Edmonds BarbaraBARBARA EDMONDS (Labour—Mana): Afioga Mr Speaker. It is a privilege for me to stand here as the MP for Mana a path walked before me by Graham Kelly the Hon Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban and by the Hon Kris Faafoi. Thank you for paving the way. Fa'afetai tele lava to the people of Mana for entrusting me with your voice. Ngāti Toa Rangatira tēnā koutou. Tamariki mā o Mana College tēnā koutou. O'u aiga uma i Samoa talofa lava.Mr Speaker I want to acknowledge your appointment as the father of the House. Over 12 years ago after choosing to settle our family in Porirua my auntie Freda Soe from Wainuiōmata said to me that I made the wrong choice. She said You should move to Wainui where there is a good local MP who got lights on the hill so you can see where you are driving at night." State Highway 1 from Wellington to Mana is still not fully lit so the bar has been set by my auntie as to what a good electorate MP must achieve.Prime Minister it has been a privilege to have served you as a Beehive staffer. I've seen you operate behind closed doors in some of our country's darkest days: 15 March Whakaari / White Island and now through COVID. I'm in awe of your energy your strength your empathy and your ability to critically analyse thousands of policy briefings that come before you. I stand ready to serve you now as a member of your caucus.Today I want to share a love story—more than one love story actually: love stories weaved throughout my many names from across the Pacific Ocean to the hills of Mana and into the waters of Te Awarua-o-Porirua from Kāpiti Island in the North and Mana Island in the South. My name is Barbara Rachael Fati Palepa Edmonds. Fati is short for Fatimataaleniuoaana. It is my paternal great-grandmother's name who fell in love with a tama uli—a blackbird—indentured labourers who were abducted from the Solomon Islands or New Guinea to work as slaves in the copra fields of Samoa. The translation of our name means "to fetch the green coconuts from the district of A'ana". It is the Civil War story of tactic and strategy by defeating your enemy through stealing their food supply. My great-grandmother Fati was the village midwife and nurse who was the centre of her village's health response to the influenza pandemic that wiped out 22 percent of Samoa's population in 1918. I note the apology given on behalf of the New Zealand Government by the Rt Hon Helen Clark in 2002 for the actions taken by the New Zealand authorities who allowed the ship the Talune carrying passengers with influenza to dock in Apia in 1918. We must learn from our mistakes so I echo the call in the Speech from the Throne that it is of great imperative that New Zealand's obligations to the Pacific are a core part of the COVID-19 vaccine strategy.Edmonds is my married name. My quiet humble supportive and patient husband Chris hails from Ngāti Manu Kāretu and Ngāti Oneone Kaikohe; Ngāpuhi te iwi. We are high school sweethearts. Although we only planned to have seven children it is possibly a tribute to my Chinese side of my family that we rounded it off at the luckiest number the number most inviting of wealth: eight children. Acacia Arkaid Agape Patience Prayer Salem Yahzel and Harmony you are our greatest treasure and you will always be our greatest achievement.Rachael is the name given to me by my father Selani. He was the eldest of Grandpa's 19 children and the only child to go past fourth form and receive a tertiary education. In 1976 he crossed the Pacific Ocean with his wife and my two older sisters to Aotearoa the land of milk and honey to give his family a better life. Oute fa'atalofa atu i aiga of lo'u tin'a Fasitoo-Uta Safotu ma Asau. Oute fa'atalofa atu fo'i i aiga o lo'u tam`a Faleula ma Faleatiu.My parents initially settled in a rat-infested place in Ponsonby and like many Pacific Islanders of the 1970s they moved with the Pacific tide and shifted to South Auckland where the housing was more affordable. However my educated father knew it was not the place he wanted to bring up his children. Like many of my father's generation with their meagre savings and by capitalising their family scheme benefit—a Labour policy from the days of Walter Nash—they put down a deposit to build a home on Auckland's North Shore. Little did my father know though he would have to leave his job soon after and go on the sickness benefit to care for his wife who was diagnosed with cancer. Two years later he would be a widower at the age of 40 with four children under the age of 11 living off the domestic purposes benefit.Barbara or Palepa was my mother's name bestowed on me by my family chief the late Timu Lafaele on my fifth birthday the same day we buried my mother. Our family was never alone though. Like many Pacific migrant families our house was the transit lounge for the scores of family members as they arrived from Samoa worked saved money and moved on to set up their own houses. We had 24 people living in our house at one time but there were always beds because as the night shift went out the day shift came home. Most of my family worked at the plastics factory or the local hospital where they did the laundry were the kitchen hands the cooks the cleaners or the orderlies. While they were in the bowels of the kitchen they sent me and my siblings to the decile 10 school right next door.I am the fruit of their struggle. This was a classic Labour story and this is where I learnt my Labour values. If a Government could support low-income parents who worked hard so that their children could have a better and more secure life it was all right by me. Opportunity in education always a fundamental tenet of the Labour Party from the days of Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser became critical for making the most of my potential and giving me and my family choices. My father went back to school at the age of 48 to become a social worker and he worked as one until he retired in 2017. The Training Incentive Allowance paid for his petrol so he could get to his lectures. It gives me great pride that this Government is reinstating the Training Incentive Allowance a policy that I know not only impacts directly on the children of solo parents but in my father's case the thousands of vulnerable children that he cared for as a social worker.The education that my family had worked so hard to provide for me meant I understood that completing my tertiary education was an investment in our family's future. With the help of the Edmonds whānau I completed my law and arts degrees in 5½ years. By the end Chris and I had four children and we were expecting our fifth. Like my father my family depended on me. Failure was not an option. It was tough. Self-inflicted of course but still tough. We only had $8 in our hand at the end of the week as Chris worked as a low-paid timber machinist. That meant we had no cushion if