Sepuloni CarmelHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development): Can I just acknowledge member No. 108 Louise Upston; I am No. 107. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this debate. I think it is a very rare occurrence when we all agree with the speeches that are being given across the House but today is definitely one of those days and I alongside everyone else here am privileged to be able to acknowledge the women leaders of 125 years ago who made it possible for us to vote and to be able to stand here today.I've listened very closely to some of the speeches that have gone before mine and I want to acknowledge that despite the fact that we come from different sides of the House we share very similar experiences. I can't say however like Minister Martin that I was ever asked by anyone to lower my voice. And I also can't say that the question of what would happen to the housework was ever put to me when I came in here because I never did it before anyway. But I think it is important that we share our stories—the negative stories and the positive on our own journeys to getting here—because it means that others that have the same experiences realise that they are not alone and it also embarrasses some of those who might tell or set about creating the narratives that they do about women.I wanted to share two of mine. One was when I went to run as the Labour candidate for Waitakere where someone had decided to create the narrative that perhaps I wasn't the right person because I was too much like the National candidate I'd be running against. She just happened to be a woman to be brown and to be a solo mother. And my response to that was: have we ever questioned one white man going up against another? Of course not. My second experience was when I was looking actually prior to that to run for another seat in New Zealand and the rhetoric that went around was We just don't think she's the right person. This electorate is not ready for a Pacific Island lesbian." Being a Pacific Islander wasn't a surprise but being a lesbian was a complete shock to me. Not that that should be a problem in this day and age especially in the Labour Party.Many of us have endured those narratives and have become more resilient because of it and many of us who have experienced it are here in this House today or have been in this House before us here today. And I want to acknowledge that we share those stories. I am a Pacific woman only the second Pacific woman to serve in this House and for me that is a privilege and I want to acknowledge Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban who was the first Pacific woman who entered here in 1999. It took us until 1999 to get a Pacific woman in this House and I am so proud that here in 2018 out of eight Pacific members of Parliament we now have four Pacific women members of Parliament and in that I want to acknowledge Minister Jenny Salesa my colleague Anahila sitting next to me and also the Assistant Speaker Poto Williams.In saying that we also have to acknowledge that some women are even further away than others from the realisation of gender equality. Māori and Pacific women are more likely to earn less be in lower-skilled jobs and are less represented at decision-making tables. And so as we strive towards gender equality we have to acknowledge that we need to take all women with us to be able to realise gender equality in its true form in this country.Many of us have women who have supported us to this place and in my last 30 seconds I will acknowledge one woman who did that for me. It was a school principal at secondary school who acknowledged that I had potential saw that I was enduring some difficult times and took me into her home with her husband to support me to get through that year in order for me to go to university. I want to acknowledge Jane Gordon and other wonderful women out there who support women to achieve and to get into leadership positions to make a difference like we are able to in this House. Fa'afetai lava."