Quinn Paul: Maiden Statements 
Quinn Paul: Maiden Statements 
[Volume:651;Page:738] 
PAUL QUINN (National) 
: 
Papaki kau ana nga wai o Te Moana-nui-a-Toi mai i nga Kuri-a-Wharei ki Tihirau te unga mai o Mataatua. Mai hoki i Maketu ki Tongariro te tauranga mai o Te Arawa. Tihei mauriora! Ki nga tini mate o te wa kua mene ki te po haere haere okioki atu. Tatou nga kanohi ora o ratou ma tena ano tatou katoa. Tena koutou Te Atiwa e manaaki nei i a matou. Kei te hau kainga i takahi mamao mai ki te tautoko i ahau i te rangi nei tena koutou. He uri o Mataatua o Te Arawa me Airani e mihi atu nei. Ko au te matamua o Te Hau Paul te tiamana tuatahi o Te Runanga o Ngati Awa. No reira tena koe e te Mana Whakawa a tena ra tatou katoa e te Whare. Kia ora. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Waters crash upon the shores of the Bay of Plenty from the Dogs of Wharei at Katikati across to Tihirau the landing place of Mataatua. From Maketu to Tongariro also the anchorage of Te Arawa. ’Tis the sneeze of life! To the many deaths of the day who have passed on farewell depart rest in eternal peace. To those of us living descendants of departed ones greetings once again to all of us. Greetings to you Te Atiawa for your hospitality. To the people from home who have travelled from afar to support me today my acknowledgments. I am a descendant of Mataatua Te Arawa and Ireland extending greetings and I am the eldest son of Te Hau Paul the first chairman of Te Runanga o Ngati Awa. So greetings to you Mr Assistant Speaker and to us the House. Greetings. 
] 
Firstly let me offer my congratulations to Mr Speaker. His elevation to the highest office in this House is a testament to the long and distinguished public service he has given. I also congratulate my fellow inductees on both sides of the House. We join experienced and wise counsel as we start to share in the mantle of responsibility for overseeing the country’s affairs. In accepting that challenge we each have a valuable contribution to make but in my view what is really important is that we remind ourselves daily what that value proposition is. 
I want to return to that theme a little later. For now let me say that politics was furthest from my mind in my formative years so much so that I had no concept of our country’s democratic processes until my mid-teens and then only because for about a 3-week period prior to an election there seemed much ado about nothing following which everything appeared to return to normal. 
In many ways my life has trodden a familiar path rooted in the traditions of a Catholic rural upbringing exposed to the idealisms of university life and a career that in the early years traversed the public sector and for a much longer period thereafter has been roughed up by the realities of the commercial and voluntary sectors. Throughout I have been driven by the mantra of standing up for what I believe in whether it be as a committee member of the Marist St Pats Rugby Club because I believe taking part in sport and recreation is just one of many ways for our youth to start achieving their potential or as a servant of Ngati Awa resolving a Treaty claim. 
The reason I now stand in this House before you Mr Assistant Speaker is not because I have had an ambition to be a member of Parliament but because I became increasingly concerned at the direction the last administration was taking this country. I believe that there are two primary functions to being a member of Parliament both of equal importance. The first is to represent the people of New Zealand. In the case of a constituent member of Parliament that manifests itself in representing one’s electorate and the citizens within that electorate. The decisions this House makes affect the ordinary lives of every person in every electorate. It is something we must never lose sight of. Speaking of electorates I would welcome the opportunity of working through the issues confronting Hutt South with that electorate’s member of Parliament. Now that he has me to turn to Hutt South is likely to be able to reverse the declining socio-economic indicators that have been occurring in that electorate for some time. The issues confronting residents in Hutt South—