Mitchell Clayton: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Clayton: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 23 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:222. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First):Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I would like to start by congratulating you on your recent re-election as the Assistant Speaker. I would like to thank and acknowledge also the Rt Hon Winston Peters for his courage and foresight in setting up New Zealand First 21 years ago. This is truly an independent party with strong ethical and moral values aimed to benefit all New Zealanders and I am honoured to be a part of this new and exciting caucus. I would also like to positively acknowledge all New Zealand First members of Parliament here today and those who are not my family my friends allies and members of the Opposition. I am very honoured and humbled to have this opportunity to present myself here today as a new member of Parliament with high hopes big dreams and positive aspirations.My political career has taken off like an unexpected rocket one that I hope does not end like the kind you get at The Warehouse before Guy Fawkes but that is more like the long-serving space shuttle Discovery which has had over 27 years of safe take-offs research missions and successful landings. I have always been passionate about politics but never had a personal political agenda at least not up until 2013 when I became ever-increasingly frustrated and disappointed in decisions that were being made and the direction we were being led in Tauranga by our city council. It was then that I realised that if you want something done you had better be prepared to do it yourself and as my father used to say: “Put up or shut up.”In the 2013 Tauranga City Council local body elections I was privileged to win the Mount Maunganui - Papamoa ward councillor seat and got into local government. I have very much enjoyed working with a great team of elected members and the mayor to change the direction of the city into a more positive one. In our first 12 months we have signed off on a marine precinct to complement our port a tertiary campus to educate and enable our youth to live and learn in the cities they grew up in and we have given the go-ahead to the Greerton Library upgrade and some tsunami exit paths for Papamoa East residents to name but a few. We as a council have recognised the importance of economic growth and development for our city and we are well under way with a plan to attract new businesses and ideas to Tauranga that complement our natural features and landscape and that add value to industries and commercial sectors that are starting to flourish here.Tourism is one of New Zealand’s greatest export commodities. This industry has grown exponentially in Tauranga with the cruise ship market growing 900 percent over the past 10 years which will continue to grow as the people of the world realise that Tauranga and Mount Maunganui are some of this country’s jewels in the crown.It is not hard to understand why so many people are moving to Tauranga particularly when we have over 72 square kilometres of gorgeous and safe inner harbour to swim fish boat and play in. We have a number of beautiful islands namely Matakana Island Kārewa Island Motītī Island and Mayor Island all within a short boat ride with some of the best fishing diving and surfing this country has to offer. Mount Maunganui or Mauao as it is sometimes referred to locally is an icon at the end of the Mount Maunganui peninsula with one of the most beautiful and popular short walks up and around this historical landmark. Our gorgeous white sandy beaches span for kilometres down the coast to Maketū and are protected by three of New Zealand’s top performing and functioning surf-lifesaving clubs at Mount Maunganui—Ōmanu Beach Surf Life Saving Club of which I am an active member and Papamoa Surf Life Saving Club.Tauranga has rich and fertile lands and seas which produce a range of high-quality exportable agriculture and aquaculture products. Tauranga boasts a world-class marine research facility and an internationally acclaimed agriculture business park plus the world’s first titanium 3D-printing facility. Tauranga is a multicultural city made up of many micro communities all of which come together in times of need. This was seen most recently when poor 5-year-old Jack Dixon was swept off the shores at Shelly Bay at the start of the school holidays. I and my family along with the people of Tauranga and the wider community came together to offer solidarity support and kindness to the Dixon family after their unfathomable loss. My love and heartfelt thoughts go out to the Dixon family today.These communities along with many others from around the country also came together en masse when the Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef on 5 October in 2011. This avoidable accident left our coastline and wildlife in a potentially perilous position but this community of people worked tirelessly to clean the coastline and the wildlife that live within it to minimise the long-term harm this incident could have caused. I feel very proud to be part of this giving caring and heartfelt community of Tauranga.One of the biggest issues we are currently facing in Tauranga is the growing pains and problems associated with rapid growth and the financial implications that this is causing ratepayers in Tauranga who are currently paying some of the highest rates in the country. The single-largest debt we have on our city’s balance sheet to date is the $63 million of debt associated with a nationally significant stretch of road namely Route K. This road brings traffic and products in from Auckland and the Waikato to New Zealand’s largest and busiest port. This road of national significance is one of the reasons I am in Parliament today as I have been working hard along with others to get this debt off our city’s balance sheet. Now that this has been achieved with the recent announcement of the New Zealand Transport Agency agreeing to take over the debt of Route K I feel I must finish what has been started and get the tolls removed also. It is something that the Rt Hon Winston Peters and New Zealand First have done for our city in the past with the building of and the tolls removed from our city harbour bridges.I also want to be able to hold this Government to its 2008 pre-election promise stating that it would fund a $100 million central corridor upgrade involving the four-laning of Turret Road and the Hairini causeway bridge and the widening of Fifteenth Avenue. This promise also included a direct link between Welcome Bay Road and Turret Road via an underpass. To date nothing much has been done except