Roy Heather: Valedictory Statements 
Roy Heather: Valedictory Statements 
[Volume:676;Page:21611] 
Hon HEATHER ROY (ACT) 
: 
 My introduction to politics came at the tender age of 20 in 1984. They were exciting political times. Sir Robert Muldoon had called a snap election and Sir Robert Jones had launched a new party the New Zealand Party. For the first time I had a flicker of interest in what was going on in the political arena and Sir Robert Jones’ youngest candidate wanted my vote. I liked his politics—the freedom and prosperity message appealed—but I liked him even more. He got my vote that year—albeit a special vote because I had not enrolled—and I got him. A vote is a precious thing as is a husband and I think it was a fair trade. 
A total of 12.5 percent of the population thought that a free and prosperous nation was something worth supporting in that 1984 election. Under MMP that would have been around 16 seats for a party that believes in freedom of market of mind and of body. I still believe fervently in those ideals. 
My next political encounter was many years later in 1996—that first MMP election—when ACT was established as a political party. In 1999 I was persuaded to stand. I thought I was flying the flag. Sir Roger Douglas and others decided I should be making a serious tilt at Parliament and gave me an electable list position. Luckily with five small children I did not get in at that election but politics as we all know gets in the blood so I stuck with it and was elected in 2002. 
My early parliamentary life seemed destined for a time to be marred by the curse of mistaken identity. When Deborah Coddington and I came to Parliament in 2002 then Speaker Jonathan Hunt—and it is a pleasure to see him in the Chamber today—had difficulties telling us apart. Deborah who is tall dark and statuesque and I who am none of those things just seemed to confuse him every time we stood up to ask a question or to speak. It probably did not help when we turned up at Parliament one day wearing men’s suits in response to his comments that the women in the House were dressing too scruffily. So sometimes I was myself sometimes I was called to speak as Deborah Coddington and even once I think as “Deborah Roy”. We eventually got our identities sorted out with the Speaker over a bottle of his very nice red wine. 
Then there was the case of the swapped Bellamy’s bills. Eric Roy who had not returned to Parliament when I arrived in 2002 was receiving my bills in Invercargill and I was receiving his much smaller bills. I recognised the problem when I was charged for the baking of a whole trout that I had apparently caught myself and supplied to the Bellamy’s kitchen. Much to my father’s dismay—he is here with us today—I am no trout fisherwoman. I rang Eric who complained about the amount I had been spending and that he had been asked to pay. We agreed to swap bills when I was next in the south. We duly did so and a  
Southland Times 
 photographer kindly immortalised the moment for us. Just for the record despite constant speculation Eric and I are not related. We are not brother and sister we are not father and daughter we are not second cousins twice removed and I am not as Eric once jokingly said to a reporter his love child. We are however friends. 
Hon Members 
: Ha ha! 
Hon HEATHER ROY 
: I ran it past him first. 
Finally an ongoing but pleasant mix-up usually begins with the comment: “You’re from the south aren’t you.” I am originally as it happens but I know as soon as I am asked that question that the person thinks I am former National MP Katherine Rich. Clearly it is the healthy but pale southern complexion we share that causes the confusion or perhaps it is that we share similar views on many issues. 
So once my identity crises had been dealt with I was able to get down to work. Most of my first term was under the watchful leadership of Richard Prebble. His aim he said was to get us to ministerial level by the end of our first term. That meant being thrown in the deep end which is undoubtedly the best way to learn—like an apprenticeship of sorts I guess. There was no namby-pamby breathing through your nose for ACT MPs. 
During Richard Prebble’s time in Parliament he left many legacies to the country. Those I have personally benefited from most are his “Prebble-isms”—words of wisdom best adhered to or taken notice of if you know what is good for you. I frequently pass these gems on to others. Amongst his best are: “If you can’t say it in 2 minutes it’s not worth saying.” This is true I have discovered of every conceivable topic. Another one was: “Don’t be scared of making mistakes. MPs who don’t make mistakes aren’t doing their job.” This was given either as advice to take some risks or sometimes as an unspoken reassurance that although you had stuffed up completely it probably was not going to cause the sky to fall in. 
“In politics the highs are so high and the lows are so low.” The highs include successes like the voluntary student membership bill which is now an Act; demotion from my ministerial portfolios rates amongst the lows. Richard claims that the highs always make up for the lows and in this he is absolutely right—“no ifs no buts no regrets”. There is nothing like a solid political win. 
“Keep in touch with the friends you have before politics because you cannot tell whether the ones you make in politics are real friends until you leave.” I think I have made many friends in my time here and established many respectful relationships with those from across the political spectrum. I am hopeful that most will stand the test of time. 
The apprenticeship served me well for my time as an MP. There is nothing like coming up against a good Minister—and I am looking directly over at Labour—while in Opposition to teach you the ropes. Several Labour Ministers taught me valuable lessons about how to handle issues although their aim of course was generally to tell me nothing at all. Parliamentary questions become your friend as do the Official Information Act and the Ombudsman. 
ACT battled for 12 years in Parliament before we formally became part of the Government. I look back at the many talented and hard-working ACT MPs before me who would have been great Ministers. Ken Shirley and Stephen Franks taught me by example that principles are important and sticking to them results in consistent policy gains. Had they had the opportunity to become ACT Ministers both would have made a real difference to the lives of Kiwis. But in politics timing is everything and I found myself in the right place at the right time to be appointed to a ministerial post after the 2008 election. 