our car broke down or it failed its warrant or if I needed an additional textbook. Our financial situation only improved in 2006 when a much-needed boost arrived through an increase in Working for Families. We were one of those families whom the Helen Clark - Labour Government assisted out of relative poverty and into a life of opportunities and choices. It made a real difference to our family. And now I'm here moulded and shaped by quintessential Labour values saved from falling through the cracks as a child through the Labour policies of Michael Joseph Savage Walter Nash Norman Kirk and Helen Clark. At every difficult point in mine or my family's life there's been a Labour Government that has been our safety net. I stand on the shoulders of those before me wanting to use those values to improve the lives of families in Mana. So it is my turn to serve my community the community of Mana to promote and expand those values to ensure that these safety nets opportunities and choices remain or are reinstated.My love affair with Mana started in October 2008. I secured a role with the IRD national office as their first Pacific tax policy analyst and we were looking for a home in Wellington. We started in Mana the sun was shining and there was a rowing—a waka ama—regatta on Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour. As we moved south towards Johnsonville it started to pour down with rain—Hon Members: Ha ha!BARBARA EDMONDS: —I'm just saying!—and then it hailed as we drove to Newtown. We didn't even try to make it over the Wainui Hill much to my Auntie Freda's disappointment. We took it as a sign that Titahi Bay Porirua Mana was the place we would call home for our family. And what a home it is. Mana is an extremely diverse electorate both in geography and people a coastline that leads to Kāpiti Island in the north and Mana Island in the south with rolling hills surrounding Paraparaumu Paekākāriki Pukerua Bay Waitangirua Cannons Creek Plimmerton and Judgeford. Mana has the fifth-highest population of Pacific peoples almost triple the national average. A fifth of our population are Māori and one-quarter of our population are born overseas. History shows that economic recessions hit Pacific Māori and migrant communities the hardest so I'm proud to be part of a Government that not only represents our communities more but one that has Pacific Māori and migrants at the table to help make those decisions so that our people are not left behind. Mana consistently rates above the national average for voter turnout at the general election. That is because the people in Mana know how much the decisions and policies made here in Wellington Central impact on their everyday lives—issues that matter such as affordable warm dry homes homes that we can call our own; 24/7 access to healthcare; decent paying jobs and decent conditions where workers' rights are respected; quality local education so that our children do not have to leave the electorate to learn with classrooms and buildings that match the mana of the students that learn within their walls; a thriving local economy where businesses small and significant can spend most of their time actually running their business rather than being unreasonably caught up in compliance; core infrastructure that is maintained or expanded to accommodate for population growth so that we can swim at our local beach and not fear the floods that come with rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns; a world that breathes for generations to come. There is much work to do and we cannot do this alone. The Government cannot solve every problem so we must depend on NGOs and community groups to help us whether it be the Raumati village community gardens Norths Rugby Club potential wind turbines on the hill at Paekākāriki the Linden Community Centre Friday lunch or the one-stop shop for youth in the East. The dozens of community organisations clubs schools and groups I visited during my campaign and those I've been a part of for the last 12 years have one clear simple and loud message to us in this House and to Government agencies: do not forget the communities that we serve because at the nub of it the community knows what the community needs.For us members we must now turn our values into policy and policy into to action. It would be remiss of me not to touch on the topic of tax. Contrary to popular belief and probably to the dismay of our small tax community here in New Zealand I do not love tax but I do believe in a fair efficient and cohesive tax system that has a broad base with low rates. I also believe that much of how we have a cohesive tax system is because of the generic tax policy process. This process is the model for all Government policy development if carried out genuinely. My alofa to those who helped me get here is also appropriate at this time. My family from far and wide especially Sela my mum who picked up where Palepa couldn't continue the Mana Labour Electorate Committee and E tū union the scores of our dedicated passionate volunteers and friends the housewives of Titahi Bay Paekākāriki and Raumati who knocked on the doors picked up phones made food messaged me with words of encouragement and siva-ed with me throughout the campaign—thank you. My core campaign team of Kieran Josh Brenda Suzanne Jim Megan Helen Jamie Baigent and Swann Caroline and Geoff: you taught this political rookie the value of direct voter contact. I'm for ever grateful for your time teachings and friendship. Robin Kathryn Maryan Dave Dan Jerome Telea Andrea Neil Janet Holborow John Grundy Carmel and Stuart: you always believed that I was capable of doing this even when I didn't think so myself. Thank you for providing me with the soft landings that I needed. My final thanks go to all those who work or worked these walls of Parliament and the Beehive. Most MPs leave this thanks for their valedictory speech but I want to mark it twice knowing how hard it is. This is a unique place to work where we see the best of people and on the rare occasions the worst of people and where a 40-hour week is a luxury. Staffers do not do their jobs for the love for money or for work-life balance but because we know that change can be effected from within these walls. Fa'afetai fa'afetai fa'afetai tele lava. I conclude with a love note to my dearest Mana. My commitment to you is that I will advocate with that same fighting spirit that is captured in my name with the same humility and compassion my great-grandmother possessed as she helped care for the sick in her village and with the tenacity to never give up no matter what life throws at you as taught to me by my father because people don't want much—just someone to love somewhere to live somewhere to work and something to hope for. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. Ia manuia le soifua.[Applause]WaiataSitting suspended from 6.15 p.m. to 7 p.m."