330 Address in Reply 5 Sep 2002

[Therefore I extend a greeting in general to all of you who are listening in at this time; to you as well, Georgina, greetings, greetings, and greetings indeed to all of us.]

BARBARA STEW ART (NZ First): I begin my maiden speech by joining with the other members who have offered their congratulations on your election to the Chair. I look forward to you, upholding in this House the high standards that the people of New Zealand demand.

It is appropriate that I begin this address by acknowledging how privileged I feel to be a part of this House as a New Zealand First list MP. I acknowledge my gratitude to the New Zealand First Party for the confidence it has placed in me. In particular, I extend my thanks to the Rt Hon. Winston Peters for his leadership and tremendous efforts during the election campaign that have seen New Zealand First achieve the results that it has.

A democracy such as we have here in New Zealand requires commitment and involvement by many people. No MPs came into this House by themselves. I wish to acknowledge all my supporters in the North Shore electorate campaign team who played such a large part in my being here today. In particular I thank my campaign manager Doug Davies and his team; my enthusiastic niece Lorene Hunt, who walked many kilometres throughout the electorate with me in indifferent weather; my friend Norma Doyle, whose support was unending; and the support of the members of the Piako electorate.

Our families make the greatest commitment when one enters politics. I wish to acknowledge the support that my mother, my sisters, and their families have given me so that I can follow a dream. I must also thank my husband Gordon and my son Alister for this opportunity, and for the many sacrifices they have made and will continue to make on my behalf. Without the support I have received from my family I could never have the chance to be here today.

As I said before, no one stands in this House without the support of others. I acknowledge my debt to all those people who have stood by me and given me the opportunity to participate in making a better tomorrow.

I must thank my parents for giving me the opportunity to develop my dreams and my potential, and for making sacrifices for each of their five children. They provided us all with the most loving, safe, and secure foundation upon which to develop.

I come from the rural areas of New Zealand, having lived in Waikaremoana in Tuai, and rural Waikato-in Maraetai, Whakamaru, Atiamuri, and Karapiro.

My father, an electrical engineer, was a great believer in the necessity for all his children to become educated and leave school with qualifications to enable them to achieve. As the eldest in the family, it was necessary for me to work consistently; the thought of my brothers and sisters being in the same class as me at school was sufficient motivation to achieve.

At Waikato University and Hamilton Teachers College in the turbulent days of the Springbok tour and the infamous cancelled Hamilton rugby game, my interest in politics was ignited. I have been a primary school and a secondary school teacher, I have operated successful small businesses in partnership with my mother, and have for many years been in the corporate world in the human resources, and training and development areas.

Throughout my working life I have always worked in people-related roles, ensuring that people can maximise their potential. In all aspects of life our success relies on our ability to continue to learn. I must pay tribute to my fellow work colleagues for whom the availability of continued learning and development opportunities in the workplace is paramount. As individuals develop, they can, in turn, increase an organisation's intellectual capital.

Today, I come to this House as a list MP. Like those who have come before and those who are here now, I come with high ideals to do my best as a representative for my fellow New Zealanders. To the 119 others with whom I share this House for the forty-seventh Parliament, I will not lose those ideals.

We have all heard the saying, "Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." In this House the dreams we tread on may be the dreams of tens of thousands of others. I believe that I have the responsibility of being available where and when needed, to listen

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to the needs of New Zealanders and represent those views, and I make a commitment to do all that is possible to ensure that those needs are met.

I acknowledge, Mr Speaker, that the opportunities that have been provided to me are sadly denied to far too many New Zealand children, and that is my motivation for being here today. The most important resource that our country has is its children. In my time in Parliament, I hope to be an advocate for children, for they are the future of our nation.

The absence of parenting skills is becoming increasingly apparent in our society. It is now becoming a common occurrence, unfortunately, to leave children unsupervised in their homes, despite legislation to prevent this. Action is required. We now need to develop and fund programmes that provide families with the skills, support, and guidance to ensure a safe and healthy environment for our nation's children.

Child health is becoming a major concern. We should ensure that every child has the same opportunities that the majority of MPs in this Chamber have had. It is then, and only then, that we will be able to claim success. Child-health conditions in some areas of New Zealand are equal to those of the Third World. The public health and mortality statistics of Maori children especially, are scandalous.

The increasing child obesity figures can be directly linked to nutrition, which in turn can be linked to the deteriorating dental health of our children. Children are now consuming too many sugar-substitute drinks, which in the main are less expensive than healthier alternatives. In our country where dairy farming is a primary industry, this situation is wrong. Many of our children are hooked on caffeine, which directly affects their learning ability and progress in the classroom, as well as their general health and well-being.

Statistics show that in many areas children are seen by the school dental nurse every 12 months, and in some cases every 18 months. That is far less frequently than is desirable. New schools are being built without dental clinics, and for many schools that have a dental clinic the budget for maintenance is minimal so that we now have a run-down facility. The school dental service is becoming the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, where drilling, filling, and extractions are commonplace. It is not right when children at the age of 3 enter the public hospital system to have multiple extractions, and sometimes this includes all of their teeth. This affects the development of their speech, their self-esteem, and, of course, limits any healthy choices that can be made with food. Multiple extractions are rapidly becoming one of the more common reasons children are entering the public hospital system.

