New Tāmaki Makaurau MP Oriini Kaipara at Parliament, delivering her maiden speech. Photo: VNP/Phil Smith
Parliament's new MP for Tāmaki Makaurau, Oriini Kaipara, delivered her maiden speech this week - an event that was overshadowed somewhat by her supporters' celebrations.
At the conclusion of the Te Pāti Māori MP's first speech in the House a young supporter in the public gallery began a haka, prompting the Speaker to suspend proceedings for about ten minutes.
But what did Parliament's newest MP actually say in her speech before all that?
Kaipara, a former broadcaster, was officially sworn in on Thursday after winning the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election. The seat had become vacant with the death of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp.
A maiden statement is a good way for new MPs to introduce themselves and their political convictions to fellow MPs, and of course, the public. Parliament's newbies tend to stick to the formula of their background and upbringing, electorate, thanks, ideology, values, and making clear what their aspirations are as an MP.
Along with many thanks, Kaipara's kōrero had one key theme: resilience.
MP for Tāmaki Makaurau, Oriini Kaipara Photo: VNP/Phil Smith
"I honour our pakeke who did not speak Māori, all of you who know and who carry the ache of disconnection and ensured that my peers and I would never feel it. Just as they stood for me, so I now stand for our tamariki and our mokopuna. Thank you for the sacrifices you made. Thank you for the ridicule you faced and for the courage that you showed in your commitment to a better life for us."
"When I stand in this House, I do so not as a survivor of colonisation who made it in the Pākehā system but as the product of Māori resilience. We are the culmination of dreams, of purpose, of hard work, and of intention. We are here by design. Every single one of us who walks our own reo journey is a beneficiary of the efforts of all those who held and still hold the line for all of us today. We embody everything they stood for, all that they dreamt of, and all that they hoped for."
Photo: VNP/Phil Smith
"I've broken barriers, but now I choose to break cycles. I've covered stories, and now I choose to change them. I've competed at the Olympics of haka, I've taken haka to the Olympics, I've introduced te reo Māori into every space I've walked in, and I have no intention of stopping now."
"Some say te reo is another act of resistance. For many of us, it is our way of life - it just is. The Aotearoa hou I aspire to is free from racism, from discrimination, from trauma, and from unnecessary suffering. The Aotearoa hou I see is vibing; it's thriving, growing and going forward, not backward."
You can listen to the audio version of this story, and other coverage from Parliament by clicking the link near the top of the page.
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