Maiden Speech – Green Party MP Marama Davidson

Ehara i te mea ko te hāngūtanga o te wāhine he taonga tuku iho nō tāukiuki, nō ō tātou kuia. E kāo. Māku e kī atu. Ehara tēnei kauhau mō te wāhine e whai mana ana - engari kē ia, ko te mana o te wahine. He mana wāhine! He mana tūturu! Nō mai rā anō. Tai timu, tai pari, e kore e mutu.

Ko Whetumatarau te maunga

Ko Waiapū te awa
Ko te whanau a Hinerupe, Te whanau a Tapuhi oku hapū
Ko Ngāti Porou te iwi

Ki te taha o tōku pāpa
Ko Te Ramaroa me Panguru ngā maunga
Ko Whirinaki me Hokianga ngā awa
Ko Te Hikutu me Ngai Tupoto ngā hapü
Ko Ngāpuhi me Te Rarawa ngā iwi
Ko ahau tēnei
Tihei Mauriora!

Mihi atu ki a koutou e pupuri tonu ana ki te mana o te whenua nei. Tēnā koutou Te Atiawa, Taranaki Whānui hoki.

Acknowledgements

I have been inspired by grass-roots leadership all of my life. This is a real leadership which understands that the throbbing heartbeat of a community lies with the collective well-being of our people and our environment.

I owe my political analysis and my stand in this House, to the visions and support of so many grass roots groups.

These are people who uphold our duty of care to each other and our planet. This includes our Green Party activists and members who have entrusted me to enter Parliament only two and a half years after I became a member of the Greens.

I am honoured by your faith.

The support that my family and I have received is a taonga that enriches my heart daily. My neighbourhood, my friends and my wider whanau have looked after us in many a demanding moment. You know, that I know, who you are.

I am clear that you ask for nothing except my ongoing contribution to an up-lifted future for all of us. In this debating chamber I am honoured to be a voice for the Green Party and for my communities.

Influences
My nana is Patricia Charlotte Broughton, nee Hancy, of Ngai Tupoto in Te Rarawa. She was born in Motukaraka in Hokianga in 1926. She grew up there, apart from attending St Joseph’s Maori Girls College in Hawkes Bay. She was a native speaker of Te Reo, a staunch Catholic, a mother to seven tamariki, grandmother to nine mokopuna, and great-grandmother to 23 - so far. Nan married my papa Boyd Alex Broughton of Te Hikutu in Ngapuhi. I had less time with papa as we lost him when I was nine, but I remember him as a beautiful, gentle and kind loving man who my nana loved deeply. My nan and papa were part of the Maori migration to urban centres in the 50’s. They left their turangawaewae in Motukaraka and brought their young tamariki eventually to live in Otara in Auckland.

I was 14 years old when Nan passed away. So that was a long time ago. But the fact that I can almost never talk about her publicly without crying is testament to the impact she still has on my life.

From the start my nana was warm, overly doting, and exemplified our whakatauki ‘he taonga te mokopuna’. My beautiful older cousin Jean is the oldest mokopuna but we didn’t find out about her until I was six years old, and we have been grateful for her ever since. But in effect I was the first person to make my nan an actual nan. And I was born on her and my papa’s 25th silver wedding anniversary. I’ve been told I was a fantastic anniversary present!

My nan to me felt physically and spiritually like a soft, squishy, gentle and caring nana. From a young age I got a sense of us, her mokopuna, being the absolute centre of her universe. What I did not know of until later was her stubborn commitment to justice.

I must have been about 12 or 13 when my nana took me to her work one day. She ran the lunch cafe at a large firm in Otara. Extra help was needed on this particular day and the boss had asked my nan if she knew of anyone.

Nan’s boss agreed that I could come in and help them out for the day. I remember helping my nana prepare kai for the workers, wash dishes, serve customers and clean the kitchen. It was a good day of mahi.

At the end of the day, my nana’s boss refused to pay me. He tried to worm his way out of the agreement, saying that I had come in for quote - ‘work experience’.

I will never forget my nan’s face as she glared at her boss in the eye. She sent me away to wait in the hall while she sat opposite her boss trying to sort it.

But even from a distance, I could feel her staring the unfairness down.

Here was my soft, squishy, gentle-voiced lovable nana who I had never seen face conflict in my life, putting up a relentless fight for her wronged grand-daughter - for me!

I cannot actually remember what became of that heated debate, but what I can remember is how nan made me feel. To this day my whole being recalls her fierce determination to right a wrong, her courage to not let the power imbalance dominate her, her commitment to ensure that those most vulnerable had someone sticking up for them, and her gumption to hold her line no matter what.

If I could bring a tiny bit of my nana’s mana to my work, then I will know that I have succeeded.

My name is Marama Davidson and I come from a long line of stubbornness.

Indeed my own parents met on these very steps of Parliament. They were young, urban displaced Maori in the 70’s. They came to protest the loss of land and language that our people had shouldered. They were just hungry for their whakapapa. I’m honoured to be a member of this House today, continuing their fight on the very same steps.

Political visions

Our world desperately needs us to reconnect with each other and our living systems. The challenges that we are facing today are borne from disconnection.

Everything is supposed to be connected. We are supposed to be connected to each other as neighbours and as a global community. My wellbeing is supposed to be connected to yours. We are supposed to be connected to the life systems that nourish us. We are supposed to be connected to the future we are designing for generations to come. My pride in my whakapapa is supposed to be connected to your pride in yours.

