Hilary Calvert Maiden Speech to Parliament
act-new-zealand
Tue Oct 12 2010 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Hilary Calvert Maiden Speech to Parliament
Tuesday, 12 October 2010, 5:23 pm
Speech: ACT New Zealand
Hilary Calvert – Maiden Speech
Hilary Calvert Maiden Speech to Parliament; Tuesday, October 12 2010.
Mr Speaker
Today I stand before the House, honoured to take my place as a Member of Parliament for ACT New Zealand. I pay tribute to all those whose hard work and dedication to the ACT Party and its principles over many years have brought me here today. And I thank the electors who chose to vote for the ACT Party – I hope I can live up to their expectations.
I also wish to thank the people of Epsom, who made the strategic decisions that have supported the ACT Party in Parliament.
Mahatma Gandhi in Young India in 1925 described the first of Seven Social Sins as Politics without Principles. And as the Members who have shared – and continue to share – the privilege of being part of the Government of New Zealand have had before me, I come before you with my own politics, informed by my own principles.
There is no government independent of the people. Good government is the voice of the people and has three roles: protection of its citizens; provision of communal services; and to give a hand up for those who have fallen through the cracks.
What it cannot do is replace our hopes and dreams; our strengths and abilities.
New Zealand is a country of immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants. We and our ancestors came to New Zealand to make a better life for ourselves and our families.
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I have come to this House to pay respect to this background we all share, and to be part of making New Zealand a better place for all New Zealanders and the generations to come.
I am here today because of the support of my husband, my children and my wider family and friends. I cannot thank them enough.
I am very happy that my husband and children are here with me today.
And I am sad because neither of my parents have lived to see this day.
For all of us, our values and beliefs come first from the experiences we had as children at home.
In my family we were brought up to work hard, look after ourselves and help others when we could.
When I was born I was the youngest of four children. By the time I was 10, I was the youngest of six. During my childhood my parents added two brothers to our family. These two were only some of the extra people my parents looked after in our home over the years.
My father was a third generation lawyer in Otago. I have followed in his footsteps, and my oldest daughter has now taken up the mantle. Having the privilege of practicing as a lawyer has helped me to understand the vital role the laws of our country play in the wellbeing of our citizens and the development of a civil society.
My views about how our society may be best arranged have also been shaped by the opportunities I have had.
Until earlier this year, I served as a Trustee of the Otago Central Rail Trail Charitable Trust.
When we first began as trustees, the farmers were concerned about ‘townies’ coming and upsetting stock. The Hon Warren Cooper had suggested to the owners on either side of the trail that perhaps the best thing was to merge the railway land with the contiguous farms. Communities along the track were shrinking. The Department of Conservation was lukewarm, but prepared to go with a rail trail if there was enough community interest to support it.
Now, 15 years on, communities along the trail are revitalised. Farmers can now get a latte at a local cafe. Communities along the trail are growing, rural people are employed and everyone is learning new skills for new opportunities to live and work in their local area. I am proud to have been able to contribute to this.
As I thought about what I hope to bring to Parliament, I thought about how these experiences have helped me form my political principles.
It is my belief that the people are strong when the Government stays in its place.
My family has taught me that a strong family unit, with people helping and supporting each other, is by far the best basis for a good society. The more the Government interferes in the family, the less functional the family tends to become.
The Government cannot provide a stable happy family life for any of us – only we, the people, can do that.
These days children are not able to be offered a new family to grow up in, as two of my brothers were.
Instead, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars keeping children with their family of origin, the State intervening constantly in their situation – often with little useful effect. And the State, having intervened, cannot even keep the children safe.
My parents also taught me that we are all responsible for the choices we make. When we teach our children to make their own decisions, and to take responsibility for their own actions, we help lay the foundation for them to live a good and fulfilling life. We encourage the idea that we are masters of our own destiny. We allow ourselves to dream, and to believe that we can make a difference in our own lives.
We become whoever we choose, instead of victims of a world that does things to us.
My work as a lawyer underpins my belief that the Government should provide fair laws, and universal laws. The picture of justice is the picture of a blind woman, depicting the fundamental principle that justice is blind. These laws should support property rights, be clear, be predictable and be the least they can be to achieve the objective for which they are made.
For an example of how not to draft good laws we need look no further than the Bill that is intended to replace the Foreshore and Seabed Act of 2004.
Every law has a purpose and, it seems, the purpose of this one is to serve as an example to all of us of how not to legislate.
That the Bill has proceeded this far must be worrying to all New Zealanders who have any understand of what it proposes.
As a rule of thumb: if you can’t explain it on one page, and make it open for informed debate, don’t make a new law about it.
My work with the Otago Central Rail Trail helped me understand that people will contribute much more when they are truly part of a project. If it had been left to the Government alone, that rail trail would not be there today.
