Georgina Beyer - Maiden Speech (9 February 2000)

GEORGINA BEYER (NZ Labour—Wairarapa): I find it a privilege to stand in this House today to speak for the first time. I would like to begin by acknowledging your election to your office, Mr Speaker. It is well deserved and obviously affectionately accepted by all who are in this House. I acknowledge your deputies also, who are in service to the members of this House. I would like to acknowledge also the Rt Hon. Helen Clark, the leader of the Labour Party who led the current Government to victory on 27 November last. She is a woman whom I have admired and I aspire to at least have the political nous to be able to be half as good as she is. I certainly hope that that will be achieved.

I would like to acknowledge my heritage. I am proud to be a New Zealander of Māori descent from primarily the iwi of Te Atiawa, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Porou, and that should be quite enough for anybody I would have thought! I have to say that the strength and the aroha that I hope to bring to this House will be forged from those heritage and whakapapa links. They are important to me. Friends and family and supporters over the time of my life, who now find me in this place today, are worth mentioning as well, though not individually because that would take far too long. But there are one or two people whom I would like to mention right now.

I certainly have to acknowledge the support of the woman who first approached me to consider standing on behalf of the Labour Party for the seat of Wairarapa, which finds me in the position I am now. That lady is Sonja Davies, a former MP, who is sitting in the House today. She is a woman who is a New Zealand icon, which is not a term she likes said to her face; but she is. She has been a mentor and someone whom I respect so much that I took the challenge on board when she approached me. I have enjoyed her undivided support all through the campaign, right up to the present. So I thank Sonja personally.

One relative I would like to mention is someone who passed away last year. She was a woman who was important to Māoridom, and a great loss. Though she liked me to call her “aunty”, Hana Te Hemara was my cousin. She was well known in Ngā Tamatoa. She had a great deal to do with helping to establish te reo Māori for our young people, in its early days, to where it is now. She has always been behind me and supporting me in whatever endeavours I have tried to undertake in my life and has been there to help in times of adversity. Adversity is something I shall talk a little about further on.

My primary reason for being here is that I am now the elected representative of the Wairarapa electorate. It was a stunning victory, to say the least. Not only was there a 32 percent swing away from the National Party—the previous holder of the seat for a considerable time—to the Labour Party this time round, but also we won the party vote. That was quite remarkable in a seat that was considered to be rural conservative heartland New Zealand and a stronghold for National. That position has changed, and I hope it will remain where it is for some time into the future.

But I must pay acknowledgment to my former member, the Rt Hon. Wyatt Creech. I have had reason to work with him in my capacity as mayor of one of the Wairarapa districts, Carterton. We have had an amicable relationship, and I certainly hope I shall do my best, as I am sure he tried to do his best, and his best has assisted me to get where I am today. I say that in a loving way.

In the Wairarapa, like many New Zealand rural areas, we have been under some stress for at least the last 10 to 15 years. We have seen the centralisation of services. We have seen public services, such as hospitals and schools experiencing difficult times. A no-less-difficult time has been had by Masterton Hospital, for example. We have seen the closure of large and small businesses, we have seen unemployment, and we have experienced natural occurrences, such as droughts, which have given our farming sector difficult times.

My experience in the Wairarapa has not been small. I shall just give a bit of background. In 1990 I moved to the area, having lived primarily in the cities of Auckland and Wellington. I was unemployed when I arrived and in receipt of a training benefit. I was enrolled and attended an Access scheme, which later became the Training Opportunities Programme. If there was one thing I came to learn that was vitally important, it was the sense of community that existed. I was welcomed into that community and given opportunity, and I felt an obligation to reciprocate by giving some form of service to help others. In that respect, I eventually found myself standing for the local district council after having spent a period of time working in community service at the local community centre and teaching on one of the Training Opportunities Programmes.

I stood for the council, because the effects of the 1991 Budget had been quite devastating on low- income people and those benefits, in areas like the Wairarapa. I went out to bat for them as best I could to deal with the onslaught of the effects of those changes some 6 months down the track after implementation. It was quite upsetting to see how small communities could be so negatively affected. But I learnt that the spirit of community is one that makes sure that in the hardest of times people pull together and in their togetherness they look for leadership amongst their people so that they can take their concerns, their aspirations, their ideas, and their demands to the authorities that have such an effect over their lives.

In our particular case the local authority, the Carterton District Council, seemed to beckon me to enter into that chamber. I was elected as a councillor in 1993 in a by-election and in 1995 I became the mayor—a position I proudly say I still hold today after my re-election in 1998. I had to earn the respect of the people who gave me that responsibility, and my position as mayor was endorsed in the 1998 election with a 90 percent majority in my favour. Coming to Parliament seemed a natural progression in the eyes of others. I was not quite so sure, but I have now come to learn that I should be very sure of that.

I guess I am talking about my advocacy for people. I want to see areas like the Wairarapa, with its huge potential, exploiting the opportunities they know they have in areas such as wine growing, forestry, and, obviously, agriculture, as well as in other industries. We see those industries growing, but impediments have occurred. For example, small business was affected when the business development boards were disestablished and when the funding that used to help people who were trying to get themselves into self-employment or get themselves into businesses was taken away. I am glad to see that under Labour's policy we will reverse those kinds of things. We will add investment into rural New Zealand, and we will have a Ministry of Rural Affairs that will help re-establish things. My involvement with local government is important from the point of view that the relationship that this Government wants to have with local government with regard to economic development and a whole lot of other social factors will be important for getting the regions up and going again, and Wairarapa will be part of that.

My speaking time is drawing thin and I cannot help but mention the number of “firsts” in this Parliament: our first Rastafarian—our Green colleague over there and I am very glad to see him here because it adds diversity; our first Polynesian woman member of Parliament, and, yes, I have to say it, I guess, the first transsexual in New Zealand to be standing in this House of Parliament. This is a first not only in New Zealand, ladies and gentlemen, but also in the world. This is a historic moment.

We need to acknowledge that this country of ours leads the way in so many aspects. We led the way for women getting the vote. We have led the way in the past—and I hope we will do so again in the future—in social policy and certainly in human rights. In the Labour Party I share a keen interest in human rights from the aspect of gay, lesbian, and transgender communities in this country. I know I will be joining my colleagues Chris Carter and Tim Barnett in looking at those issues, which are important. In fact, those issues are not so different in many respects from any other issue that we in New Zealand are all concerned about—health, education, training, employment, and a few other niggly ones that are just a little unusual. We will certainly be trying to inform people better.

I was quoted once as saying: “This was the stallion who became a gelding, and now she is a mayor.” I suppose I have to say that I have now found myself to be a member! I have come full circle, so to speak—not that I wish that to be degrading in this House in any way, but I understand that a sense of humour is welcome. I hope that members will enjoy my sense of humour from time to time.

People were concerned that I did not have a written speech. I find it difficult. I have to speak from the heart, and I have to be genuine about that. There are probably a whole lot of things I have not mentioned, but the important ones have been mentioned. My priority in my tenure in this House will be my electorate. I will stand accountable—as the Rt Hon. Wyatt Creech mentioned last night. I do not mind that at all, because I will front up. I will make sure that I do the best I can on the electorate's behalf. There are many issues and we will all tackle them.

I welcome the warmth I have felt from all sides of this House since I have been here. I am not one who wants to sit here and be confrontational, like I see from time to time. We all have to get on and work for the benefit of our nation. That is what we will do and that is what I want to achieve as a person. We will go forward. We will make a difference. They sound like cliches, but they are worth saying.

In conclusion, Mr Speaker, thank you for your indulgence during this my maiden speech.