When we are disconnected we create grossly unequal societies that are unstable, and we damage our living systems and our climate. These are THE challenges of the 21st century, and, they are inextricably connected. Inequality and climate change perpetuate each other. Indeed, to tackle either we have to tackle both.

What I’ve seen happening is successive governments protecting and penalising the wrong people. They have got it completely backwards. They have pulled out the red carpet for the Big Corporations who have at their core the pillaging of earth, the extraction of its natural resources and the exploitation of its people. They want to share the risks but not the benefits.

Meanwhile they are penalising the people who protect and strengthen our communities, our economy and our natural world.

What I am inspired by globally are the indigenous peoples who are fighting against the short-sighted agendas that will destroy their place and their people.

We have to understand that affirming indigenous rights and supporting our traditional wisdoms is ESSENTIAL to combating climate change AND inequality. Thankfully tangata whenua AND non-indigenous people everywhere are melding our wisdoms and our strategies to demand a new way together.

Because we can see that the very few protecting the status quo want most of us kept out of their fancy club. Together, we all have a bigger club than theirs.

At the beginning of this year my family were priced out of our rental property and so we sought another, cheaper house in Auckland to rent.

I looked at 30-something houses and applied for 20-something of them. For some properties there were more than 30 other applicants. I did not get called back for any of them and I started to feel every bit of whatever it was that meant that we were not preferred renters.

Finally we got a call back, and it was for a house that no one else was lining up for. It is the house we are renting now and we all love it and are grateful for it.

Fast forward nine months – I’m now an MP looking for accommodation in Wellington and the reception I’ve had couldn’t be more different. I’ve gone from being at the back of the house hunting line to being right at the front.

You know what - you shouldn’t have to become an MP to get a house to live in.

I will relish the opportunity to make a difference with my social housing portfolio.

I recognise that even then, when I was searching for a home in Auckland, compared with others I was still dripping with privilege. I know that for too many, the search for a home is far more desperate.

In my community of Manurewa, nearly 30 percent of young people were unemployed at the last census. It was only 18 percent in 2006.

In my community, people are living in homes so filled with mould that it’s making kids sick. In my community people are working two or more, jobs and are still struggling to pay for the food their children need. Families are literally struggling to survive.

Protecting that failed economy is cowardice.

Creating a long-lasting economy and society that works for all of us will take some guts. And the communities who have the guts need THIS place to back them. They need us to feel the urgency and excitement that they feel, about creating change.

Arohatia te reo

E te Māngai o te Whare - ka huri au ki tōku reo rangatira.

Katahi anō au ka tīmata i taku ohonga reo. E tika ana ka tuku mihi honore ki a koutou e hāpai ana i te reo. Arā ko ngā kaiako, ngā kaiāwhina, ngā tohunga o tēnei mahi kia korerōtia te reo. Ā, mihi mahana ki a koutou o te Whare Pāremata kua whiua atu tēnei taonga tuku iho. Ki ngā wāhine matatau, reka rawa te whakarongo atu ki o koutou tū ki runga i te reo, āna, Nanaia Mahuta, Hekia Parata, Marama Fox mā – nei ra taku aroha ki a koutou.

Engari, te maha hoki o ngā tangata pēnei i a māua ko Metiria, kaore ano mātou kia whiwhi. He Maori tonu mātou. Kei a mātou tonu te aroha mō tēnei reo ataahua, ahakoa te whakamā ki te korero, ahakoa te mamae. I tānei wā ka mihi ki te ao pāpāho i tō koutou akiaki ki au ki te korero, ahakoa ngā hapa. E ai ki te korero, mā te hapa, ka ako. Ā, me haere tonu mātou e ako tonu ana. Nō reira, ka tino tautoko au i te mahi whakapiki reo. He mahi whakapapa, he mahi mokopuna, he mahi tupuna tēnei.

Conclusion

I am proud to be wearing this korowai which represents my Ngai Tupoto whakapapa, my nana’s people. My uncles said it’d be good to get a bit of Ngai Tupoto kakahu in the House cos there are too many Ngati Hine in here they reckon. Ki ōku whanaunga o Ngati Hine – Winston, Pita, Rino, Peeni, Ria mā – anei taku patipati ki a koutou.

My whole family have travelled here for this moment, because it belongs to all of us collectively. I love you all so much, thank you. Hari huritau ki a koe e te pirinihi taku iramutu, he kotiro kaitiaki o te reo ko Hana-Amaia Maringi Paratene, aroha mutunga kore mōu!

My six off the charts, stunning, incredible children, whose sacrifice is about to get very real – you are my everything.

To a beautiful man Paul Davidson, who absolutely hates the limelight, doesn’t care too much for politics, and would rather sit in the hidden spaces, I am sorry that you married into absolutely the opposite. Ironically you still stand with me, and ironically it is all that you are and that you do for us, that is the only reason I can be here in this very public, very political space. I love you and I’m sorry.

I can’t wait to get started with this amazing Green caucus.

I am really humbled by people who made sacrifices to come here, and people who continually make sacrifices for our cause. You are why I’m here. Every time I stand in this House I will remember that. Because this place is here to serve the people, the people are not here to serve government. And as my co-leader Metiria has said: “The power in our country belongs to the communities and part of my job is to get the Government to step aside, to set up systems so that they work well – and then to get out of the way and let communities take control of what they need and deliver for their people.”

Nō reira, nei te mihi aroha ki a koutou.

Ā tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, huri noa tēnā tātou katoa.

ENDS

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