Turning ACT policies into reality has been our big win. School choice is on the agenda. Aspire Scholarships for those from low-income homes and a review into special education were big projects I was proud of leading. Among my defence highlights was participating in the defence review. I continue to believe a strong reserve force will give the New Zealand Defence Force greater flexibility and capability and I hope there will be a real focus on this for the future. My companion studies on New Zealand’s defence industry and voluntary national service raised interesting proposals for “New Zealand Inc.” and I would be very sorry if this work was not useful as a base for future thinking. Alongside Rodney Hide’s Regulatory Standards Bill the Spending Cap (People’s Veto) Bill and local government changes I think ACT supporters and voters can be satisfied that our policy wins were significant. 
Like my fellow retiring colleagues—those from ACT and from other parties—I have been honoured to have been elected to this House to speak on behalf of the many Kiwis who have entrusted their vote to the ACT Party and sometimes to have my personal views on conscience issues heard. There is nothing like being a Minister and getting things done. Serving one’s country in this way is a rare and special thing and I thank those who over three elections have given me the opportunity to do so on their behalf. 
Politics is the contest of ideas. Situations change people’s attitudes change and the relevance of policies changes. In order to keep up and for parties to remain relevant to voters it is imperative that new ideas are encouraged examined researched and pursued according to their merit. I would like to think we have a Parliament that welcomes the contest but I have been disappointed by the lack of courage to tackle entrenched problems with innovative solutions and a refusal often to even engage in reasoned debate. Frequently these issues see the light of day only as members’ bills. 
On the very slim chance that a space would open up on the members’ Order Paper in the past year I drafted a bill to allow nuclear-propelled ships to once again visit New Zealand waters. Our current policy is a relic of a bygone era with no relevance to modern life and it is holding our country back in so many ways. I was pleased to see Sir Paul Callaghan make similar comments recently. People will happily expose their bodies to nuclear material such as X-rays but will not even contemplate having a vessel propelled by nuclear power in a New Zealand harbour. ACT has been the only party in my time here to want to engage in a debate that is not dominated by hysteria and deliberate confusion. The same is true regarding the youth minimum wage education funding following the child and so many other issues. 
Sir Roger Douglas personifies the contest of ideas. He is a reformer and our Parliament has too few of his ilk who think outside the square and tackle issues from a solid principled base. His endless optimistic pursuit of solutions to the really thorny problems our country faces is truly inspiring. He is a numbers man and the numbers are usually explained on a serviette or in detail on a whiteboard. Sir Roger says politics is all about numbers although now of course he is talking about different numbers—those that win a policy battle with a majority. He is right but politics is also about people and I have appreciated hugely his mentoring his friendship and his unwavering support over many years especially the past 3 years. 
There are a few things that I believe would make our Parliament work better and I hope the Constitutional Advisory Panel set up to conduct a wide-ranging review of New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements will give serious consideration to a 4-year parliamentary term and have a discussion on the appropriate size of Parliament and the executive especially given the strong suggestion by Kiwis in 1999 to have fewer MPs. I believe we need a mechanism to hold our executive and Parliament more accountable. In other countries this is achieved with an Upper House. A position I have reached after being involved personally in a number of conscience votes is that referenda on conscience issues are worthy of serious consideration. I am not convinced that 120 MPs or 122 currently are any better placed to make decisions on issues of conscience than the adult population. 
There are always a huge number of thankyous to make. Most of these I will do personally but I would like to acknowledge and thank those who work tirelessly to make Parliament tick and to make life easier for MPs: the Clerk’s Office the Parliamentary Service and Ministerial Services the Parliamentary Counsel Office the library staff the messengers and especially the security staff who always ask how my Territorials training is going. 
I would like to give a collective vote of thanks to the hard-working and loyal party members: my Aoraki team from 1996 to 2000 and my Wellington-based teams in Ohariu and Wellington Central more recently. To the ACT parliamentary team past and present heartfelt thanks for a job well done. Our successes are your successes because of your commitment to our shared cause. I also want to thank my loyal and supportive ministerial team. 
Finally my family. To Duncan Johnny Barbara Penny Finn and Jack thank you for your love and support putting up with the constant phone calls and my frequent absences. I hope that my being around a lot more is not going to cramp your style but I for one am looking forward to that enormously. And when my mother calls for a chat she will no longer have to end the conversation with: “Well just don’t work too hard.” I have a good friend who reminds me that there are plenty of beaches to walk on and wine to drink—wise advice I intend to take. There will still be a few boundaries to push I suspect but perhaps at a more sedate pace. 
In my maiden speech I noted that I was the 80th woman to have been elected to this Parliament. I asked the Parliamentary Library to calculate for me how many had left before me. It turns out that I am also the 80th woman to leave this Parliament. I have taken from this that the time is right for me to move on to other things—not a moment too soon not a moment too late. Timing in politics is everything. 
As I look around these four walls of this Chamber for the last time I will take particular note of the battlements—the 12 carved circular wreaths around the balcony at the top and the 18 carved plaques on the wall panels representatives of battles and places where New Zealand troops have fought and served below them. They remind me of the reason I came to this place—to continue the fight for our freedoms that our forebears began for a prosperous nation one where we all have the same opportunities. Our freedoms are hard won with many New Zealanders having paid the price with their lives. Freedoms hard won are not so easily eroded. I have been honoured to serve my country in this House and I hope that the 50th Parliament and beyond will also be reminded of their responsibility to uphold our freedoms. 
I wonder Mr Speaker if I could make a last request before I leave this Chamber. There are some battlements missing from our walls. The first Gulf War Afghanistan and our recent peacekeeping missions are not represented despite the fact that our Defence Force personnel have participated with the same courage commitment and distinction as those who served before them. They too have suffered injury and in some tragic cases loss of life in their quest for freedom around the world on our behalf. I know that my fellow soldiers would be touched by such a gesture and I think it would be entirely fitting. Lest we forget.