Lee Melissa: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLee Melissa: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 09 December 2008. Volume:651;Page:28. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MELISSA LEE (National): I second the motion that a respectful Address be presented to His Excellency the Governor-General in his reply to His Excellency’s speech. I begin my maiden speech by congratulating you Mr Speaker on your election to the Chair. I wish you your deputy and the Assistant Speakers my very best. From a journalist’s point of view of how this House has operated in the past your job is one that requires the patience of a saint. If the little time I have spent speaking with you in the past few weeks is any indication I have no doubt we will benefit greatly from your vast experience in Parliament.I take this opportunity to acknowledge the Hon Anand Satyanand our Governor-General. It is an honour to be giving my maiden speech under his watch. I pay tribute to our Prime Minister the Hon John Key for delivering such a fabulous election result for the National Party and New Zealand. He is indeed the fresh leadership the country has demanded and I am privileged to be a part of the future he envisions. I acknowledge the members of the National caucus and other parliamentary colleagues; it is indeed my great honour to be here with them all and to call them my colleagues. I particularly acknowledge our very first Asian member and now the first Cabinet Minister of Asian origin the Hon Pansy Wong who has encouraged and supported me. She has my gratitude.I pay tribute to our National Party President Judy Kirk who has shown me that a powerful woman need not lack grace or style. I say thank you for her guidance and love. I also thank the National Party northern region’s Alistair Bell Alan Towers Kate Graham and Peter Kiely who were there to help me with a friendly ear and ready advice whenever I needed it. I also acknowledge the former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Helen Clark who has been a great supporter of the television programmeAsia Down Under and the Korean Cinerama Trust over the years—thank you.It is with great honour that I deliver my maiden speech not only as the first MP of Korean descent in New Zealand but also as the first woman of Korean descent to become an MP outside of Korea. It is indeed humbling. It is truly a sign that the worldhas come of age in a global sense. It is also a step towards realising our Prime Minister’s and the National Party’s vision to make our Parliament more diverse and truly representative of the population that now makes up our country. I am also very pleased to be giving my maiden speech in this House at a time when New Zealand has chosen to say no to a particular party whose policy gained support from people who dislike me simply because of my ethnic heritage. Call it irony or just a fortunate turn of events but with the exit of that particular party comes the first Minister of Asian origin in Cabinet! New Zealand has come of age it seems by saying we have no room at this particular inn for racists. It is the dawning of a new era and it is my privilege to be a part of it.Ka mihi atu ki te tangata whenua otirā ki ngā waka huhua katoa i whiti mai i Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa mai i Hawaiki nui ki Aotearoa. Nā rātou te ara i whakatakoto otirā nā rātou te ōhaki i ea ai te kōrero he iwi kotahi tātou. Pērā i a rātou i haere mai au ki konei mā runga i tētahi waka i te tau waru tekau mā waru. Engari ko ngā hoe o tōku waka he parirau kē ā i tere ake te haere ki tērā o ngā waka o ngā tūpuna. Ka awhi au i a Aotearoa ka awhi mai a Aotearoa i au i tēnei rā ko au tēnei kua puāwai. I tēnei rā ka minamina au ki te kī nōku anō hoki tēnei whenua nōku hoki tēnei tūrangawaewae. Nō reira kua tae mai te wā hei whakahoki ki te motu i tāna i hōmai ai ki a au.[An interpretation in English was given to the House.][I pay homage to the tangata whenua and indeed to all the canoes that crossed the Pacific Ocean from Hawaiki to New Zealand. They paved the way and they initiated a unity that has made us who we are today. We are one people. Like them I too arrived on a waka in 1988. The only difference was that my oars were replaced with wings and it travelled much faster than that of the ancestors. But as I embraced New Zealand it embraced me back and nurtured me into what I have become. Today I can honestly identify myself as being a New Zealander and Aotearoa as my home. Therefore the opportunity to give back to New Zealand what it has given to me has come to hand.]New Zealand is indeed a land of many people of diverse cultures and heritage and I am proud to be representing the third-largest Asian population in New Zealand—the Koreans. It was reported before the election that only 2 percent of the 40000 Korean population had voted in previous elections. If the support I received during the campaign is any indication I would say that 100 percent of Korean Kiwis—also known as “Kowis”—voted on 8 November. I would like to thank them regardless of which party they voted for because voting is the ultimate realisation that we live in a democracy.Korean settlement in New Zealand has not been for long and often I am confronted by people’s misconception of Korea formed out of ignorance and by television programmes likeMASH. When people have preconceived ideas about what others are like settlement into New Zealand can be paved with tears. I remember a Korean migrant who had a visit from the police when the stench from dried cuttlefish—a Korean delicacy—raised the curiosity of her neighbours who jumped to the conclusion that she must have killed her Pākehā husband to have produced such a foul stench. But now when I look around New Zealand—our cities—I am pleased to see restaurants offering food from different cultures. And it is not just we black-haired people who frequent these premises; I have even been told our Prime Minister likes kimchi which is literally fermented bok choy full of chilli and garlic and according to one of my European friends smells like sewage. That is rather strange to me as it smells comforting to me. I am grateful New Zealand’s taste buds and sense of smell are evolving. The variety we have now makes us more interesting than in the era of big boil-ups. Thankfully it is not only our taste buds that have evolved.When my parents first left Korea more than 30 years ago to provide my brother John and me a brighter future it took a lot of courage—the pioneering spirit New Zealanders value. Courage was what ultimately brought them to Aotearoa. Through failed businesses and lost opportunities my parents worked harder than anyone I know to provide a good life for my brother and me. Never once did they complain about not getting a handout nor did they ask for one from the Government or anyone else. They took personal responsibility for our family. It is something we learned from our childhood and are in