Blumsky Mark: Valedictory Statements 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Blumsky Mark: Valedictory Statements 
[Sitting date: 23 September 2008. Volume:650;Page:19034. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MARK BLUMSKY (National) 
: 
 Mr Deputy Speaker honourable members Corinne and Kendra—gosh you know no matter how many times you speak in public you still get nervous don’t you; isn’t it a shocker? As recently as a week ago I had not intended to make a speech in this House today. As people may be aware I have been quoted in the media as saying I have not particularly enjoyed my 3 years in Parliament and I have been critical of some of the ways this complex operates. I had initially planned to leave it there.  
However I was recently approached by a very senior colleague who managed to find me all the way back up here and sit beside me—quite an achievement. This colleague rarely speaks but when he does he is well worth listening to. He told me that in my short time here he had never heard me speak in a negative manner in this debating chamber. That is something I have prided myself on—always trying to add a bit of value or to make an improvement. It was at that point that I realised I did not want to leave Parliament in a manner that could be perceived as being negative. I thank my wise colleague Clem for his words and I assure him that his message to Wellington got through to me.  
I wish to start my final speech by thanking Parliament for the opportunity it has given me to serve. I know I have been very lucky to have been a member of Parliament. It has been a wonderful learning opportunity. I do not regret my 3 years here. There are so many in our communities who strive to get here but never do. Even now as I speak there are people around the country working incredibly hard to become an MP. Some will most will not and my heart goes out to those who will fall short.  
It has been an honour to be here and for that I wish to thank the National Party for selecting me and all the people who have supported me in particular my wife Corinne and my princess daughter Kendra. I will tell members now: being a Wellington MP has had some huge advantages. I have been able to go home at night to my family and I have also been given the opportunity to take Kendra to school every day. Parliament can be particularly hard for those who cannot head home each night and do not get to see their kids in the morning. I applaud and we should all applaud the sacrifices that those MPs make. But I would tell those MPs to not ever lose their perspective on what is truly important in life.  
Of course history will show that I did not get into Parliament in quite the manner I had hoped. I freely acknowledge that I would have loved to win the Wellington Central electorate but I was beaten by the better candidate on the day. As a result I entered Parliament as a list MP which I can tell members now is very much second prize. So it is as an inner-city resident that I thank the Hon Marian Hobbs for having done a great job as my local MP. I have enjoyed working with you Marian on the Local Government and Environment Committee. You are sharp you are smart and you know your stuff. And by the way you are a damned good cook as well. We have become even better friends during our time here and it is handy having an accommodation option on my next visit to England if I can suggest that.  
Ironically this has actually been one of my problems here in Parliament: I quite like a few of the people I work with who happen to be in other parties. In the last few years I have come to realise that I am probably a bit too trusting and I just do not dislike enough to be a truly effective MP in the way that this place currently operates. Some people think I am absolutely mad for leaving now when a change of Government looks quite likely. However those who know me and understand why I have made my decision will know why I made it and why the election result will not affect my decision.  
In my maiden speech 3 years ago I said I came to Parliament because I wanted to make a difference; I wanted to add value. In my time as the Mayor of Wellington I did manage to help change that city hugely and I wanted to bring a taste of that to the national level. My intention was to be positive to build to improve and to make a difference. Frankly I have not been able to do that as much as I would have liked to and because of my personality type the way I work and the way I want to work I cannot see it happening in the future and that is why I made the decision to walk away. In my experience and observation sitting back here Parliament does suit a certain personality type and it does require people to behave in a certain way in order to succeed. National politics is not for everyone and that includes me. The trick was to recognise this fact and to act.  
As my father said to me recently the easiest thing I could have done would have been to stay. He said to me: “Don’t be too scared to make the true hard call.” His advice has always hit the mark. I say “Hi” to Blum. I know you are watching and I love you to bits Dad.  
However I believe my time in Parliament has been valuable because I have learnt a great deal. I have met some wonderful people and things have been clarified in my mind about how I work best and where I can make a true difference.  
I thank my excellent executive assistant—she typed this obviously—Susan Palmer for all her work over the last 3 years. She has been a great friend. I think we have been unique during our term in the sense that we are the only MP and executive assistant whose offices are not connected. They are literally right next door to each other with no connecting door. That means from time to time I have had to use the Parliament House intercom which involves me yelling at the wall: “Susan have you got that file in here?”. It generally works well and when it does not it is a case of knowing that Susan is not in her office and it is not the intercom that is broken—that is the trick.  
I say a special hello to Tom Chambers who is my at large out and about electorate agent. Tom you have been a very good friend and you have kept me honest.  
I thank the MPs and the staff in the leader’s office who have popped into my office to say hi—and to steal the lollies I say to Chris Finlayson. I fear that some of them will miss my lolly jar more than they will miss me. As for this back row of MPs I tell members there is a huge starvation issue ahead for these guys and there will be a dramatic loss of sugar levels—you will have to find a new sugar daddy guys!  
At this point I record my thanks to the guards and the messengers who have always smiled and said “Gidday”—neat people. Thank you also to the librarians who have dug up the work for me the cafe staff and others who make Parliament run ever so smoothly. I know I will never have another job with seven mail deliveries a day. 
I sincerely thank my inmates—the National MPs’ class of 2005 the MPs I came into Parliament with. Those guys really do rock! I have enjoyed working with them all and I am lucky to have made some friendships that I know will never ever fail. Those members will all go far and I for one will be cheering for them big time. For the sake of the country they had better do it on 8 November.  
