Locke Keith: Valedictory Statements 
Locke Keith: Valedictory Statements 
[Volume:676;Page:21534] 
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
: 
 It has been a great honour to be an MP these last 12 years. I have been lucky to have been here during the MMP era in a much more representative Parliament. I am pleased with the way MMP has been improving with new innovations like Ministers outside Cabinet which enables smaller parties to take on ministerial roles without submerging their political differences with the bigger party. Smaller parties now get a better hearing and the Greens have been able to achieve some policy gains like the home insulation scheme without any formal support arrangement with the Government. 
My suggestion to refine MMP further is to remove the fiction of an official Opposition with a Leader of the Opposition which is a hangover from the two-party system. It does not belong in a multiparty Parliament where the parties vote for and against bills in different combinations. Also out of date is the Christian prayer that begins Parliament’s business each day. We need a more inclusive secular statement given that half of the members in this House are not religious or are of another faith. 
I do commend the improvements made to question time under Speakers Jonathan Hunt Margaret Wilson and you Mr Speaker. You have taken that bold new step of actually requiring Ministers to answer direct questions. I think we now have one of the best parliamentary question periods in the world if not the best. Sometimes the shine is taken off question time by excessive noise as members shout across the floor. I have been amazed that this continues when every MP knows that no one outside this Chamber appreciates it. 
The continuing rowdiness also hides another achievement of MMP during my time in Parliament and that is the greater cooperative spirit and willingness to work together across party lines to progress political issues. I get a particular kick out of working successfully with parties furthest from the Greens in general philosophy. A few years ago I organised a joint public protest meeting with Rodney Hide which helped to halt Government plans for a new waterfront stadium in Auckland that would have visually mucked up what is now developing into a nice waterfront area. I also arranged a joint press conference with ACT plus United Future and the Maori Party to hurry up the repeal of the sedition laws which we quickly achieved. 
Not everything I did regarding Rodney Hide went to plan—not least my bet in 2005 carried on national TV to walk down Broadway naked if he won the Epsom seat. Of course Rodney won with the help of a certain then National Party leader Don Brash. I had no option but to carry through on my promise treating it as a golden opportunity to showcase the talents of one of New Zealand’s foremost body artists Phil Du-Chard. I am now less into gambling although I am tempted to put something on the Warriors winning the NRL grand final this Sunday. 
Another one of my successful cross-party political liaisons was with United Future leader Peter Dunne and the National Party to oppose provisions in the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Bill that would have drastically reduced public access to genealogical records. Peter Dunne and I made a joint submission to the select committee which helped convince the then Labour Government that it had to rewrite the whole bill. This obscure bill may have directly benefited more New Zealanders than anything else I have done in Parliament because so many Kiwis are researching their family history. 
As you might expect coming from a strong trade union background I have worked with Labour on lots of issues. I have enjoyed operating as part of a Green and Labour tag team in the House when anti-union laws come before us as they too frequently do. 
In most of my human rights work the Maori Party and Mana have been good allies. Alongside the Greens they have recognised how the laws and practices generated by the so-called “war on terror” erode our civil liberties. More New Zealanders see that now. It was not so easy in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when for the Greens I was advocating peaceful solutions opposing the war in Afghanistan and saying that we should not rush to adopt the Terrorism Suppression Act. Unfortunately when New Zealand bought into a “war on terror” it had to come up with some terrorists and in the absence of any in New Zealand innocent people like Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui were targeted. I take great satisfaction that Ahmed Zaoui and his family are now well settled in New Zealand and that I played a role in the 5-year campaign to achieve this. I am honoured that Mr Zaoui and his son are present with us today. 
When people ask me what I have achieved I always say that I can take only part of the credit for any of the successes. My role has been to advocate for causes on the parliamentary stage. In the Ahmed Zaoui case although I played an important role most of the credit has to go to the many fair-minded citizens who campaigned long and hard for Mr Zaoui’s freedom his excellent lawyers Deborah Manning and Rodney Harrison as well as a new SIS director Warren Tucker who finally concluded that there was not a case. I also have Dr Tucker to thank for my SIS file which will be a useful reference work for the history writing I plan to do in my retirement. 
Politically the thing that has most saddened me has been the ease with which legislation giving the police or SIS more powers or legislation extending sentences for crimes passes through this Parliament. Now we have anti-terrorism laws we do not need and our jails are overflowing. I appeal to Parliament to try to find the brake pedal or even—gasp—the reverse gear. It would be good in this respect to send a parliamentary delegation to Scandinavia to investigate how shorter sentences and an emphasis on rehabilitation actually works in reducing crime. Norway provided a great example to the world when it reacted to the recent mass killing with a march where people carried roses and pledged not to turn Norway into a security State. 
