Warren-Clark AngieANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour): Tēnā koe Madam Deputy Speaker. I'm humbled to speak today as I stand here the 148th of 149 women elected to Parliament. I can honestly say that coming to Parliament was not my life plan. But as a feminist woman and a woman who has been long and often told to shut up much more often than I've been told to speak up I decided to take up that challenge. Last year I voted on Suffrage Day; today on Suffrage Day I speak in this House. What does Suffrage Day mean to us here in Parliament? I think we have all celebrated and it has been absolutely amazing to hear our sisters and brothers in this House celebrating suffrage. We must remember though with 125 years what we have gained. There are still women across the world who are fighting for that very same right. There are still women dying for the right to have equal representation or to participate in democracy. I honour those women. We've heard lots of talk about the herstory of women and gaining the vote and I just want to acknowledge and recognise this House and the fact that we have camellia carved in our walls to recognise suffrage. It is important that we are here we are now and we are honouring the fact that it has been 125 years.The Labour Party across the years have been instrumental in changing laws that affect us as women and I remember specifically one that I couldn't believe as a young woman—a very young woman. In 1985 we made it a crime to rape in marriage. We made it a crime in 1985—I was around 14 at the time. Can we believe that? So within my lifetime it was something that still happened as a right from a husband to his wife. I want to come now to—and everyone has raised and talked around domestic violence and I want to acknowledge the Domestic Violence Act and the place of making significant changes and helping significant changes be made in this space around domestic violence. Gendered violence—violence against women and children—is our shame and it continues to exist. I am so honoured to be able to participate in the changing of the laws that are coming now and to be able to speak on the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill in this House. I would like to urge the public and my peers here to look at reflect on the recent draft CEDAW report. I don't have time to go into the content of it but CEDAW is the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The report outlines how we are achieving and how much more and how much further we have to go. Please—public peers—have a read and put your voices towards making change. We need to heed that gendered violence remains a significant problem and we must work tirelessly to eliminate it. Until we are free of violence and safe in our homes we will not be equal.Finally I want to speak of my mother—my mother who is in her late 60s and still continues to serve her community caring for foster children working as a teacher-aide donating her spare time to the Arts Council and creating a Christmas grotto for the children of Kaikohe every year. I think of the impact what it has meant to her of earning far less than men and of the impact of a 50:50 split of assets at divorce that did not take into account her role as a bookkeeper a farmer a horticulturalist a mother—who made my lunch every day when I went to school—and a community volunteer. The financial split ignored the lived reality of this woman. How delighted I am that the Government has announced the Equal Pay Amendment Bill to address this. Thank you.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.