KEY POINTS:
Patrick Gower continues our series on Parliament's new MPs, based on their maiden speeches
Grant Robertson
Labour MP for Wellington Central
Grant Robertson says he swelled with a combination of pride and "sausage rolls from the school canteen" when he saw David Lange on television arguing against nuclear weapons in the Oxford Union debate in 1985.
"Not only could an overweight guy with glasses succeed, but also New Zealand could stand up to world powers hell-bent on destroying each other, and us, in the process," Mr Robertson said.
His political consciousness was further stirred by the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act in 1991. He was working at a supermarket to pay his way through school and university and watched penal rates disappear, conditions go and wages sink.
Mr Robertson went on to campaign against the user-pays ethos in education as student president at Otago University, and then president of the New Zealand University Students Association. He said student politics taught him to stand up for what he believed in.
"After one particularly rowdy but peaceful protest I was accused by a policeman of being the biggest quasi-terrorist in Dunedin. I told him I was trying to lose weight."
Mr Robertson cited the proposition put forward in 1939 by Education Minister Peter Fraser and leading educationalist Clarence Beeby that every citizen, whether rich and poor, town or country, had a right to a free education of the kind best fitted to them.
He said he had come to Parliament to develop this vision for the 21st century.
Mr Robertson's career has included work as a diplomat, representing New Zealand at the United Nations in New York, where he was proud of New Zealand's independent stance that had attracted him as a schoolboy. He has also worked in the Beehive as a senior adviser to former Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Mr Robertson won the politically savvy Wellington Central electorate, dubbing the campaign "Survivor: Wellington Central".
Politics is in his blood as his grandfather Bob Wilkie ran unsuccessfully for Labour in the Wairarapa electorate in 1954 and 1957. Mr Wilkie was in the gallery for Mr Robertson's maiden speech, a day before his 89th birthday.
Mr Robertson saluted the homosexual Labour colleagues who had gone before him, such as Chris Carter, saying their presence had made it easier for other gays and lesbians to aspire to political office.
He said being gay was a part of who he was, as was being a fan of the Ranfurly Shield - currently held by the Wellington Lions. His sexuality had defined his politics "only inasmuch as it has given me an insight into how people can be marginalised and how much I abhor that".
Mr Robertson, 36, said he and his partner of 10 years, Alf Kaiwai, "were living proof it pays not to stereotype".
"We met playing rugby. I was the number eight and he was the halfback - a great combination."
This month the pair swapped vows and rings in a civil union ceremony at Old St Paul's in Wellington.
Mr Robertson says he spends too much time watching sport, particularly rugby and cricket, and still plays a bit of indoor netball and squash.
Mr Robertson won Wellington Central for Labour, beating National's Stephen Franks by 1904 votes. He is Labour's spokesman on state services, associate spokesman on arts, culture and heritage and foreign affairs, and on the government administration select committee.
Aaaron Gilmore
National, list MP
Vital statistics:
Aged 35. Came in as number 56, the last on National's list. Is the luckiest new member having got in by less than 40 party votes from throughout the whole country. Also stood in Christchurch East seat, losing to Labour's Lianne Dalziel by 5765 votes. Member of the regulations review, education and science select committees.
Background:
A trained economist with experience in various corporate roles, was most recently working for multinational General Cable running technology ventures across Asia. Born in Christchurch.
Personal:
Named after "the great Elvis Aaron Presley". Is an amalgam of "Irish, Scottish, Danish and a little bit Maori but I am 100 per cent Kiwi". Admits to having done well enough to be known by some as a "rich prick". Contracted a rare eye condition when he was 25 and told he would never see again, but thanks to modern technology he can.
In his own words:
"About 25 years ago I sat in the living room of our family state house in Corhampton St, Aranui. It was early August and freezing cold as that night we didn't have enough money to put into the meter for electricity. We had some light from large candles on the table and my grandmother and I were having Weetbix for dinner. The next morning we couldn't afford breakfast and I went hungry till a teacher bought me lunch."
Carmel Sepuloni
Labour, list MP
Vital statistics:
Aged 31. A list-only candidate, ranked 35.On law and order select committee. Labour's spokeswoman for civil defence, associate spokeswoman for tertiary education and social development.
Background:
Former equity manager, research project manager in Pacific health and student mentor adviser at University of Auckland. A trained teacher, who worked at the Robert Louis Stevenson School in Samoa. First MP of Tongan descent.
Personal:
Born and raised in Waitara. Father was a Samoan-Tongan-migrant who worked at the freezing works and was a staunch unionist and Labour man. Mother's parents were Pakeha sheep farmers from Stratford and "resolute Tories". Is the mother of a young son.
In her own words:
"I've learned through my own experiences and the experiences of others around me, that our young in particular can quickly begin to self-stigmatise when the media and society stigmatise them. When the media only portrays a picture of a ghettoised, poverty-stricken group of trouble makers, then our youth can resign themselves to the fact that this is what they are. They may even take pride in this prescribed image, because it provides them with a level of attention and status which although negative, is attention and status nonetheless."