Now the Government is so pleased with the idea of rail trails that it is supporting many more kilometres of trails around New Zealand.
The most successful of these will always be those that are supported at a grass roots level. The Otago Central Rail Trail has progressed as a partnership between the community and the Government.
In my experience, the success of such partnerships stems from the community retaining a real and close relationship to the project. If a government agency takes over, people become much less interested in making further contributions.
The stark reality is this: when the Government takes a dollar from us and spends it, New Zealanders are likely to receive 60 cents of value.
But if a community project gets a dollar from the government, and uses it as a base for inputs from the community, we will receive something like $10 in value. This alone is good reason not to siphon more money through the Government than is absolutely necessary.
Wealth Without Work is the second of Mahatma Gandhi’s Seven Social Sins.
As a lawyer, I have seen the effect that not having a job has on families. While there is an economic effect that can be moderated, the only way for people of working age to feel good about themselves is by making a contribution to their own journey through life – and, for true fulfilment, contributing to the journey of others. This doesn’t have to be as part of the paid workforce, but we all need to feel we are making a contribution.
Wealth without work is a corrosive concept, but it becomes even more damaging if it comes about through government-sanctioned ideas of entitlement.
It is a role of the government to remove barriers to work, rather than to promise jobs for all.
As soon as the Government takes over responsibility for our economic welfare, we lose all interest in helping as individuals. This is hardly surprising, as once we have paid taxes on everything we earn and everything we spend at a high rate we feel that we are already doing our bit. Instead of feeling that we should help our fellow citizens, we feel that we are already helping hugely through our taxes, and we have little left to spare once the Government has repatriated whatever it chooses of our money.
Something the media has discovered about me is that I have been a Scottish country dancer. I also am the owner of a rather large dog that I walk regularly.
Neither of these activities is something the State should take an interest in. I do not expect subsidies for myself and others who share in my interests. Neither do I wish to provide through my taxes a subsidy to others who have their own interests and hobbies.
The Government has no role in my choices in general – that is unless I, or my dog, or my dancing cause problems to other citizens.
Any harm I cause to others is of concern to the State: For us all to make our own choices relies on the State to protect us from each other, to provide a framework for the proper interaction between us, and sanctions for those who would reduce our freedoms by doing us harm or threatening our peace.
The Government is the guardian of taxpayers’ money, and this money is taken on the basis that it will be used wisely and equitably.
The Government has always struggled with providing services equally to all citizens.
The catchcry of the Department of Inland Revenue has been “It’s our job to be fair.”
“It’s our job to be fair” should underpin all Government services – not just those that take our money from us.
It would be easier to achieve this aim if bureaucracy were kept to a minimum between the people and the people holding the purse strings. If we are not getting a fair deal in Government services throughout New Zealand it ought to be very transparent who we should be taking to task.
The services funded by Government should be transparent and accountable.
A particular challenge for the provision of health services in New Zealand is to maximise value for money in the products and services provided, and to provide equitable access to healthcare.
This is an increased challenge as we balance the advantages of centralising healthcare provision with the disadvantage to people of travelling far from home to access healthcare.
In the South Island there is a move to have neurosurgery provided from Christchurch. This is likely to be more expensive for the Government and provide a compromised service to taxpayers in Otago and Southland.
And this is before we take into account the human costs of transport and time away from work. Healthcare at a distance also has significant emotional effects on patients and their families. It is not just the cost to the Government of the provision of care – it is also the cost to citizens and their families.
A government getting the best value from our taxpayers’ money and providing equitable services would keep neurological services in Dunedin.
We can increase the likelihood of better value for our health dollar by tweaking the health system, and having the Government directly buying the services it requires from whoever provides the best value for money whether public or private.
But we could do even better. If each of us had our own health policy, we would give responsibility back to New Zealanders. We would be able to choose to get our health provided by whomever we wish and however we wish.
Education is another example of a State-funded service where we could increase the chance of achieving value for money and a more responsive provision of service.
A scholarship for each child would allow a choice of school for each parent, giving parents the chance to help shape the education of their children.
The Government only has stewardship of our money on the basis that:
1. it takes only what it needs to protect us, and to provide for the services for which it has a mandate;
2.
3. that the best possible use is made of every dollar spent; and
4.
5. that the spending is fair to all New Zealanders.
6.
I see my job in this House as being to support the Government in these endeavours. And to work towards freedom and responsibility for the people, lower tax, and more equitable use of our taxpayer-provided resources.
I stand with my ACT Party colleagues in support of less tax and less government.
And, finally:
There may be those in this house who imagine that I and my ACT Party colleagues will be easy to oust at the next election.
I live in a house that belonged to my parents, and my great aunt before me.
I have lived in this house almost all my life.
I will not be easily moved from either of these houses.
ENDS
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