New Greens MP Elizabeth Kerekere has written a bill for sexual diverse people. Photo / NZH
New Greens MP Elizabeth Kerekere has written a bill for sexual diverse people. Photo / NZH
Maiden speeches are continuing to be given by the cohort of new MPs this term - on Wednesday it was the Greens' Elizabeth Kerekere, Act's Brooke Van Velden and Damien Smith and Labour's Rachel Boyack and Rachel Brooking.
Elizabeth Kerekere - The Greens
With her loved ones dressed in her favourite colour - purple - looking down from Parliament's gallery Elizabeth Kerekere swore to fight for those with diverse sex characteristics.
The new Green MP used her maiden speech to unveil the members bill she'll put in the biscuit tin next week will seek to make it easier for takatāpui and the Rainbow whānau to take cases to the Human Rights Commission.
"And that the mana of explicit human rights protections will help redress the historical trauma that has occurred."
Dressed in purple from her tarapouahi to her boots, Kerekere said when she was 12 years old her father would introduce her as "the first Māori Prime Minister" so she always believed one day she'd be standing in the debating chamber.
"It was only five years ago and after I received my moko kauae that I finally felt like I could accept the title of 'Politician' and all of the colonial baggage that comes with it."
New Greens MP Elizabeth Kerekere has written a bill for sexual diverse people. Photo / NZH
Kerekere said she and her wife, Alofa, had to wait 14 years to have a civil union then later a marriage and vowed to work for Pasifika communities as well as the sexually diverse.
She said she once worried she'd be forgotten - until she Googled herself and saw the records of her life's work.
"Why do we get up in the morning, if not to change the world? I have done that in every other part of my life and I intend to do it here."
Brooke Van Velden - Act
New Act MP Brooke Van Velden says no job or healthy bank balance would ever earn the respect of her parents - only the strength of her character could do that.
"My parents showed me the value of honesty, integrity, hard work, and responsibility," she said in her maiden speech to Parliament.
"I learnt that there is strength in humility. As the youngest of four children, and the only girl, I'm sure my brothers will do their best to continue to keep me humble."
Act Party deputy leader Brooke Van Velden. Photo / NZH
Act's deputy leader - the first elected to Parliament in nine years - said being surrounded by the war memorial panels in the debating chamber was a reminder of the responsibility politicians held.
"It is also a reminder that while we need the Government to preserve our freedoms, concentrated power can threaten our freedoms."
Before being elected, Van Velden was an Act staffer and leader David Seymour tasked her with getting the End of Life Choice Act passed.
Van Velden said working on the bill became "deeply personal issue" and showed how "real change happens when a Member of Parliament with compassion and respect for New Zealanders takes a stand on principle".
"I want to be part of more positive change in New Zealand. For me, that does not mean putting forward ideas about how I think New Zealanders should act, or to impose my morality on others. I am here to listen, ask questions, and stand up for the dignity and freedoms of each individual New Zealander.
"I believe in creating laws that respect the inherent dignity of every New Zealander and provide choice and opportunity. It's why I firmly stand in favour of bodily autonomy."
According to new Labour MP Rachel Brooking, she won the "birth lottery".
"On top of being part of a loving family my father is a historian, expert in the history of Aotearoa. This meant that on summer holidays we would visit Pa sites and museums – all over the motu," she said in her maiden speech.
New Labour MP Rachel Brooking. Photo / Supplied
"While 11-year-old me probably complained a lot about these trips, I did come to learn that our history is messy."
At high school in Otago, Brooking learned about Hone Heke and the flag pole, Princes Te Puea, wars, and broken promises.
"It is bizarre that the complexity of our nation is often ignored or over-simplified, with division stoked – iwi or Kiwi, instead of addressing what happened, why it happened and how to redress."
Brooking became an environmental lawyer because "urban planning affects everyone" and for the last decade also worked as a company director, so lived with the decisions that businesses face to sustain profitability and care for employees.
"Through my time in business and the law, I have come to find that for me it is now time to move beyond interpreting the law, to a place where I contribute more directly to the development of law.
"Law that reflects our unique Treaty relationship. It must be clear and fair."
Brooking put climate change action on her list of priorities and said people who cry that New Zealand was too small to make a difference should look to the suffragettes.
If Aotearoa wanted to lead the world in agriculture and tourism, it must aggressively decarbonise, she said.
"The work of government to build an inclusive future, and protect the environment, is a long-term project. It requires detailed thought, argument, listening, compromise, reflection, evaluation, and iteration.
"Progress can be frustrating, it can be slow. It is not always linear. But it is built on the foundations of an open, and optimistic government that believes that what we do here in Aotearoa matters to the world, and what we do in this House matters to New Zealand."
New Nelson MP Rachel Boyack likens the relationship between tenants and landlords to that of an employer and employee.
"There is an inherent power imbalance," she said in her maiden speech to Parliament.
"I am firmly of the view that if we can improve people's housing, we can improve other outcomes for people; health, mental health, employment, education and economic outcomes.
"These are the issues I will focus on for Nelson for as long as I am privileged to hold this seat in this place."
New Labour Nelson MP Rachel Boyack. Photo / Supplied
Nelson was one of the most unaffordable places in New Zealand for people to buy or rent a home and that was something she wanted to change.
Boyack said her city was also facing "gnarly" transport issues which had deeply divided communities and it needed modern solutions to promote cycling and walking.
And as a former First Union organiser she believed in collectivism.
"My generation, and those who come after me, have mostly missed out on the experience and benefits of an organised workplace, and the higher wages and conditions that come with that.
"In Nelson, the workers of Pak'nSave Richmond have been struggling for a collective employment agreement and fair wages and conditions for over six years."
