Lee DeniseDENISE LEE (National—Maungakiekie): Thank you Mr Speaker. Tēnā koutou katoa e tau nei tētahi pīrere nō Tikapa Moana nā ka kopangia maitia e te aroha o Maungakiekie o Maungarei hoki. Ka irihia ki te wai tapu o Tāmaki Herenga waka. Ka irihia ki te wai tapu o Te Mānukanuka Hoturoa. Nā ka tonohia mai nei ahau hei māngai he taringa he kanohi mō te hunga rā. Nō reira aroha ki a rātou kei te tūpou o te tini. Ka mihi ki a tātou kia ora mai tātou katoa![Greetings to you all. A fledging bird from the Coromandel has alighted here enfolded by the compassion of Maungakiekie and also of Maungarei christened with the sacred water of Tāmaki Herenga waka and of Te Mānukanuka Hoturoa. Now then I was sent here as a representative ear and face for those ones there. Therefore empathy to those the innumerable who have gone before. I acknowledge and thank all of us.]Greetings to you all. A bird fledgling from the Coromandel has alighted here enfolded by the mana of Maungakiekie and Maungarei christened with the sacred water of Tāmaki christened with the sacred water of Manukau and sent here as the mouthpiece the ears and the eyes for the people there. Therefore I acknowledge those who have gone before. I mihi to us Mr Speaker; greetings to us all and congratulations on your new role. You are one of seven members here in the 52nd Parliament who sat with my father back in the 1980s and the 1990s.Many of us have had family precede us here—fathers grandfathers cousins—but unusually two of my colleagues' fathers taught me in primary school one of them moving on to become an MP; the other—my favourite teacher of all time—well he happens to be up there in the gallery because his son is about to deliver a maiden speech. No matter where you are in New Zealand we're all somehow connected somehow local and we inevitably know each other.I drove into the local petrol station after the election to return yet another hired trailer used for signs and the station attendant approached me and remarked Hey are you that lady from the signs—the one that won? I've been watching you. If you know how to back a trailer like that you deserve to win." I laughed. I introduced myself to Lester and he told me that he was a regular middle New Zealander working hard to make a living and now that I was elected "Miss lady from the signs" he said "don't forget about us." Pressing a little further about what he meant I discovered it meant that he felt OK about working hard as long as he had enough to take his family on a holiday. He didn't want lawmakers to take away that opportunity. It wasn't complicated; he was outgoing and optimistic and he felt strongly that he wanted to keep more of what he earned so he could choose how to spend it.Lester is indicative of many others in my electorate of Maungakiekie. I'm honoured to have been the Auckland city councillor for the hard-working area and now their member of Parliament and I thank them for the faith that they have placed in me to continue as an elected representative. May I acknowledge the immediate and highly regarded past member of Parliament the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga who joins me here in support today. Fa'afetai lava Sam.I've learnt a few things about Maungakiekie along the way. When we're told the Manukau Harbour is the poor cousin to the Waitematā we don't accept it—we straddle both. When we know we've got New Zealand's largest regeneration project because some of our social indicators are poor we embrace it and we stick together to face change. When we've got the nation's largest industrial area contributing to GDP we value it and we punch above our weight. We're highly diverse in age and culture and income. The level of investment and activity in our part of New Zealand is unprecedented. Between the scale of Housing New Zealand's build in Ōranga the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company the Auckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative transport project and the huge long planned for and yet controversial East-West Link we are a very busy part of New Zealand. Maungakiekie contains the lifeblood of our nation.While the scale of these projects values into the billions the true value of any electorate is always back at the local level. Panmure Ellerslie and Onehunga the three main village centres—Mount Wellington let's work on one—have a distinct community feel that is hard to find in a fast-paced busy city. Intent on keeping and fostering that village feel before I ran for office—among other things—I co-created a charitable trust that brokered local residents and business owners to pull off social projects for good a far cry from a former role that I had working with high - net worth clients at Morgan Stanley in Philadelphia. We were highly motivated to model to our own city kids the importance of service. Town clean-ups small-business makeovers teen mum support and community gardens—we did it all. We were organic responsive innovative and frugal—everything the local government - employed community staff weren't and a big reason why I am thoroughly committed to the principle of allowing community to produce the answers.When I was awarded a New Zealander of the Year local hero award I had someone approach me after the medal ceremony and say "Is this because of your dad?" I come from a long line of civic duty family commitment. It appears there really is something in the blood. Grandad lied about his age to serve in World War I as a 16 year old alongside his five older brothers. He came back after being gassed in the trenches built much of Paeroa and became the mayor. His son my father became the mayor after him.Provincial life was unhurried and at times quaint. I recall our girls' Brownie pack having to parade past Dad standing in front of the council chambers dressed in all his mayoral chains as part of annual town commemorations. Each year we were taught to acknowledge the mayor with the usual two-finger Brownie salute. I figure there's no better time than my maiden speech—a mere 40 or so years later Dad—to let you know that one parade my youngest sister Angela and I decided in jest to momentarily turn the fingers around. Lucky for us your dubious eyesight didn't catch our sleight of hand Dad. Even more lucky our 75-year-old head Brown Owl well known for her paralysing death stare didn't catch it either.I was 11 when Dad went to Parliament as the MP for Coromandel. I was fascinated right from the start in large part due to the interesting people that politics attracted. Unlike today it was often the biggest most dynamic membership-based show in town.Ross Miller a long-term electorate chair for my dad and an unfailing advocate for my own journey will recall with clarity a certain Miss Elsie