Foss Craig: Address in Reply 
Foss Craig: Address in Reply 
[Volume:628;Page:362] 
CRAIG FOSS (National—Tukituki) 
: 
 I offer my congratulations to Madam Speaker her Deputy Speaker and her Assistant Speakers on their recent election. I am honoured that 17239 voters from the electorate of Tukituki have chosen me to be their representative in Parliament. Ticking the name “Craig Foss” in the polling booth is a very good habit to get into indeed. I am in awe of the traditions and the integrity of this House and of the great leaders who have gone before me in this House. I commit myself to doing my best to uphold those traditions. I am fearful of the impact that being an MP may have on my family. Dad is already missing his girls. I am fearful of the faceless and grey bureaucratic machine that I am told actually runs the country and can wear one down. 
I am now the member of Parliament for Tukituki. Six months ago I would have wondered how to fill up a 15-minute speech. Now I worry that I do not have enough time. I have attended my first caucus and it may have been noticed that I am not good at breathing through my nose and sitting in the back row. I have shouted my first interjection. Admittedly on reflection given the nerves it was a bit of a muffled mumble but I am sure practice will make perfect. I have sat on my first select committee. Does anyone really read all those papers? I have signed my first taxi chit and today I deliver my maiden speech. I love being the member of Parliament for Tukituki. Being here is absolutely everything. 
I need to acknowledge some special people. My wife Kristal—who is in the gallery—and I met fell in love left our jobs of 7 years married and left New Zealand for London all in the space of 9 months. That was 12 years ago. I have dragged Kristal all over the world: from Wellington to London to Tokyo to Sydney and now home to Hawke’s Bay. Kristal is my rock. Her love for me and our family is my bedrock and I promise to try to slow down a bit soon. We have two gorgeous daughters Sophie and Laura. When I give them a goodnight kiss I whisper to each of them that she is a clever an intelligent and a beautiful girl with lots of common sense and a wonderful future. They are both so talented and make their parents so proud. 
My own parents Rosemary and Ray—who are also in the gallery—could not have provided a better upbringing for my brother my sister and me. But I do not think I have ever done nor will I ever do anything wrong in the eyes of my mum. It should come as no surprise that I am doing very well in her preferred Prime Minister stakes. My older sister Sharon my younger brother Brett their partners Alan and Leonie their children Claire and Mikayla Kristal’s dad Graham and her brother Nick are also in the gallery tonight. I thank them so much for being here. Even the Bendas—they are now in  
Hansard 
. 
To my party leader Don Brash and to the party president Judy Kirk I say thank you so much. My good mate—my running mate—Chris Tremain and I are together very loudly and proudly the voice of Hawke’s Bay. I say thank you very much to my campaign team who are up in the back corner of the gallery particularly to Tony Mossman Todd Hansen and the National Party from Tukituki who kept our organisation humming while a member from the Labour side of the House borrowed our seat for a while. I also acknowledge those who have passed away—some far to early to be fair but their pride will be with us tonight. Of course I say a great big “gidday” to friends who are listening on the radio. 
I am a fighter and I fight for what is right and for what is fair. I am always happy being the tortoise and never the hare. In business as my career has shown I just get stuck straight in and let the results speak for themselves. I was born on 4 July 1963 American Independence Day. Perhaps that is why I am such a strong advocate of personal freedom. Taita Kindergarten Taita Rugby Club Fraser Park Squash Club Avalon Primary School Naenae Intermediate Naenae College and the AFS exchange programme have all made me the person I am today. When I was 8 years old the standard 1 pupils of Avalon Primary School made the fatal mistake of electing me as their class chairperson. I was hooked. Throughout my life I have always ended up as chairperson of this or monitor of that. 
As a 10-year-old long after my parents had tucked me into bed and turned out the lights I used to listen to Parliament on my transistor radio. I can still hear Rob Muldoon dishing it out to all-comers in this Chamber. Perhaps my rugby mates from the Hutt Old Boys J7s had a premonition when they gave me the nickname of Winston after Winston Churchill. We were awarded the Griffiths Memorial Trophy in 1983 in spite of the scumbags amongst us for the best and fairest team. 
I now represent the electorate of Tukituki which takes in a great part of Hawke’s Bay: the Hawke’s Bay wine country. In 2000 my wife and I decided to return to New Zealand. Choosing to live in Hawke’s Bay was a very easy choice to make. The climate is superb and the sky is normally a permanent National Party blue. The drivers wave “gidday” with their full hands not with the one or two fingers that I became used to in London. Life is laid back but hard work is expected and valued. The renaissance of Hawke’s Bay over recent years has rested upon our traditional strengths of farming agriculture horticulture and viticulture and now cafe culture Maori culture and tourism. 
