaken by shipbuilding and now tourism and appreciative visitors are a substantial and increasing source of income as they catch the ferry across from the city to sample the pleasures and diverse heritage of Devonport. Takapuna translates as “the rock with a spring”. Against the background of some of the finest beaches in the country springs a strong commercial drive and along with a handful of multimillion-dollar businesses the North Shore is home to more than 10000 small-sized businesses. I pledge to help them overcome any hurdles and to grow their opportunities. Reflecting modern New Zealand we are a culturally diverse community with nearly 10000 Asians making up more than 15 percent of our numbers. As their elected representative I pledge to do all I can to continue to build on their successes and to work with other MPs from neighbouring electorates. The Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman has been of enormous help to me and I look forward to working with him more closely in the future and with Nikki Kaye as well.  
The North Shore people reward excellence and we look after our own with the AIMES Awards. We love to crow about our local heroes our literary greats: Sargeson Fairburn Tuwhare and Mason. There is no certainly no shortage of sporting greats either to celebrate: Sir Peter Blake Ian Ferguson Ralph Roberts Buck Shelford Allison Roe Kirk Penney and the New Zealand Breakers Jacko Gill—I could go on; the roll-call does not stop there. As the MP for North Shore I am committed to building on that outstanding record and focusing on achieving our aim of becoming the New Zealand centre for high performance sport. North Harbour is already home to the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health and I would like to acknowledge and commend the hard work and determination of my colleague in the adjoining electorate of East Coast Bays the Hon Murray McCully. I enthusiastically endorse the proposed National Ocean Water Sports Centre on Takapuna beach. The NOWSC centre will be a world-class training facility to develop up-and-coming athletes across the four codes of yachting windsurfing kayaking and ocean swimming. I commit to helping overcome any hurdles in the formation of that centre.  
The most commonly asked question of me in the past year has been: “Why on earth would you leave the wholesome pursuit of plants and go into the dirty business of politics?”. My erstwhile colleagues in the media had a field day when I said I was standing for Parliament: “Gardener of the nation takes on the parliamentary jungle.” There were references to “weeding out the opposition”. Malodorous and odious comparisons were made between MPs and mushrooms both thriving in perpetual darkness and nourished on manure and although I do expect that some manure will come my way I certainly did not come here to be kept in the dark and fed a load of rubbish. Of course I am not exactly gaining ground by this shift into politics. In last year’s  
Reader’s Digest 
 most trustworthy professions poll firefighters came in first as usual—and fair enough too—journalists came in 38th out of 39 just above real estate agents and politicians did not even feature in the 40 so I am staying in familiar unpopular territory.  
I have known this Chamber for the past 30 years as a broadcaster and as a journalist reporting and questioning the not always so honourable members. For all of those whose antics and machinations provided me with that bumper harvest to feed upon you know who you are and I thank you kindly. I know firsthand from my days in radio and television news about the daily grind of finding news stories within tight deadlines and I think on the whole the New Zealand media work hard do a good job and I congratulate them. But after 30 years of being part of the tribe that reports from sidelines asking what and why and how I decided the time was now right for me to step inside the legislative tent and to make a different contribution to the country that has given me so much. 
As well as being a strong voice for the North Shore there are also wider goals I am aiming to achieve in my time in this place. It is fair to say that I have some experience in broadcasting and thanks to my family I have more than a passing interest in the health sector having led a review into maternity services and palliative care and being involved with Hospice New Zealand. During my mother’s 10-year decline with dementia I saw with sadness too many older people in residential care who did not have family around and were without advocates to keep an eye on them. Our elderly deserve dignity and protection. I believe they have earned our respect and we certainly would not be the society that we are today without them. I agree with John Key that the measure of a civilised society is how we treat our vulnerable: our very young and our very old and the one in five New Zealanders with disability.  
Given my green-fingered background and lifelong love of plants I hope that my knowledge and skills may be helpful to shape our environmental and conservation goals. Producing and presenting the garden show for 12 years on television gave me privileged access to people’s lives. Some of them were overwhelmed and daunted by the sheer scale of the planet’s problems but personally I never doubted that saving the world starts in your own backyard. I share the views of many that we are only the custodians of this land and the guardians the kaitiaki of our grandchildren’s heritage. We have to be vigilant and face up to our responsibilities and our woeful environmental track record. Over many days over many decades we have let too many introduced pests decimate our native plants we have not treated our oceans and our waterways with the respect they deserve and I want to be part of the Government that puts that right. As the convenor of this year’s up-and-coming Bluegreens Forum we will be making progress on these issues and I am excited to be involved in shaping the agenda for discussion around the country’s environmental and conservation concerns. I remain convinced we can both grow our economy and manage our environment better and that improving the economy must not and need not be at the expense of the environment.  
But in these troubled times we need to explore all our potential advantages—to tap into that famous traditional Kiwi ingenuity increase our dairy production and returns while looking to limit the adverse effect on water quality. In the 20 years I had my garden show business I travelled all over the world visiting over a thousand gardens. It was a dream job and I loved the places I went but this is my home. New Zealand is my turangawaewae. I know where I stand. This is where I belong and for me I am at my most patriotic about my homeland and believe me I am not about to let anybody harm it. When I walk with the kauri the pohutukawa and the tree ferns these are my precious inhabitants of my “Cathedrals of Green”. I intend to work very hard on my select committees: the Finance and Expenditure Committee and the Local Government and Environment Committee. I will personally welcome the opportunities to work constructively with politicians from other parties to secure the best outcome.  
But ultimately I did not want to join Labour’s ranks or become a Green Party MP. My values are different. I stood for National because I believe we have the right financial policies to see us through these troubled times. I agree with our goals. My mother and father raised me to believe that hand in hand with individual freedom comes personal responsibility and that people sometimes do need a hand up but a lifetime of handouts is not the answer. As a mother I am raising my teenage son with the same values because I believe that they are as relevant today as they were when our party was founded 75 years ago. My constituents will always have my first loyalty and I will do my very best to represent their interests with courage and with energy. I will be a strong voice for the North Shore and I am very ambitious for my electorate. It is a privilege to begin my service to them today as their member of Parliament. Thank you.