On several issues I have looked more to Scandinavia than the Anglo nations like America Britain and Australia. For the last 12 years I have been a Green battler for New Zealand to be more independent in foreign affairs and defence building on what we achieved in leaving ANZUS and becoming nuclear-free. There have been some successes. I can take some credit for helping create the political climate where Helen Clark could scrap the air combat force which was of use only for fighting what Nicky Hager has termed “other people’s wars”. Now we have only to get rid of the two remaining frigates to be left with a navy more relevant to our practical defence tasks in the South Pacific and the Southern Ocean. 
There is an independent pioneering spirit within most New Zealanders that grates against subordination to American dictates. Many New Zealanders now rightly question whether America’s war in Afghanistan should be our war. One of the reasons I am so passionate about the need for New Zealand to take an independent stance is that the big Western powers are failing to address so many of the world’s problems from climate change and the debt crisis to development needs and nuclear disarmament. New Zealand can play a vital political leadership role in the world working together with other independent players such as Norway and Sweden or emerging nations like Turkey and Brazil. I have often accused our Government of being too timid in standing up to big countries on peace and human rights issues. To make the point I have often resorted to symbolic protest. I have waved Tibetan and Papuan flags on the steps of Parliament presented a nuke-free New Zealand badge to Hillary Clinton—she was rather startled—and presented a letter from anti-war groups to Tony Blair. I once wore a scarf made up of Chinese and Tibetan flags to a reception for the Chinese Premier. Now at State dinners I seem to be allocated the seat farthest away from the top table. 
If we are to be a truly independent nation I do not see how we can remain chained to the British monarchy. Even though my Head of State Referenda Bill failed to get a majority in the House last year I did put the issue into the parliamentary arena and there is now a cross-party Republican caucus in this House. Most MPs recognise that we cannot stay a monarchy for ever. Why not be bolder and bring about the change even if it does upset a minority of constituents still attached to the royal family? 
I have also enjoyed being an Auckland MP and being part of Auckland’s evolution into a considerably more tolerant bicultural and multicultural town. Auckland’s public transport system has also improved but there would not have been the transport snarl-up on the first day of the 2011 Rugby World Cup if Governments had been listening more closely 10 years ago to the pleas I and other Greens were making for more investment in Auckland’s rail. 
I would like now to pay a tribute to all those wonderful Green MPs I have had the privilege of working alongside during my 12 years in Parliament—and it is great to have Jeanette Fitzsimons with me here today along with Nicola and Holly Donald the partner and daughter of the much missed Rod Donald. Rod and Jeanette led us through the difficult times of consolidating the Green presence in Parliament and in the public consciousness. It was not an easy ride. Initially we were dismissed as either utopian dreamers or dangerous extremists. Sometimes the labels seemed mutually contradictory such as when I was dismissed as both a Stalinist and a weak-kneed peacenik in the same breath. I have never particularly minded the peacenik label. 
It is much easier now because public opinion has moved much closer to the Green way of looking at things which is one reason why we are going up in the polls. We now have a much stronger Green Party and I would like to pay a big tribute to all the Green members who work so hard to get out the Green message. The Green office staff have been fantastic over the years. There are too many to mention but I particularly want to thank my dedicated executive assistant Claire my adviser Kevin and Lucy Ivan and Karen in the Auckland office. Some have said that it will not be the same now we originals have gone but I have great faith that the expanded team that will emerge from the election ably led by Russel Norman and Metiria Turei will take Green politics to a higher level. 
I am very happy today to have my brother Don and sisters Maire and Alison with us and most of their families—they have all been so supportive of me over these years—and of course my wonderful partner Michele who has helped me right through this parliamentary journey and over all the rocky patches. She has also assisted with her exceptional political judgment to keep me on the right path. 
People will ask: “Will you miss Parliament?”. And I say yes. It has been my other family for these past 12 years. As if to reinforce this point one of my young great-nieces calls me “Uncle Parliament”. Thanks to the MPs from all parties—I have enjoyed your company and friendship. Thanks to all the parliamentary staff: clerks librarians Hansard recorders ushers messengers security select committee workers—you name it—and particularly the cleaners who do not get much more than the minimum wage when we MPs are paid so well. To all my friends in the press gallery thanks for your professionalism and for giving me a fair go. 
In my maiden speech I said that I saw my role “first and foremost as a representative of all those active community groups who are pushing good causes from better public transport to humane treatment for refugees from organic farming to nuclear disarmament.” One of the great things about this House is that it has a big front lawn so that community protests can be brought to the steps of Parliament. I have been regularly out on those steps speaking in support of the protesters on the grass—on every type of issue. Sometimes I did not know the protesters were coming until I spied them on Parliament grounds from our offices on the 15th floor of Bowen House. So I would rush down and quickly construct a speech on a particular issue such as on one recent occasion addressing the plight of the persecuted Assyrian Christians in Iraq—I did not quite know they were coming. 
So if you want to catch up with me after I have left Parliament you might sometimes find me among the protesters on the grass ready with a bit of helpful advice for Parliament or you might find me across the road in the National Library researching a political history project. Thanks to all of you. I will miss you. Ka kite ano. 
Waiata 
Sitting suspended from 6.09 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.