UNCORRECTED TRANSCRIPT Keynote panel: The Next Generation’s Vision for a Modern Parliament Chair: Hon Nikki Kaye, Minister for Youth and Associate Minister of Education, New Zealand Panel: Youth MPs—Kieren Gera, Jay Èvett, Henry Thompson, Patrick Savill, and Daisy Cadigan, New Zealand Kura Moeahu (Kaiwhakarite): Mōrena koutou. Just before you start your day’s proceedings, we will open in the appropriate way in terms of Māori protocol—opening with an incantation for guidance. This particular incantation is about seeking out the knowledge in terms of how Tāne-Nui-a-Rangi, one of our Māori gods, ascended into the uppermost heavens to ascertain the three baskets of knowledge and bring them down to Earth so that we could learn from them. So I would just like to open up with that, and then, following that, I will leave you to get on with your proceedings. Nō reira, mōrena koutou. W’akarongo mai, w’akarongo mai! I kake ai a Tāne ki Tikitiki-ō-Rangi, pupuke te hi’iri, pupuke te ma’ara, pupuke te wānanga, te wānanga nui o Te Kore mō te wā nuku, mō te wā rangi matua ki te w’akatūpu, matua ki te w’akatāpitonga. Tū panuku, tū parangi, e Rongo w’akairi’ia ki runga, turuturu w’akaw’iti, w’akamaua kia tīna, tīna, hui e tāiki e! [Listen, listen! Tāne ascended the sky to the Uppermost Heaven as the desire and recollection welled up within him in his pursuit of higher and greater learnings from the Realm of Potential. Stand to and firm, Rongo. Suspend it up there for us to affirm and cling to. It is done!] Just before I leave I would just like to do one waiata, which I think is appropriate in terms of the kaupapa here. We sang it yesterday. It is Te Aroha. If you have your books, you are welcome to join along. If not, kei te pai. [A waiata was sung] I will just to share with you what that particular waiata is about: “Te aroha, te whanapono, me te rangimārie”—through love, hope, and faith. “Tātou, tātou e”—together, we will achieve things. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, mōrena tātou katoa. Therese Arseneau: Thank you very much. My name is Therese Arseneau and I am President of the New Zealand branch of the ASPG, and I am absolutely delighted and proud to welcome you here to New Zealand’s Parliament. New Zealand has had Parliament since 1854. We have assembled; we have represented people since that time, which makes us, actually, one of the oldest continuous parliamentary democracies in the world. In 2015, this year, we have actually celebrated another landmark, and that is 150 years since Parliament became housed in Wellington. I am really delighted to be able to welcome you to this beautiful chamber, the Legislative Council Chamber, which housed New Zealand’s Upper House until it was abolished in 1951. It has been 9 years since we hosted this annual gathering of the ASPG, and we really do want to welcome you back to our Parliament. ASPG is a special organisation, I believe. I particularly love the mix of people whom we attract to conferences and who appear on our programme. I think that if you have a look through the programme, that will be really evident. We have a mix of members and parliamentary officers and staff. We also have people who study and watch Parliament very closely. We are a non-partisan organisation, and I am so pleased, because if you look at our programme you will see we have seven parties represented in Parliament, and all seven of them appear on our programme. We have a mix of people from Australia, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, and Canada. We have got delegates here, including representatives from the Cook Islands High Commission, the Canadian High Commission, and the British High Commission, as well. In particular, we are really pleased about having a bit of an age mix as well at this conference, and I will let the Minister speak a bit more to that in a second. 1 UNCORRECTED TRANSCRIPT But before we get started, I do have some housekeeping that I have to go through. You will note that the programme is indeed jam-packed, and we have a lot to get through. So thank you for being here on time, and we will keep to time as the session goes on. In front here we have Sammy—Sammy is going to stand up. She is our timer and she will give a nice Zen chime when you have about 5 minutes left to go, and a more emphatic ring when you have only 1 minute left to speak. It is actually the original Hansard bell here, so you are getting a bit of history as well. In terms of housekeeping, toilets are just outside here, and we also have Wi-Fi access. If you check in your handbook it will let you know how to access that. We have also set up an internet cafe for you, and, again, the map and the details are in your handbook. In the case of an emergency, we have security and staff who will advise you of what to do. We actually have the Minister of Civil Defence here at the moment—she is the person who is in charge of all this. As I was saying to her, I live in Christchurch and we have been shaken around a fair bit over the last few years in Christchurch. But I always feel so happy when I am in this building because it really is one of the leading buildings in terms of being specially protected from earthquakes. If you go on the tour at lunchtime, you will see the base isolation, which is really quite an interesting thing to see. The media have been invited to this conference. We are not sure whether any will turn up, but indeed they have been invited. Also, refreshments will be served in the Grand Hall, but you will see a very big sign saying that because of the historic character of this building you are not to bring any food or drink in here, so you will have to be sustained on water and mints. Just before I hand over to the Minister, I just want to say that this is New Zealand’s House, and we would like to welcome you to our home. If there is anything we can do for you while you are here visiting us, visiting our House of Parliament, please come and see us. See me, Lesley, Sammy, Louise Upston—I will not make her stand up, because she is in a wheelchair— or Louisa Wall, who is also on the executive. If there is anything we can do for you, please just come and see us. I would like to hand over to our Minister, who is here to chair our opening session. Nikki Kaye is the Minister for Youth, the Minister for ACC, the Minister of Civil Defence, and the Associate Minister of Education. Hon Nikki Kaye: Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Kia orana. Malo e lelei. Namaste. Ni hao. Good morning, or to the Australians, Gidday. Firstly, can I just start by acknowledging iwi. We had a beautiful karakia this morning, and I think that when I reflect on everybody who has come to be here today, I think of the beautiful words that we heard this morning. The words that were uttered were: love, hope, and faith. I think that anyone who is involved with democracy has to have a fair amount of that, because we are all coming together to make the country, or the world, a better place. I think that it was a beautiful karakia, so can I just acknowledge local iwi. There are a number of members of Parliament here. I can see a couple in the room, but there is definitely the Hon Louise Upston, Louisa Wall, and Tracey Martin from New Zealand First. Meka, I think that you are here, so I just acknowledge you. To all of you who have come from different parts of the world, thank you. This is a special place. This is our place, and we are incredibly proud of our democracy. The fact that you have seven political parties on your programme is, again, something that we think is a strength of New Zealand—that we have had one of the longest continuous and uninterrupted democracies in the world, and we have real diversity, I think, compared with some other Parliaments in the world. We have got to do better in terms of women, but in terms of a mixed-member proportional system, there is a real diversity of views, and there is a cut and thrust that we are very proud of in New Zealand. Can I acknowledge the young people who are here today. I am the Minister for Youth Affairs, but sometimes I often say that if we were being true in terms of representation, it would probably be one of you standing here. It is significant that we have chosen to have these young people here today giving their vision for a modern Parliament. At this point, can I acknowledge Louisa, the Hon Louise Upston, and Therese, because you, really, made this 2 UNCORRECTED TRANSCRIPT happen. You wanted to ensure that this was not just about politicians speaking, but that it was also about us hearing from some young New Zealanders and their views of what a modern Parliament or democracy looks like.