Cloak but no daggers as Clark checks out

Helen Clark wears a cloak, more than 100 years old, given by Maori King Tuheitia. It belonged to the late Maori queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Helen Clark - dressed more befittingly for a maiden speech than a valedictory, in a striking, crisp cream trouser suit - attracted a hefty crowd for her final speech in Parliament.

Above her sat Chief Justice Sian Elias, heads of government departments and former colleagues and staff members crowded into the public gallery.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, Mike Moore and Lady June Hillary were there.

Down in the chamber, Koro Wetere, Jonathan Hunt and Maori King Tuheitia sat in the seats reserved for former MPs and foreign dignitaries.

She started from the beginning. A childhood on a Waikato farm and school in Auckland at a time when politicians were hollow voices over the airwaves.

She remembered those times when she was asked by children if becoming Prime Minister was her childhood dream: "I could only reply that I couldn't have imagined that happening, as the politicians of my childhood and youth were almost invariably rather elderly gentlemen."

Then the halcyon days - university at a time when the babyboomers were coming of age and "those of us who were politically - or radically - minded were not short of causes to get involved in".

She remembered what drove her - idealism, values, a sense of community and internationalism, a strong dislike of "snobbery".

She resisted out and out criticism of the "other side" - but couldn't quite help getting in a few barbs - most sharply at John Key's restoration of titular honours, which she says are a relic of a less egalitarian age.

She recalled the bad times - after Labour's routing of 1990, the "nadir" when the polls put Labour at 14 per cent and herself at 2 per cent.

Then there was her verdict of the good times - her own reign from 1999 to 2008, a time when she says "fairness, opportunity and security" were the core values.

"The rising tide did lift every boat."

She admitted some issues had put her at loggerheads with public opposition - such as the Civil Unions Bill - but said simply: "I've perhaps been ahead of public opinion at the time."

She delivered her speech with the smooth practice of someone who has spent the past 27 years delivering them. Typical Helen Clark, it was measured and methodical. There was no quavering and she rarely went off script.

There were the thanks to her staff and family - her father in the gallery, her mother too ill to come. There was extended applause from all sides when she paid tribute to the fortitude her husband, Peter Davis, had shown in supporting her through political life "no matter how unpleasant or difficult things got".

At the end, they all stood and there was a surge to hug her. Then King Tuheitia passed a cloak to his cousin, MP Nanaia Mahuta, to drape over Helen Clark's shoulders.

More than 100 years old and made from kiwi and weka feathers, it belonged to the late Maori queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu. It has been named Parirau o te Pahu - after the land in Waikato where Helen Clark grew up.

When she walked out, it was abrupt. She stopped hugging people and suddenly strode toward the door. The clapping surged and, without looking back, the former Prime Minister disappeared behind the heavy wood of the door. She realised too late she had left her keys behind.

IN HER OWN WORDS

ON THE OLD DAYS

The Parliament I entered in 1981 was far less diverse than that we see today. That year the number of women elected to Parliament doubled from four to eight [there are now 41] and there were only six Maori MPs [there are now 16].

To say that this was an alien environment for a 31-year-old woman ... would be an understatement. It was hard going but it was character forming and gave me the experience and confidence to go all the way in the system and, importantly, to be part of changing it for the better.

ON HONOURS

I have always been proud of New Zealand's egalitarian traditions. Many of our forebears came to this land to escape the class-bound nature of Britain.

I deeply detest social distinction and snobbery and in that lies my strong aversion to titular honours. To me they relate to another era from which our nation has largely, but obviously still not completely, freed itself.

ON CHANGING ATTITUDES

There have been many issues over my 41 years of political activity when I've perhaps been ahead of public opinion at the time. Yet so often, today's avant garde becomes tomorrow's status quo.

ON THE 1996 FAILED COUP

The nadir came with a Colmar Brunton poll in the mid 1990s which put Labour on 14 per cent and me on 2 per cent as preferred Prime Minister.

It doesn't get much worse than that - and looking back on it now I am only surprised that concerned delegations of colleagues didn't beat a path to my door more often.

ON WAIKATO-TAINUI

I cannot even begin to imagine the scale of loss felt by Waikato Tainui from the mid-19th century but I hope that I and my government played its part in putting it right.

The presence of Kingi Tuheitia and his delegation here today means a great deal to me as did the friendship of the late Te Arikinui, Dame Te Atairangikaahu over many years.

ON TAKING PRIDE

The Civil Union Act ... the Property Relationships Act ... our work guided by the New Zealand Disability Strategy were all important to me.

I take pride in the high regard in which New Zealand is held internationally and the work our government did in the Pacific and East Asia, in rebuilding the relationship with the United States, in broadening relations with Europe.

ON CHAUFFEURS

Over the 22 years since I first became a minister of the Crown, I have been not just driven but fully looked after and supported by the government drivers.

I have come to know many well and they are my friends. As a former Prime Minister, I am privileged to continue using their service, so today marks not an end but an interlude.

As General MacArthur once famously said, "I will [shall] return".

FINAL WORDS

It is 27 years since I made my maiden speech in this chamber at the tender age of 32.

I said then that 'My greatest wish is that at the end of my time in this House, I shall have contributed towards making New Zealand a better place than it is today for its people to live in'.

I leave knowing that I have fulfilled my wish and that I played a part in making New Zealand a better place.