Woods Megan: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Woods Megan: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 14 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:354. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram) 
: 
 Mr Speaker I join with my colleagues in congratulating you on your re-election. Like my colleague the last time we spoke it was in a less formal situation. It was the 1990s you were the Minister of Education I was a student we were at the University of Canterbury there were megaphones and it was said you made your getaway through a window—I am sure you remember those days well.  
Tena koutou katoa. It is with great honour that I rise to give the first speech in this House as the Labour member for Wigram. Maiden statements from members from Wigram are rare—so rare in fact there has never previously been one. Wigram and its precursor seats Sydenham and Yaldhurst are both steeped in history. The story of Wigram and its representation is an important part of New Zealand’s social and political history. I feel the shoes I have to fill are truly huge. Sydenham has been the seat of giants: Mabel Howard Norman Kirk and Jim Anderton. All three have shown an absolute commitment to social justice and equality.  
And Wigram is a seat where constituents have high expectation—and like David Clark’s constituents they are very wise—as they are already reminding me. One of the most vivid memories of my campaign came on a hot October Saturday afternoon doing street corner meetings. Robert Watson my friend and campaign volunteer and I were flagging a little at street corner meeting 100 and something and about the sixth of that particular day when we pulled up on a corner in Hoon Hay. An older gentleman came striding down the road towards the small crowd that had gathered. His stride was ripe with intent and his first comment showed he meant business: “I am here to argue.” “Good” I replied “that’s what it’s all about.” This being heartland red territory lest he be mistaken for someone of a different political hue he was quick to inform me: “I am a Labour man. I have been going to street corner meetings in this electorate for donkey’s years first one was Mabel Howard in Church Square and I want to get the measure of you.” The meeting went on. The striding man was as good as his word. He argued with me he argued with the others present and at one point I am convinced he argued with himself. But meeting done he came over to me shook my hand and informed me: “You’ll do.” and with this he strode home. 
But there is one predecessor I want to pay special tribute to and that is Jim Anderton. Although I did not know it at the time growing up in the 1980s in the Sydenham electorate I was witnessing the everyday reality of new-right reform. I had friends whose parents lost their jobs at the Addington rail yards. I saw people lose their homes and I saw the local post office disappear. Ordinary people were stripped of their jobs their dignity and their security. But then there was the local MP who stood shoulder to shoulder with us his constituents. For nearly three decades Jim Anderton refused to accept that there was no alternative. Jim as your successor I thank you for the high bar you have set in terms of political courage and for standing up for what you believe in and for the people you represented. 
Maiden statements are a bit like a note to self about why you are here and what you want to achieve. My note to self is simple: I believe in the power of an active New Zealand Government and State to make a real difference in people’s lives and that is why I am here. I was selected to be Labour’s candidate in Wigram on 19 September 2010—women’s suffrage day—only 2 weeks and 1 day after the first of Christchurch’s devastating earthquakes. On 22 February that rebuilding task ahead of us became mammoth. There are buildings homes roads sewage pipes and businesses to be rebuilt. Institutions with long histories now face uncertain futures. This is something we all feel on a personal level. My former school Catholic Cathedral College a school that once stood in the shadow of the mighty Catholic Basilica is now behind a crumbling building and a pile of rubble. The University of Canterbury where I spent a decade of my life faces an uncertain future with falling student numbers. It is imperative that broad research-based excellence is retained. Engineering commerce and science are undoubtedly crucial to our rebuilding but the humanities and social sciences are essential too. We need critical thinkers now more than ever.  
We have lost so much in our city and I want to acknowledge the people whose lives were lost and their families. We are all thinking of you. There is no doubt that people are struggling with the devastation of the last 17 months. The sense of loss is so much more than the physical; we lost the locations of so many of our memories—the school steps we scaled with trepidation as 5-year-olds the homes we toiled to build and make our own the churches where we worshipped and were married and the list goes on. This is hard enough but there is an even bigger job ahead of us and that is rebuilding hope—hope that we will have a vibrant and thriving city again; a city where people will not be looking for the nearest exit to terra firma; and of course a city where the Crusaders will continue to win every game they play. But some of that hope is embedded in a tension as people search for the right answers. When 4000 quake- and battle-weary people gathered in the centre of our city earlier this month collectively we were demanding fairness accountability preservation of our democratic rights and our right to participate in our future. These are the same sentiments and feelings that are driving the amazing community and grassroots responses we are seeing all over our city. These values are the future and are the solid foundations on which we will rebuild our city. These are also the very values that drive me politically and these are the values that have brought me to this House. 
There is no rabble at the gate that needs quashing and silencing. This is not something to be feared; it is quite the opposite. This is an engaged public and this is something I celebrate. An active and engaged Government must work with this public. Controversially in the wake of the 22 February quakes this House granted what amounted to wartime powers to the Government to rebuild our city. I am here today to remind those who wield those powers that with these powers comes great responsibility. The Act granted the Government the rights and responsibility to be active—and active it must be. It is an active State that will rebuild Christchurch. If we think about moments of greatness in our history—moments when we have taken a great leap forward as a country—it has been an active State and a belief in the power of communities that has delivered that reform not individualism and a rampant free market.  
