Gilmore Aaron: Maiden StatementsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGilmore Aaron: Maiden Statements[Sitting date: 12 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11081. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National):Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. E ngā mana e ngā reo e ngā karanga maha e huihui nei tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Thank you Mr Speaker. To the powers the voices and the many callings assembled here salutations greetings and acknowledgments to you all. ]Mr Speaker members family friends and supporters it is with a mixture of exhilaration aspiration and trepidation that I rise to make a maiden statement in this 50th Parliament of New Zealand. I am delighted to be joining the parliamentary team of the National Party led by the Rt Hon John Key. National is I believe the only party capable of leading the sound stable and sensible Government that this country needs. This Government is delivering the increased economic growth rates thriving and safer communities efficient public services and personal freedoms that all Kiwis want and deserve. I congratulate the Prime Minister and his excellent Ministers on their unstinting work on untangling the mess created by 9 years of socialist misrule and on leading this nation to a brighter future in years to come.It is a real honour to serve as an elected representative of the people of our beautiful country. At the same time it is almost impossible not to be awestruck by the weighty responsibilities of a new MP. Enacting the laws of the land scrutinising Government expenditure assisting constituents with their issues and having input into the policy of the governing party must all be taken very seriously. I intend to keep my head down and learn from older and wiser members. I am grateful to the Hon Chris Finlayson QC the Hon Judith Collins the Hon Tony Ryall the Hon Dr Nick Smith the Hon Bill English and all the National MPs of the 2011 intake in particular as well as the entire National Party team for their advice and the warm welcome to this House they have given me.I particularly look forward to being a member of this House when the National War Memorial Park is opened in Wellington where I am based. The centenary of Gallipoli marks a momentous event in our evolution towards independent nationhood a century ago. The plaques in this Chamber commemorating that campaign and others in which New Zealanders have fought serve as a constant reminder to members of the Kiwi lives lost to secure our democracy and to safeguard our way of life. As John Key said the National War Memorial Park will be a significant legacy to commemorate the centenary of Anzac Day. It is a special gift to the capital and will become a wonderful civic amenity as well as a focal point for the national commemorations. Earlier plans for a national war memorial park fell by the wayside through neglect by a previous Government and the current precinct remained divided by State Highway 1 until Chris Finlayson and Gerry Brownlee set out to deliver on a vision for an upgraded Buckle Street area. I look forward to supporting other initiatives that will contribute to Wellington remaining a thriving and wonderful place to live.Giving a maiden speech is one of the very few occasions when a member in this Chamber may make references to guests in the public galleries. I ask that you indulge me in mentioning a few special people who are here today. I would like to acknowledge the president of the National Party Peter Goodfellow the board of the National Party—in particular the lower North Island chairman Malcolm Plimmer and the lovely Linda—and all the office holders activists and members of the party who have supported me. I am very grateful for the help of our wonderful people locally in Wellington. I was most fortunate to have as my campaign chair Brett Hudson who putin an enormous effort in 2011. I would also like to thank stalwart campaign and executive committee members Dr Pat McCarthy Murray Radford Richard and Elaine Westlake Sir Christopher and Lady Anna Harris Graeme and Judith Sugden Peter Milne Alistair Scott Aaron Hape Chloe Oldfield Brian Anderton Carolyn O’Fallon Carsten Schousboe Carina Aiken Haimona Gray Jim Guo Joe Rousseau Bridget-Anne Fowler Rainer McAlister Victor Cauty Lliam Munro Dr Rosie Fenwicke Julian Light and Henry Williams as well as Cameron Pickering who has come down from Christchurch—or up from Christchurch I should say. Many thanks to the “super blues” especially Nancy McDonald Joan Farrance Pam Finlayson Bernie Poole and Patricia Morrison for their kind assistance. Thank you to David Farrar and Neil Miller for their guidance. We were also very well supported by an exceptional group at party headquarters: Jo Greg Cam Liam Donna Beth and Sean. And to the hundreds of volunteers who gave so much of their time thank you all so much.I want to make special mention of the Young Nats. This was the group that gave me my start in politics and I am thrilled that it has never been in such good heart and strength on the campuses of New Zealand as it is today. I would like to acknowledge Dan Fielding who led the Young Nats for over 3 years; Sean Topham who is capably chairing it today; Christian Hermansen who chairs the regional Young Nats; and Joel Rowan from our local VicNats branch. The Young Nats won some real victories on longstanding youth issues in recent years such as lobbying to successfully remove compulsion from student unions keeping the age for the purchase of alcohol at 18 addressing teen depression and suicide and supporting equal access to marriage for all Kiwis. I hope the Young Nats keep rattling cages and keep me on my toes as a new MP.To friends who could not make it today—Malcolm and Marian Cone in Temuka Peter and Sarah Walker and Robyn Broughton in Dunedin Ele Ludemann in Ōāmaru Professor John and Jenny Leader in Blenheim Emma Mellow-Sandford in Sydney Tiffany Cone in Canberra Kezia Bibby in England Geoff and Chris Pope in Seattle the Cammock family in Jakarta and Johnny and Chantal Rayner-Burt along with my godson Hugo in Italy—I am most grateful for the loyal support I have consistently received from you over the years. And most important I would like to pay tribute to my family. To my parents Bob and Alyse a child could not have had a better start in life than I got thanks to you. The example set by you Dad of putting your family above all other concerns and working every hour of the day to provide for them was an outstanding one. And Mum the lesson you taught us that learning is something to be treasured and that with a sound education the world can be one’s oyster is something that I hope one day every Kiwi kid will be inculcated with. I could not be prouder that after more than 30 years you are on the cusp of completing your own PhD. I would also like to send special greetings to my brother and sister Shaan and Greg; my niece Caitlin; and grandad Ayers Robert Foster Snr who will be watching this on the TV in Whangarei along with Dulcie. And warm regards to my Aunty Eleanor Ashcroft who will be tuned in along with Vic Reid in Rotorua.I have been privileged to serve our country both onshore and offshore in the Foreign Service over the past 9 years. It