There is an abundance of MPs in our region: Dr Cullen Mr Horomia Mr Fairbrother and Mr Barker. I sincerely hope that together we can work to solve issues such as funding for the Hawke’s Bay Opera House and the ownership structure of our airport and the lengthening of its runway. I also acknowledge Dr Pita Sharples who was born in Takapau and who was also the first chairman of Ngati Kahungunu in 1984. It is also interesting to note that the very first Maori Parliament sat in Hastings on Waipatu Marae in 1892. It ceased sitting in 1901 with the introduction of the Maori Land Board. It is ironic now that 104 years later a Maori Party has arisen from disputes over Maori title to land. Central Hawke’s Bay is the home of political legends: Holyoake Harrison McIntyre and Falloon. I will do my best to serve their legends well. 
Hawke’s Bay is also the nursery of many sporting heroes artists musicians and business leaders. But Hawke’s Bay has too many councils. Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule and Napier mayor Barbara Arnott are doing a fantastic job. But I am sure they have taken note that 35000 voters gave Chris Tremain and me an endorsement as we campaigned in one voice first for Hawke’s Bay and then for our electorates. 
We have such a stunning country with so much potential. Yet we keep shooting ourselves in the foot with social and economic polices that result in over 400000 New Zealanders choosing to live in countries that have not followed the Kyoto Protocol that have lower tax structures that have First World health services that have transparent educational standards and that have strong defence relationships with our traditional allies. It is a disgrace that New Zealand exports its best and brightest to those same economies. The world is a tough and a dangerous place. We have enemies whether we like it or not. We need allies. We will not always agree with them but we need them just in case. It is with the same caution that I am wary of entering into free-trade agreements with emerging superpowers when we are yet to have them with our traditional allies. 
Land-based industries are the bedrock and engine room of the New Zealand economy. But fluffy policy such as Kyoto which results in New Zealand exporting raw coal and raw logs to Asia and then importing them as cheap finished products does not seem to be the way to grow New Zealand. 
The dependency drug pushed into Maori by Labour and paid for by Maori votes is killing an entire race. That the Maori Party has emerged and flourished under a Labour Government must be the final proof required that the welfare state in its present form has failed. Governments should listen carefully: tax is not their money; it is the taxpayers. The bigger the Government the harder those in the private sector have to work to counter the Government. How would members feel if they were paid their gross salary or wage in cash and then had the Minister of Finance whip in rip open the packet take as many notes as he felt appropriate and say: “Thank you very much.”? That is exactly what the PAYE system is. Why should we not be paid our gross salary and then in a completely separate transaction on another day perhaps make our payment of taxes to the Government? That would certainly keep the borax on Government spending. 
I am tired of waiting for some parents to demonstrate even a glimpse of personal responsibility in return for the investment that the State makes in them. When assistance intended for children is siphoned away from children’s needs into the immediate wants of the adults the State has every single right to intervene. The delivery mechanisms for all State assistance must be examined. 
To the best of my knowledge I have no Maori blood in me whatsoever. My neck is occasionally red but that is from the Hawke’s Bay sun or from failing to put the No. 30 sunblock on. On the marae at Waimarama I feel the love the energy and perhaps the life force that is driving me to learn and discover so much more. But I also ask as I begin to recognise and acknowledge the place that Maori have in our culture that it be recognised that I too am deeply rooted into and anchored to this great land. It is my home. 
New Zealand apple-growers are paying dearly for an Australian domestic political problem. Normally I admire and respect the Aussies for their hard attitude. But the blocking of New Zealand apple access is not fair. It is not in the spirit of CER and I will continue to fight for what is fair. 
New Zealand has an incredible environment. On our farm we have planted thousands of native trees created wetlands fenced off streams got rid of the possums and protected old Maori burial caves not because a law has been passed but because it is the right thing to do. I let people walk across our farm as long as they ask not because a law has been passed but because it is the right thing to do. That is the Kiwi way. 
My 15 minutes is nearly up. Have I mentioned to Dr Don Brash that I would like to put in an early bid to be Minister of Sport in 2011? I ask him to note that. 
 There is a new energy in this House. There is a new beginning. It is about pride it is about respect and it is about trust. It is about New Zealand. It is time to stop living in a New Zealand of rhetoric and old slogans. It is time to stop raving on about “premium this” and “value-added that” while current economic and social policies drive New Zealanders clutching one-way tickets into the departure lounge. If we do not address these issues immediately we will all be email grandparents. If people see my passion for New Zealand as naive and if they see my emotion for my country as a weakness then they are very wrong because those are my greatest strengths. Thank you very much.