turn instilling in our own children to value.I still remember my early days in Auckland. My day at theSunday News as a young reporter would finish around 5 p.m. and while others went to the pub I would head for my parents’ dairy in Grafton. We would all work as a family until the shop closed at 11 p.m. and then have supper together and drive home. A strong family bond was always fostered and maintained through my mother’s strong leadership. My story is not unique; it is the story of thousands of Asian migrants who have come before me and who will also come in the future and who now make up about 10 percent of New Zealand’s population. Family is also the foundation on which New Zealand was built.As a mother raising a 10-year-old boy I have become frightened for all children growing up in New Zealand in recent times. I wish there were more parents like mine who would go the extra distance. But New Zealand has had a shameful record when it comes to our children and there have been some pitiful examples of parents and caregivers. I was overjoyed to hear of the convictions of Wīremu and Michael Curtis at the Rotorua High Court recently for the murder of 3-year-old Nia Glassie and of the conviction of Nia’s mother Lisa Kuka. No child should have gone through what Nia did and no child should ever do so in the future. More shocking to me than the abuse and the murder of Nia was the fact that the neighbours friends and family who knew what was going on turned a blind eye to the horrific abuse this innocent child suffered at the hands of these monsters. It is indeed a sad indictment on our country.It is also very pleasing to read about the arrest made for the killing of octogenarian Madam Yang who died in her home earlier this year. What she must have gone through—the fear the violence and the eventual death—I can only imagine. As a victim of a home invasion myself who was confronted by two men wearing balaclavas with a gun and a hammer I do not feel safe in my own home let alone in the streets. More than 10000 people took to the streets to march against violence in South Auckland earlier this year. It is my hope that their voices are heard and repaid with a tougher stance against criminals in this country. It is not right that Madam Yang had to die in her own home where she should have had her safety guaranteed. It is not right that little Nia Glassie died at the hands of people who should have protected and cared for her. It is our duty as a nation to provide safety in our homes and in our communities. It is a priority that we must deliver as lawmakers in my view.Our children are our future but instead of teaching them to become achievers we are teaching them that it is OK to become losers. Instead of teaching them the values of hard work and the satisfaction that comes with it we are teaching them not to bother because the Government is always there with an open purse promoting a Government-funded dependence. Instead of reporting unspeakable crimes like that inflicted upon Nia Glassie people are cowering behind closed curtains for fear they will be accused of meddling.Instead of celebrating our New Zealand identity our children are growing up lost between American British and Australian television programmes which dominate our airwaves because we are too frightened to put a stake in the ground to say “This is who we are.” As a child when I needed to find some information I turned to theEncyclopaedia Britannica; now children turn to Google. We must use technology tofoster the New Zealand identity our children so lack and need. We must use television radio and the Internet to empower them and to make them understand who they are and where they stand in the world in order to make them stand proud to be Kiwis regardless of what their ethnic heritage may be. There must be a mandate to provide and support local programming to foster these identity issues because without it our children will never be empowered. Take a look at South Auckland—it seems absurd to me that people who should feel proud of their Pasifika and Māori cultures feel proud to display the ghetto cultures of America.New Zealand is a young country compared with the country I was born in. Korea has a 5000-year-old history but that does not mean that New Zealanders cannot feel proud of their heritage. I may not have been born here I may not even have been brought up here but I made a commitment to become a New Zealander and I am a proud carrier of a New Zealand passport. This is a privilege and I am proud to call myself a Kiwi. But not all New Zealanders would accept that I am a Kiwi; because of my skin colour I will forever be a foreigner. This must change. We are far too small a nation to be divisive. We must work together to decide who we are as a nation and work together to achieve where we want to be in the future.We have had some brilliant moments in history when we have led the world. New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote. It was a New Zealander Ernest Rutherford who split the atom and there was the late Sir Edmund Hillary. We have also produced bands and actors over the years some of whom Australians insist are theirs. There are many others—far too many to name them all—who are placing New Zealand on the map. We should not only applaud their successes; we should celebrate them and build a nation these global Kiwis would feel proud to come home to.Many people have asked me why I put my name forward to be selected by the National Party. As a journalist over 20 years it was not possible for me to show my true colours. Although close friends and family have known for a long time I decided to “come out” so to speak because I felt the need to have a say in the shaping of the future of New Zealand. With my 20-year career in journalism and business I feel I come equipped with just a little life experience.To close I would like to thank some very special people in my life: my mother Min-ja—thank you. Thank you for always—I always do this when I talk about her—encouraging me that there is nothing I cannot do; my dad Peter for his hard work to give John and me the very best opportunity in life; and my son Ethan. Your campaign impressed me boy; I did not ask you to do that. I love the “I’m a Key person!” T-shirt that you took to school every day. I want to work hard so that I can become a good role model for you; I hope I make you proud.To the Korean community in New Zealand and to Koreans all around the globe thank you for your support and encouragement. Your emails and phone calls of support came simply by virtue of the shared culture and heritage. I am truly humbled. I am grateful that the Korean community is always behind me to support me as I take my baby steps as the very first New Zealand member of Parliament of Korean heritage.Last but not least to my God: I know You are always beside me to guide me. It is a great honour and a privilege to be in this House as a member of Parliament and I pledge to do my very best.