was a real pleasure to work with some of the most capable and dedicated senior officials in this country’s public sector—ambassadors Hamish MacMaster Rod Harris Jonathan Austin and Wendy Hinton to name a few—as well as some of the absolutely first-rate colleagues and workmates both Kiwis and locally engaged staff. I have also enjoyed a range of experiences overseas that few visitors to other countries get including seeing from a behind-the-scenes perspective how a number of countries really operate. Of all the countries I worked in none is as free as New Zealand. Some such as Iran would actually fall atthe opposite end of any objective scale measuring corruption transparency and the rule of law. Thankfully it is the people of New Zealand not the State who have a larger degree than almost anywhere else in the world of power over their own lives and the ability to decide their prospects for the future. This reminds me of a quote from the late great Baroness Thatcher of our right “… to have the State as servant and not as master … on that freedom all our other freedoms depend.” This is just as true today as when the Iron Lady first said it. We should be rightly proud of the advances towards freedom that we have made but there are areas where further work is needed in my view if we are to retain our place as a country where liberty and freedom of speech of thought of belief and of action are cherished. The abolition of blasphemy as a criminal offence for which one can be imprisoned for up to a year is one example of such an area crying out for reform.Of all the countries I spent time in none is as clean as green and as endowed with such a pristine natural environment and spectacular scenic splendour as New Zealand. In demonstrating that economic growth and environmental values can go hand in hand and showing that good science is essential to high-quality environmental decision-making New Zealand is leading the way. I am glad that New Zealanders are able to enjoy our unique birthright and to access our special places—the beaches rivers lakes and mountains for which our land is rightly renowned.Of the other jurisdictions I have worked in none is as well served by its public servants as ours. Across a range of departments from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Treasury and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment through to the Ministry of Defence the security services the police and the Prime Minister’s department I have worked in and for a State sector that has seen increasing levels of resource shifted to the front line from bureaucracy and administration that is operating more efficiently than ever before and that is carrying out this Government’s policies to achieve unprecedented positive results—results like the lowest crime rate in a generation or record numbers of elective surgeries for those who need them.Of the developed economies I have visited few are as well positioned as New Zealand to ride out the world’s current period of economic instability and a lot of that is thanks to our excellent Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English. We are well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities offered by exporting to a rapidly growing Asian middle class or by servicing the food security needs of the arid but prosperous Gulf States or by hosting increasingly high-value tourists and students from abroad in our safe tolerant and welcoming nation. None of this is to say that we have all the answers here in our island home—quite the opposite in fact. There is a lot we can learn from other successful smaller States such as Singapore or the United Arab Emirates. And of course as a small trading nation we are utterly dependent on a stable rules-based world order to ensure our own future prosperity. Our first woman Prime Minister the Rt Hon Dame Jenny Shipley tidily summed up this concept when she said that New Zealand needs the rest of the world a heck of a lot more than the rest of the world needs New Zealand. This sentiment certainly echoes my own experiences in the field.The National Party was founded 77 years ago as a coalition between sectors that were diverse in origins but that had aligning interests and shared objectives. National’s founders were those in the productive sector whether farmers or urban manufacturers. They were those in business both employers and employees professionals practising on their own account and tradespeople. They were those hard-working mothers and fathers who aspired to a better life for their children and equal treatment for everyone irrespective of colour creed or class. They were those who valued property rights for themselves and others and who wanted a limited government that encouraged freeenterprise and rewards for effort. National is still the bastion of equal opportunity and the rule of law. These timeless values are why the public has elected National to the Treasury benches for 40 of the past 60 years. Our party continues to govern in the interests of all New Zealanders and that is why I am proud to call myself a National Party member.I have come to this esteemed place to do more than simply occupy a seat. I have come to this House to support sound economic management growth and sensible public spending. I stand firmly against ruinously high borrowing inefficient public services and incentivising irresponsibility through unfettered welfare. I have come to this House to back the Prime Minister and this Government. I stand resolutely opposed to socialism and its overweening conceit that redistribution and governmental meddling in private enterprise can deliver positive outcomes for our people for they cannot. In the words of Sir Winston Churchill “for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”I have come to this House as a champion for trade tourism and closer linkages with other countries and for the transformative effects that these can have through higher incomes and more employment. I repudiate xenophobia and protectionism which damage our overseas relationships our reputation and our earnings. I have come to this House to advocate strongly for our capital city and for all the residents of Wellington Central and Hutt South. I have come to this House as a bluegreen. I want to see pragmatic protections for our stunning natural environment balanced against the need to derive economic benefits where appropriate from our national resources. I have come to this House as a blue liberal and a defender of diversity liberty and equal treatment by the State for all of its citizens. I will be a trenchant enemy of any laws that seek to implement here in New Zealand the hideous apparatus of the police State. In the words of our national anthem “May our mountains ever be freedom’s ramparts on the sea.”I have come to this House as a proponent of the constitutional monarchy which has served us so well for over 170 years. I will fiercely resist any measures that seek to weaken this essential pillar of our robust democracy. To paraphrase Alfred Lord Tennyson I have come to this House “Made weak by time and fate but strong in will To strive to seek to find and not to yield.” I look forward to working with you Mr Speaker and all likeminded members to achieve these objectives. Thank you.