Wylde. This woman deserves to be immortalised in Hansard. At the tender age of 80 she would fill every room with her presence boom out interjections always be right with political predictions and should anyone dare to object she would loudly and publicly remind them that she taught both them and their children recalling with clarity their lack of academic abilities. I'd like to say it was her political discourse that grabbed my attention most but in all honesty it was hard to go past the time that she ate beetroot at the pot-luck event and without knowing it the beetroot juice slipped from the corners of her mouth down her deeply engrained wrinkles producing a red tributary stream effect—thoroughly memorable.Although I'd observed and participated in politics and studied it and sat at the feet of political icons like Rob Eady and enjoyed party membership life all along the way at some point it needed to become my own journey. And that it did in the form of the unexpected the inexplicable and as official records still record today the unexplainable.One night I woke as a young parent and decided to check on my two-year-old son Riley to discover that he had died in his sleep. What ensued was a series of random interactions with a cold-hearted function-driven system. The failure of police inquest officers pathologists and coroners to sensitively inform and communicate their process to two shell-shocked parents still mystifies me today.Loss comes in all forms not just death but loss of careers loss of confidence and loss of relationships and marriage—my own succumbing to the high percentage of those that end upon the death of a child. With all our collective legislative wisdom there shouldn't also have to be loss of faith in a system supposedly designed to protect those that need it at precisely the time that they need it.Trying to keep up with where Riley's body had gone what they were doing to it and what they were retaining from it receiving an abruptly worded police letter informing us of our Coroner's Court hearing date—it was all too much. No explanations no frequently asked questions brochure—just a summons. You'll understand I thought that we were being put on trial for the death of our son. Walking through the valley of the shadow of death trying to understand the legalities and desperately wanting to just stay away from the world to get on with grieving my sense of indignance grew. I was the one who had to ask to meet with the police and the pathologist and others to get a handle on who else might face what we did. The indignance formed a seed that merged into a big part of the driving force that sees me standing here today.I'm subsequently relieved that the coronial system has improved for people. The 2006 Coroners Act and later reviews better protect the interests of grieving families. Politics really did become personal for me then. A flick of the pen the wording of an amendment an exchange in this debating chamber—Parliament's processes affect everyday lives.I've had the pleasure of being in Auckland Council's Cabinet as the deputy chair for planning covering Auckland's housing transport and infrastructure—$45 billion of assets to make your eyes water. But what is the reality for residents? Fixing the broken kerbs so car tyres don't get scraped speeding up consents so the house extension can just get built going to the park expecting to see the lawns mowed. The settings are wider here but however you measure it the expectation is that we will make a difference in the everyday lives of New Zealanders. We will foster the right economy for jobs and income which in turn fosters hope and the fruition of dreams. I'm immensely proud to stand with the National Party who have overseen substantial growth in their recent term of Government despite international trends to the contrary—10000 new jobs each month for the last 18 months is extraordinary.I'm surrounded by a host of incredible supporters who appear to have decided I'm a good investment of their time energy and unfailing commitment and I can only hope to return the favour. To the National Party thank you for backing me to back Lester and backing people to choose their own future. What I most appreciate about you and our leader the Rt Hon Bill English is the relentless commitment to the politics of hope. It should always outweigh the politics of fear even when the latter sells more media space.To my core local volunteer team: you are everything I'd wish for. As chance would have it we're dominated by females. Dr Leigh Mathias how you have time to run boards run a business and back women like me I do not know. Sue White politics is obviously in your blood but for all the right reasons. Your friendship and that of your daughter Ainsley I hold dear. Louise Millar my chair: our kids went to school together you always say yes and no one can sport a pair of Red Bands in the city like you can. Josh Bedell the lone male voice—we all know you love it.To my personal friends outside of politics: let's keep it that way. You don't like the policy detail and I like the escape. You also remind me this place is a bubble so if I ever get out of touch pop me.And to my funny often irreverent and close-knit family I adore you. To my two sisters Rochelle and Angela and your clans: we have many more adventures ahead and I am proud of our strong and fun-filled bond. Remember the time when we ran around the Beehive as teenagers and I fell on Robert Muldoon when he opened his secret private elevator door? Well it's time for the next generation of kids to let loose on parliamentary security.Mum and Dad your rock-solid presence and commitment to our family is a very large reason I am here today. In an age of transience and relativity you have been present for us. You've stuck to your convictions the greatest and most admirable of which is that you love and you serve others before yourself. When we've hit hard times as a family—and there's been plenty—you've adapted. I cannot thank you enough for the way in which your character has forged our family destiny and that you've supported me in the pursuit of mine.Finally to my own precious children. My son Riley who as the Good Book says lives beyond the veil—you are a gift. My daughters Sydnee and Makenna your world is not the one I grew up in. I spent weekends rat-shooting at the Paeroa dump; you navigate the virtual world streaming mass international content 24/7 under the watchful eye of Google and Facebook empires. It is your world that will rapidly change what we do here in these halls and I am proud to have two incredibly talented young women to guide me in how to think ahead. I love you.In closing I wish us well and Godspeed to the 52nd Parliament of the world's most attractive nation. [Applause]"