National trying to put the ownership of the Tauranga central corridor into the local road network which would then leave ownership and roading upgrade responsibility and cost in the hands of ratepayers. Tauranga needs a strong voice and someone who is prepared to stand up and fight for these issues and many more. I intend to be that voice and to back my words with actions.I change my direction now just by saying I feel extremely honoured and privileged to be able to stand here in this House in front of my very dear family my friends and my supporters. I would like to acknowledge and thank my lovely wife and best friend Erika my daughter Jazmin and my two sons Oliver and William who are all here today. I want to take this moment to say I love you with all my heart. They have been so encouraging and supportive during my campaign and career and to know I have their full backing and support for the future means absolutely everything to me.I would also like to thank and acknowledge my mum and dad for their support and encouragement throughout my life and career thus far. Thanks mum and dad. Thanks mum and dad and my sister Bobbi for coming all the way from Australia to share this day with me. I would like to thank my other sister Joy along with my niece and nephew Robyn and Jay plus the plethora of other family members and close friends who have made it here today or who are watching I am sure on Parliament TV on this very auspicious occasion.I have come from a very long line of strong New Zealanders dating back to our early arrival in New Zealand on a whaling ship in the late 1700s. My ancestor Robert Henry Mitchell was buried in 1820 in a small graveyard in what is now a ghost town outside Hokitika. I am the 10th Robert Henry Mitchell in a very long line of family members with the same name which now includes my son Oliver. As well as passing on our family name we have bestowed on our generations of family members a vibrancy and passion for life honesty and loyalty as well as strong principles of doing what is right. My grandfather was a socialist who was the leader of the New Zealand miners union unopposed for 20 years but also a prominent member of the New Zealand Communist Party after being a card-carrying Labour supporter in the 1930s.On my mother’s side the Robinsons have also come from a strong line of socialistic idealism—my mother’s great-grandparents being heavily involved in the Labour Party which began in Blackball on the West Coast of the South Island in 1916. These two strong political genetic lines have clearly had an influence on my current position and my strong views on fixing one of a number of large issues that this country is now facing.This segues nicely into some of the big issues I think this country faces and some of the things that New Zealand First is passionate about fixing for the betterment of New Zealand and all New Zealanders. This includes separatism that has been allowed to develop in this country where double standards are made in legislation by giving favouritism to some New Zealanders because of birthright. We must strive for a one-law-for-all country where all New Zealanders regardless of race or creed are treated equally and given the same opportunity to get ahead as their neighbour.Another major problem we are faced with is the wholesale selling off of our State-owned assets that have been built up over generations by our forward-thinking forefathers and mothers. This practice needs to be reversed. The ideology that it is somehow OK to let non - New Zealand residents or citizens buy up vast amounts of our land which is inconceivable in most other parts of the world is beyond me not to mention the direct impact that this is having on the price of residential property throughout our country. Our land is limited and precious and we need to stop this ridiculous practice.We are an export nation with some of the finest goods the rest of the world could hope to buy and yet we seem to be doing very little about controlling our export dollar or adding export value to the goods we send offshore. More needs to be done to create added value to our commodities which will in turn create more jobs for willing Kiwis. These are big issues but we also need to find a solution to the ever-increasing gap of inequality between those who have got so much and those who have got so little. This problem has got so large that even some families with two full-time incomes are struggling to keep their heads above water. With the price of living in New Zealand being amongst some of the highest in the world the thought of getting ahead can be a frustrating pipedream with dire consequences on the mental and physical well-being of Kiwis.We need to champion profit because without it our businesses and industries will fail. However we need to differentiate between this and profiteering which is the ugly side to irresponsible corporations and companies that take advantage of people’s needs. This is created by the monopolies and the duopolies that are taking hold in this country. I am talking about heroing responsible capitalism. We need a Government that empowers and enables people to get ahead whilst valuing the importance of family time where a one-income family can support itself fully and make headway into the future. We need mums and dads to get our kids back outside playing and enjoying the outdoors for a richer happier and healthier existence and where through education we can get families enjoying better diets and understanding the need to be involved in sports and recreation. This will help our ever-growing problem of child obesity.I will bring to this House a positive energy and a wealth of experience from my sporting pursuits where I have represented my country and my successful business pursuits which span over 20 years and include the hospitality industry event management and business coaching and mentoring.I know that every person who stands here today and speaks for the first time—in fact everybody who has ever made or who will in the future make their maiden speech—will despite their different political allegiances share a similar or the same moral and ethical principle which is to make a positive and everlasting difference. Alas there are and will be those who fall short of their intended positive impact lose sight of their moral compass and end up being the people or the person they so avidly said they would not become. I stand here today in front of the people who have known me the longest and who will know me for the rest of my life and I pledge that I will stay the same person who I am today. I pledge also that I will not be moved or cowed from my principles and that I will stand strong for the ever-increasingly difficult task to deliver on common sense. Thank you.