Upston Louise: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeUpston Louise: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 21 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:56. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Land Information):Mr Deputy Speaker it is an honour to stand in this Parliament and speak in one of your first turns in your role as Deputy Speaker. May I say that you look so comfortable in that Chair. I also want to offer my congratulations to the Rt Hon David Carter on his reappointment as Speaker and to Lindsay Tisch as Assistant Speaker and I welcome and look forward to my time in the House while the Hon Trevor Mallard occupies the Chair as well.In the Speech from the Throne this morning there was a lot of pomp and ceremony that quite rightly goes with the House of Representatives but the Rt Hon John Key had an important message. It was that this National-led Government will work in the interests of every New Zealander. It really is both a privilege and an honour to be in a Government that New Zealanders have so decisively given support to. Sixty National MPs. It was 61 for a couple of weeks but we now have 60 National MPs. That is a resounding vote of support for the policies that we took into the election in 2014.One of the things that is just so fantastic is that I am just thrilled at the 14 new MPs our caucus has brought in. You will see that I am surrounded by several of them this evening and this afternoon we heard in the Address in Reply debate the mover and seconder two incredibly impressive speakers who are new members of Parliament in this House. You will know that one of my roles as a former chief whip was to help get new members settled into this place but I can tell by the calibre the depth and the breadth of our MPs that it will take no time at all.I do also want to say that I have handed over the reins—or should I say the whip—to Tim Macindoe. I know he will do a wonderful job as the senior Government whip ably supported by Jami-Lee Ross as the junior whip and Joanne Hayes as the third whip. I want to just echo the comment that the Hon Chris Tremain made about the whip’s role. It is a cross between being a sergeant major and a parish priest and those in this Chamber who have been a whip will understand that role only too well.I do also want to welcome new MPs—and returning MPs for that matter—from across Parliament. I only wish that on days like today more people actually watched this House in action because this is probably the day of the year when there is more generosity more friendliness and more cooperation. You know actually for new MPs there would be one thing I would say: your reputation is in your hands and your reputation as a member of Parliament is not just with your own caucus colleagues. It is with parliamentary colleagues across the Chamber it is with the many hundreds of staff in the Office of the Clerk and the Parliamentary Service who support us in our role as parliamentarians and it is with those who work incredibly hard in your electorate offices who become the face of you in your electorate while you are here representing your constituents in Parliament. So I encourage you to think about the opportunity for you to form your reputation here.It is also an honour to have been named as the Minister for Women and the Minister for Land Information and to be given associate responsibilities in both tertiary education and local government. I did just want to touch briefly on those four areas. Firstly in the portfolio of women I am incredibly excited about working with a very able dedicated and committed team of professionals in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. I am a real firm believer that women should have every opportunity made available to them to realise their potential and I am thrilled to work alongside some incredibly able and competent women in our caucus.It is actually the responsibility of all of us—men and women—to support women to do better and to encourage to inspire and to support women to take the next step forward. I for one am really incredibly committed to making sure that we have more women in leadership roles and on our boards so part of that means actually getting them into the funnel early on. There are some women out there who do not see that there are opportunities so as the Minister for Women I see that it will be my responsibility to make sure that we provide those opportunities and encourage more women to step into those opportunities and to realise their potential.Sue Moroney: You could start with Parliament—the number of women you have in your caucus.Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Our economy is growing our economy is thriving and women have a critical role to play in that. You know I was not going to go there but I will. One of the Opposition members is piping up and chipping away to say that women in Parliament are not well represented. Well I suggest you look at your own constitution. I understand that you are now in breach of your own constitution so sort out your own side before criticising this side.In the spirit of cooperation I do want to acknowledge the comments that Kelvin Davis made in his speech earlier today and talk about his commitment as a local MP and his stand on reducing sexual and domestic violence. He is a great example of an MP who can stand up and say that no matter which political party he is part of he can constructively and actively make a difference for his community and I applaud him for that. I echo the comments of Minister Amy Adams who is the Minister of Justice and I am looking forward to working with Minister Anne Tolley the Minister for Social Development because this is a problem that exists for New Zealand not just for the Government of the day. I challenge every member in this House to look at what you can do for your community to protect women and children from violence. As the Minister for Women I promise you that my door will be open to hear your practical solutions on how we as a Parliament can serve our country by protecting women and children in their own homes.Land information was a portfolio that was an interesting surprise and it has been really interesting to get a better understanding of just how valuable our property information is. I think that what Land Information New Zealand has is an absolutely incredible piece of potential. If we can use its data and its information—it is location-based—in greater ways then it will have a significant impact on the sorts of decisions that we make in central government in local government in businesses and in all sorts of areas whether it is emergency response whether it is national defence or whether it is businesses making decisions about where they go next how they grow and how they develop. So it is really exciting to see Land Information and how we can unlock the potential of the information it holds. And it is great to see the important work it is doing in the Canterbury recovery. I am looking forward to working with the Hon Paula Bennett in local government and the Minster for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment the Hon Steven Joyce.Before I finish I want to come back to the comments that Stuart Nash made about National forgetting rural or provincial New Zealand. Mr Nash I suggest you look at the electorate results up and down New Zealand and look at rural and provincial New Zealand election data which will prove to you that in 99.9 percent of cases—yours being the 0.1 percent—rural and provincial New Zealand supports National. I want to take a moment to thank those of the Taupō electorate who supported me in this recent election because MPs who are returning to this place know that every 3 years you have a performance review and your community decides how you are doing at your job of representing them in Parliament. I am clear that that is my priority first and foremost—to represent the constituents in Taupō.I want to thank two of my team who have worked incredibly hard for me in my electorate office: Lisa Mackinnon and Vivian Rikona who are finishing up with me in this term. I really acknowledge the incredible work they do serving constituents in need. It is an exciting time to be a New Zealander and I am incredibly proud to be a part of the John Key - National-led Government because we are delivering results for New Zealanders and each and every day over the next 3 years we will continue to show New Zealanders how hard we are working for them.