In the 1870s Sir Julius Vogel had a vision and committed the colonial State to investing in the infrastructure essential for economic development. In the 1880s the Liberals intervened with the old-age pension scheme industrial legislation and the genesis of our public housing scheme. New Zealand was a progressive and world-leading social laboratory. In the 1930s the first Labour Government committed the State to creating constructive employment and a housing programme as a way out of the Great Depression and shaped our very present. Today in the 21st century I am proud to stand here as a Labour member an heir to those who have had the courage to reform. As in the past it is together collectively that we can solve the pressing issues we face as a nation. Government needs to facilitate this and empower people and community. “Look mum no hands” laissez-faire trickle-down economics based on individualism has failed.  
Christchurch may be a city currently on an active fault but it is simply cannot be a faulty city. We must believe that out of this destruction we have a unique opportunity to create something special and once again take that great leap forward. But it will take an active State that is willing to intervene. We have the opportunity to train a generation of young people with the necessary skills to be active participants in this work. Currently we have 83000 young people aged 15 to 24 who are not in any form of work training or education. This is up 4000 from last quarter. We cannot sit idly by and watch this figure continue to climb. I finished high school in 1991 when youth unemployment was at 20 percent so I know firsthand the fear of leaving school and there being no jobs. We had two choices then: further study or go on the dole. I made a decision to go to university—I was the first in my family to go straight from school—but the hopelessness felt by my friends who were looking for work is something I will never forget.  
There is an alternative. By 2013 36000 additional workers will be required in Christchurch. Bringing in skilled trades professionals from overseas simply cannot be our solution. We need to invest in our young people and let them lead the way. Such a commitment is not a leap into the unknown; we have done this before on the scale that is necessary now. Following World War II New Zealand faced both a critical housing shortage and the underemployment of young Maori. Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser showed the necessary vision to resource trade training schemes for young Maori workers. This scheme was the subject of my PhD thesis and I saw both the positive opportunities this scheme provided individuals and the benefit the nation received in having a generation of skilled tradespeople—not to mention a stock of well-built houses. 
Real aspiration cannot come to mean policies and measures that make life a little bit more bearable for those on the lowest incomes. If we want to be aspirational for all New Zealanders if we are to raise wages if we believe in the right of all New Zealanders to get ahead if we will not tolerate poverty and if we believe in fairness then we need a commitment to an active State that believes it has an active role in creating a productive economy. In my previous role at Plant and Food Research I observed firsthand the real difference science and innovation can make. We need more businesses to access and utilise the exceptional knowledge that is being created in our Crown research institutes and universities. And we need a proper commitment to the fundamental research that underpins this. To improve this we must commit to adequately fund science and innovation to create jobs and lift wages. We must abandon the view that it is OK for someone to toil for a wage that is insufficient to make ends meet. This needs to be replaced with a belief that people have a right to be paid a decent wage for a decent day’s work. We need to move beyond quibbling about a few cents’ rise in the minimum wage and the constant questioning of whether the wages of the lowest paid are affordable while ignoring the excesses of managerial salaries. A living minimum wage must be an immediate priority and we must see it as just that—a minimum. We must have an environment where workers not only have the right but are encouraged to join unions and bargain collectively they have the right to have a voice at work and they have the right to be protected from unfair or unsafe treatment at work. We need to recognise that this does not mean that business is harder to do.  
As a proud member of the Service and Food Workers Union and the New Zealand Public Service Association I believe that decent wages and effective employment relations will enable New Zealanders to lift productivity and to perform well. It is not OK for me to stand in this House representing people who cannot afford to put food on their tables. Last week I met with a constituent who is on a sickness benefit. After his rent and fixed expenses he had $27 a week left for food. He was hungry. Neither is it OK that in my electorate there are homes that last winter had bedrooms that were monitored as being 9 degrees overnight with 90 percent humidity. I have not come here to stand idly by and watch this happen. It is not tolerable that in the OECD’s recent findings inequality has grown faster here than in most other countries. This is not an OECD table that we can accept being in the top half of. We need to reject the notion that tough economic times necessarily mean greater inequality and injustice. Selling publicly owned assets cutting spending low wages and benefits and ravaging the environment is neither a strategy for a healthy economy nor a recipe for a healthy vibrant and fair society. 
Growing up in the Sydenham electorate I learnt that selling assets is not the answer no matter what the question. It just does not make sense. Attempting to shroud the sell-off and the ideological commitment to privatisation under the rhetorical cloak of mixed-ownership models does nothing to change the simple fact that our current Government plans to sell off assets that have been built up by generations of New Zealanders. Let us call this what it is—selling them is selling them. 
No one comes to this House on their own and like all new members there are many I owe a huge debt of gratitude to for their support and encouragement. Firstly to my family especially to my parents—to Gordon and Maureen Woods and my sister Melissa thank you for your belief and your encouragement over many years. It is humbling as a candidate to have so many people give so generously of their time and skills. My campaign team and the many volunteers wrung the towel during an incredibly trying year in Christchurch and for that I am incredibly grateful and proud of what we achieved together. The experienced hands were joined by a fantastic Wigram Young Labour team who together created a creative and energetic team who did not neglect the tried and true basics of campaigning.  
In conclusion it is with great pride that I stand in this House representing the people of Wigram. I am a New Zealand historian by training who has worked in science and innovation. I am a former community board member who believes in the power of communities and the grassroots. I am a Christchurch native who grew up in the ravages of a user-pays world. Despite being glued to the royal wedding in 1981 I believe in the desirability and inevitability of our country becoming a republic in my lifetime and I celebrate the diversity of modern New Zealand. I am here because I have a strong belief in social justice. I am here because I believe that there are always real alternatives in working to ensure that hope opportunity and being all you can be are not accidents of birth for the privileged few but the birthright of all New Zealanders.