Brash Don: Address to Her Excellency the Governor-General 
Brash Don: Address to Her Excellency the Governor-General 
[Volume:617;Page:13181] 
Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 I second the motion that a respectful address be presented to Her Excellency the Governor-General to mark the 150th anniversary today of the first sitting of this House. I also endorse the comments of the Prime Minister welcoming our guests and congratulating you Mr Speaker on organising this very important occasion. In so doing may I say how proud I am to speak here today at the celebration of this 150th anniversary of our Parliament. 
For a century and a half New Zealanders have had a robust regard for democracy. First we were a colony then after 1907 a Dominion and now an independent nation that chooses to recognise the Queen as our head of State. Throughout nearly all of our history parliamentary democracy has been at the core of our existence. Our legislature is in fact one of the oldest in the world and that is surely a great achievement in a country that still thinks of itself as comparatively young. However contrary to much popular belief we were not a democratic entity from the beginning. In fact we were nearer to a dictatorship for the first 14 years after the treaty. Representative government was established here only after agitation by our forebears and the passage of the New Zealand Constitution Act through the British Parliament in 1852. 
The first General Assembly that met on 24 May 1854 tried its members’ patience. Henry Sewell who would become the first Premier under responsible government recalled the trip to Auckland in his diary: “The steamer from Christchurch via Wellington Nelson and New Plymouth took 2 weeks because it took time to round up the new members for the final leg of the journey. The boarding houses en route were foul. Everyone on board was sick. When they got to the Manukau Heads there was no pilot to help them across the bar. Then when they reached Onehunga the new members had to wade ashore over hard stones with bare feet.” 
The first meeting of the General Assembly was not much better. There was no precedent to guide members and Sewell recalled that Wakefield went around the place “like a stockman driving wild cattle”. We have come a long way since then—I think. Fewer than 6000 registered voters were involved in that first election and it took place over several weeks. The electorate of Akaroa contained only 45 registered voters. There were only 37 members of the General Assembly. 
Since 1854 our parliamentary democracy has had the occasional small scandal. Seven of the 12 Auckland members elected in 1855 had petitions alleging bribery brought against them and similar accusations were heard well into the 20th century. In 1923 efforts were made to nullify Sir James Parr’s election for Auckland Suburbs. The accusation against Parr was that at a women’s meeting in Glen Eden he had served strawberries and cream. 
It is appropriate to reflect today on the great New Zealanders who have stood in this House over the last 150 years. Our first true populist was Richard John Seddon known by his fans as “old leather lungs”. He was a vigorous campaigner with an approach that was unique at the time. He stomped the country in the weeks before polling day giving energetic speeches described by some as 3-hour harangues. Seddon’s son claimed that on one occasion he managed 14 speeches and ate six dinners in one day. No wonder his heart eventually gave out soon after his greatest electoral triumph in 1905. 
This House has also had some distinguished Maori leaders none greater perhaps than Sir Apirana Ngata. He entered Parliament in 1905 as the member for Eastern Maori. He was to hold that seat for 38 years. He became the father of the House and by all accounts was a superb parliamentarian. His goal was the development of Maori land into economically viable and properly utilised units. He courted controversy and resigned his Cabinet position in 1934 after an inquiry. It is ironic perhaps that it was a Maori who was the last Minister to accept blame personally for departmental failings and to resign in the best Westminster tradition. 
In the second half of the 20th century the man who dominated New Zealand’s Parliament was Sir Keith Holyoake. He entered Parliament in 1932 as the youngest member and left in 1977—45 years’ later—as its oldest. He was Prime Minister for 12 years. 
Today we should also reflect on the achievements of our democracy over the last 150 years. We have been world leaders in the democratisation of our institutions. By the beginning of the 20th century we had one of the broadest electoral franchises in the world. Universal male suffrage came in 1879 for Europeans and even earlier for Maori in 1867. Universal female suffrage came in 1893 as a result of pressure from a group of women led by Kate Sheppard whose portrait I was delighted to put on our $10 banknotes exactly 100 years’ later. We beat Australia Canada the US and the UK yet surprisingly we were slow to elect women to Parliament. It was not legal for women to be members of Parliament until 1919; and the first woman to enter this House did so in 1933. 
Electoral reform did not stop there of course. Two more major developments would occur before we reached our position today. The first of these was the abolition of the Upper House in 1950. Our Parliament became unicameral one of only a tiny number in the world to be so. The second and in some ways more substantial change was the move to MMP agreed to in a referendum in 1993. MMP was meant to be fairer and more representative. Three elections later it has to be said the success of the new system has yet to be established. Its ability to deliver stable Government is not at all clear. 
We are one of the most enduring democracies in the world. We have every right to be proud of that fact. More impressive I believe is that we have seen very little corruption by world standards and the freedom index ranks New Zealand highly. As long as we honour the values forming the cornerstones of our parliamentary system—freedom justice and equal rights—future generations will be celebrating such anniversaries as today’s for centuries to come.