Access difficulties to this valuable service can be directly attributed to the negative annual growth in resources received. This essential service is totally underfunded and under-resourced. It is a quality service that deserves recognition.

Every child has a right to be raised in a caring and supportive environment. We must begin to ensure that today's parents have the knowledge and the skills to enable them to provide such an environment for their children. Self-respect and respect for others is important.

Violence has now become commonplace in our society, and many are now becoming immune to it. Television programmes and video games specialise in destruction and annihilation. In many homes verbal, physical, and mental abuse is commonplace. Children pass into adulthood believing that violence is a part of life and is to be inflicted on others. The horrendous violence being inflicted by children on to others is an indication that action must be taken. Our society is failing to care adequately for its most vulnerable members. The incidence of senseless and harsh abuse of children, and the absence of parental care and guidance, contribute to many of our social problems. When we as a nation value parenting skills, then and only then will the health of our nation progress.

All of our children deserve a family environment. If the grandparents of our nation are providing this family, then we should be assisting them with their efforts to raise their grandchildren. For far too many grandchildren it is only their grandparents who know about the concepts of family, love, dignity, and care. It is timely to recognise this valuable resource and also to recognise the need for resources for this important group.

How can it be that there are more resources and support systems available for children who are fostered outside of the family than there are for grandparents who are an

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essential part of the family yet carrying out the same job? We need to resource and to support the grandparents who are caring for our future generation.

Fellow MPs, and my colleagues in New Zealand, with whom I am so privileged to stand today, I look to our united determination to deal with these most persistent issues. Those of us who come here with these high ideals can surely achieve no greater accomplishment than to commit ourselves to ensuring that future generations of New Zealanders are cared for. Mr Speaker, I give to you my pledge to be an advocate for children, and to carry out my responsibilities with integrity.

PITA PARAONE (NZ First): Kia ora. Tihei mauri ora! Tuku mauri ora kite whaiao, ki te ao mii.rama. E te Kaikorero, kaiwhakahaere o te Whare nei, tena koe. Tena hoki koe i tou taenga atu hoki ki tera o nga tino taumata. E te Pirimia, tena koe. Tena hoki koe me t6 ropu me era o aku tuakana Maori o te Whare nei. Koutou nga kaiarahi me nga ropu katoa o tenei Whare, me koutou hoki nga merna Maori, tena koutou. Koutou hoki o te wa kainga e whakarongo mai ki tenei hoki ta koutou tamaiti, mokopuna ranei, a, tena tatou katoa.

[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] [Thank you. Behold the essence of life! I release this essence to the light of day and to

the enlightened world. Greetings to you the Speaker and leader of this House. Congratulations also on your elevation to that post of the highest order. Greetings to you the Prime Minister, and to your party, and also to those senior Maori colleagues of mine in this House. Greetings to you all, the leaders and parties of this House, as well as the Maori MPs: greetings. Those of you at home listening in to this child, grandchild of yours, greetings to you all too.]

Talofa lava, ni hao, namaskaar, greetings, and salutations. I come to this House with a sense of apprehension, but comforted in the knowledge of the level of support given to the team of New Zealand First, support that has enabled me and my colleagues to have the privilege to be part of this Parliament. I bring the greetings of two diverse communities of which I am a member, and to which I am proud to belong: that of the Pakuranga electorate, and that of Te Tai Tokerau, in which my tribes of Ngati Hine, and Ngati Whatua reside. While diverse in all demographic measures of the social and economic spectrum, and while each is separated literally by hundreds of kilometres, there are similarities in the two communities, the most important being that they are peopled by New Zealanders.

I therefore come to this House as a New Zealander, proud of my Maori, Irish, and English ancestry, yet not forgoing any for that of the other. I especially want to acknowledge my elders and the people of Ngati Hine, as I am a product of all that they have transmitted to me, and the support of those people of Pakuranga who have contributed in no small way to assisting me along the path leading to this House.

In this regard, I pay my respects to my support team-superannuitants all, who so willingly, during the cold and inclement weather during the election campaign, gave of their time and service. I hope I am able to add to the quality of our country, and add to what they have left for this generation.

As part of that quality I talk of, I am mindful of the background from which I come. I am the eldest child of parents who barely etched out a subsistence life from whanau land, who were not endowed with any great amount of financial resource, but who gave us the greatest gifts that any child could ever receive: those of love, and access to education-the education that my father was not able to avail himself of, because of being sent home at the age of 12.

Growing up in the backblocks of the Bay of Islands, I as the eldest child, with my mother, was often left with the responsibilities of running the family farm while our father carried out what we believed were his duty and obligations to our community: that is, to serve. So it is not surprising, I suppose, that I, as a product of a community known for its service to others, find myself here in this House, ready to serve. I come, having served successive Governments over a period of 38 years, in the area of Maori development, as a member of its bureaucracy.

On learning that I would be coming to this place, one of my granddaughters said to me: ''Papa, what are you going to do in the Beehive?''. As we embark on the term of this Parliament, that thought is uppermost in my mind. How do I explain to a child then, that

Stewart, Barbara: Address in Reply [Sitting date: 5 September 2002. NZPD Volume: 602; Page: 330]