Finally on the thankyous I pay a particular tribute to a very special MP and I know that he will be hugely embarrassed by this. I have been lucky enough to have worked and to have travelled around the country with John Carter. After more than 20 years in Parliament John still exudes passion commitment energy and excitement about his job and the National Party. John you are a true inspiration. Your mana and reputation in the local government sector is huge and you deserve recognition in the future.  
Like John Carter I have always wanted to add value to my work and there have been some successes from my time here that I will always be proud of. I believe that I made a positive contribution to National’s economic development policy but I particularly enjoyed helping to shape Parliament’s local government policy. Both of those areas were real passions of mine. They were not sexy for the House but they were passions of mine. By way of warning I tell members that I may well be on the other side when the local government policy is actually being delivered.  
Locally after a big struggle we did get Government funding for the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary which it totally deserved. When the Government turned down the initial funding request possibly the only person angrier with the Labour Government than me was Marian Hobbs the local MP. But between us we righted a major wrong for what is an iconic Wellington attraction.  
Another achievement I would mention is the successful trial of my voluntary retailers’ code of practice around the sale of volatile substances such as meths glue and paint. It was designed to curb abuse. We did the research found the funding developed the shop resources and ran a very successful trial here in Wellington. However when we approached the relevant Minister for support for what we thought was a non-partisan country-wide issue he basically dismissed us. More than a year later—surprise surprise—Jim Anderton launched a very similar scheme but basically cut out all of those people who had worked on the successful trial. I am assured by my colleagues that having a policy stolen is the highest compliment but I still feel there has been a lot of wasted effort a lot of wasted intellectual property that could have been better directed against a very real problem.  
I was proud to be the Mayor of Wellington. I have to say that I have struggled to have that same pride as an MP in the New Zealand Parliament. Partly that is because the public can have a very negative view of politicians and what we do. It is sad to hear how many people feel obliged to make a derogatory comment when they find out that one is an MP. Sometimes I fear we are our own worst enemy. It is hard to explain to members of the public the value of having long debates in the Chamber when the results of the vote are actually known long before we make the first speech. In local government there was always the chance that if a councillor made a passionate speech that was well researched and well reasoned that councillor could actually sway a few votes around the table but not here. As a House we spend an extraordinary amount of time speaking to no effect.  
I remember back as a brand new MP how excited I was going into question time. What a disappointment! It descends into a farce when Ministers have only to address rather than answer the question. It becomes a competition as to who can give the best smart-arsed answer. It is a tragedy for democracy in New Zealand that accountability can be dismissed so lightly. The public does deserve better. I sincerely hope that the next Government—of whatever composition—looks again at this precedent and makes the selfless call to require Ministers to answer; it is the right thing to do.  
This Parliament also passes law that I sense we all know could be better but sensible amendments are turned down for political and philosophical reasons. The them-and-us factor is stronger than I had expected. It is damaging the quality of legislation and I believe it damages the country. If they have their answer and we have our answer then the chances are that neither of us is exactly right. The emphasis should be to just work it out but that does not happen too much in here. It is often all or nothing but few solutions come entirely from philosophy or ideology and as a result I think we do miss out on some of the real solutions.  
Another reason there is a lack of respect is that we are a long way from the coalface. We are in a rarefied bubble. We have more security guards to get through here than at any airport in the country. And it does change people but rarely for the better.  
My challenge to those who will be in this Chamber next session is to rebuild the respect that people should have in this institution and in the basically good people—which they are—who serve here. I will not be here of course and my advice to anyone here is: “If you do not fit do not stay.” And that applies to me. But I am afraid I think that some MPs stay in Parliament because they just do not have too many other options. I do not think that is a good enough reason to stay around and not add value.  
My hope is that one day New Zealand has a Parliament that is more united more cooperative and more respectful and one that includes members across the spectrum all of them dedicated to improving their communities. It can happen.  
To finish I will share one of the most moving experiences I have had which was on one of those much maligned trips to Europe. It was an opportunity to look at the interaction between local and central governments in other countries. I learnt a lot and I thank Parliament for giving me that opportunity to go.  
Northern Ireland was an eye-opener. We were addressed by four MPs from four different parties—Sinn Fein the Ulster Unionist Party and two others. Their opening comments to us were remarkable. One of the MPs remarked that one of his parliamentary colleagues at the same table used to have him in his gunsights. That colleague responded that the reason he had him in his gunsights was that he knew he had a contract on his family. They were not joking. Ten years earlier they had been literally on the battlefield against each other; at the time of my visit they were sitting at the same table working as a team for the good of Northern Ireland.  
The question was asked: “How is it that you now get on so well when you were literally trying to kill each other not that long ago?”. Their answer was simple. They just said “We now respect each other’s right to be here and we respect that each one of us is working for the good of the country as we see it.” If they can do that after years of bloodshed then why cannot we show some of that same respect in this Parliament? I hope we can.  
I leave having learnt a tremendous amount in 3 years. I have met some great people and some great leaders I tell John Key. I have made a difference in a couple of areas and I have gained an understanding of how this place works. Those insights will be tremendously useful when I go back into local government—if my wife lets me.  
My maiden speech was criticised by some pundits as being too Wellington-centric. I would respond by saying that it is not my fault I cannot get Wellington out of my bones. Then again I really do not want to. Parliament is staying in Wellington and I am staying in Wellington so I am sure I will continue to see members of this House around the greatest city in the country. Thank you all for the opportunity.