Davidson Marama: Adjournment — Sittings of the HouseText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavidson Marama: Adjournment — Sittings of the House[Sitting date: 09 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8730. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Tēnā tātou e Te Whare. I rise to wish everyone in this House a restful loving and merry Christmas. This job is a privilege and I am honoured to be doing it but of course I am definitely looking forward to seeing my whānau and spending time in a house that does not start with a capital “H”.True to the Christmas spirit though today I do want to acknowledge those who will be doing it real hard over the coming few months and will not have the relaxing holiday that we in this House expect. Of course the original meaning of Christmas tells the story of a young woman and her husband trying to find safe lodgings so she could give birth. As we know there was no room at the inn. I find it interesting that in this country we are now celebrating that biblical night amidst a severe housing crisis. In fact in the 24 hours or so that Jesus’ whānau were house-hunting and giving birth to him an Auckland home in April this year would have risen in value by over $1000 in that same 24-hour period.In October John Campbell broadcast a piece for Radio New Zealand National that echoes what I know about those doing it tough. It was entitled “Pay day is broke day” and Campbell interviewed people from the Manukau region where I live. In his piece we heard from a range of people some working two or more jobs who have high aspirations for themselves and their families and are doing all they can to stay afloat. But our economy is far from rock star and for many pay day is broke day. So the hardships have huge impacts on our children and on us all. John Campbell caught people at the Manurewa train station on their work commute to capture some of those stories. That was my train station that John Campbell was standing at.I also want to acknowledge those organisations urging us towards a fairer more vibrant Aotearoa. The report of the Child Poverty Monitor—soon to be released—shows that in 1984 15 percent of children were in poverty whereas today it is 29 percent. So it has doubled in a generation. Anybody who would like to join this campaign—grab one of these posters take a selfie. All of you National Party members I completely urge you to put up a selfie of this on all of those fabulous Facebook pages that you all have.Also Unicef has called on New Zealanders to stand with our children in the Make My Future Fair campaign. It reiterates that it is Government policy that has the single biggest impact on child poverty rates not economic growth alone. Still people will do the best they can with what little they have got this Christmas and my heart goes out to Sarah Dowie. I hope you are going to be OK with your struggles over your passport application.You know people will provide for their families love them and keep them safe. Our communities prove their resilience in the face of such hardship and I am proud of the Green Party for continuing to be a voice for our struggling communities. We have got years of research and expertise; we do not need more research. We need action and we need it now. That would be a lovely Christmas present. We need this House to choose the positive solutions and I will be stubborn about giving every child a chance.Just before I got into Parliament I was agonising with someone over my own rental housing challenges and he blurted back at me: “Well soon you won’t have to worry about any of that because you’ll be an MP.” That response just speaks for itself. But in contrast I just recently spoke at the Safe Sleep Day hui held on Manurewa Marae. I acknowledge the incredible difference that wahakura or woven safety sleep pods have been making in a short time in keeping more babies alive. Weavers all around the country are putting love into our communities and families and making a powerful statement from the start that every newborn is a taonga. I mihi to them all.OK so my father is in the gallery. He is deeply immersed—he deeply immersed us in Shakespeare all of our lives and right now he is the middle of a 2-year tour with the Globe Theatre. So right now he is cursing all of us and the use of us fellas’ grammar in this House I can assure you. He actually wanted to put my entire speech through an edit. But I acknowledge my father who was not here for my maiden statement. As you Mr Speaker might recall—yes I am winding it up—we had an eventful start to my parliamentary career but Parliament TV has now become a staple in the lounge room of my family’s house a top drama reality show and I am thankful to be here to give them that opportunity to watch this sort of TV.I close by saying that Metiria has called me the puppy-dog enthusiast new MP. Long may that last. Kia ora koutou katoa. Have a merry Christmas.