NZ First MPs' maiden speeches highlight family and service

Four New Zealand First MPs have made their maiden speeches to Parliament, all of them focusing on family and service to the country.

Each specifically praised their leader Winston Peters, and spoke of their upbringing and the course that brought them to Parliament.

At third on the party's list, Casey Costello is a former police officer and lobbyist for the Hobson's Pledge group. She noted it was rare for her - as a first-term MP - to have been elevated to the level of Cabinet Minister (Customs and Seniors).

"My only experience with this place has been working in security, which is hardly a political credential. It struck me as I took my seat in this House for the first time that this journey is no longer about me," she said. "It is about duty, and responsibility, it is about service and accountability. It is about those who have gone before to pave the way and those who will follow after I leave."

She had earlier opened her speech musing on humility.

"I reflect on the words of Jonah Lomu when he was acknowledged for his humility. He responded that it is far better to have a seat at the back of the room and be called to the front than the other way around.

"To enter this place with the honour of the appointments afforded to me literally at the front of the room has been unsettling, but I'm truly honoured to accept this position as one of service to those who put their faith in me and service to our nation and all its people."

She paid tribute to those she owed the position to - firstly to New Zealand First, naming Winston Peters as "without equal as a leader and a statesman", and Shane Jones, Christopher Luxon and David Seymour by name, saying she respected all members in the House.

"It strikes me that there is so much more in common than many would believe. We are all here to serve, to give a voice to those we represent - and Mr Speaker, we are here to deliver on our promises."

She thanked family and friends - with special mention of her children - for their support and the simple lessons they had given her.

"Breathe, just breathe. That sometimes digging a hole and working in the dirt is good for your soul. Putting your shoulders back and looking people in the eye makes you strong. And after a tough day a bag of chips and a lemonade can put things right again."

She said her father was the first journalist inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame, and had managed to name half his six children to have the initials of racing clubs before her mother found out and put a stop to it.

She also spoke of her mother, and grandparents who taught her and her siblings how to find and harvest kai, and to share that with others - and of her ancestor Tapua of Ngāti Hao of Hokianga, father of Tari, Patuone and Tāmati Wāka Nene - the latter two being rangatira who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

"I talk of my tūpuna and my whānau not to qualify for some credentials to be recognised as Māori, I know who I am and my strength comes from those who have gone before and who are with me now ... I have fought for New Zealanders to be treated equally before the law, rallying against a narrative of race-based division."

She ended with a quote from her grandfather Hone Davis from 35 years ago, railing against racism.

"I believe that racism among a people and in a country such as ours is an evil that must be completely eradicated from our midst, and replaced with a better love and understanding of our fellow men... where it causes the greatest havoc is where it enters into individuals who become distrustful, suspicious and even antagonistic of their fellow men, and this in turn following along a natural sequence breeds violence.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is the situation we are in today and the monster has entwined me in its evils," she said.

Jamie Arbuckle, the party's whip, began his speech by paying tribute to his campaign team and supporters in Kaikōura, and in the Marlborough District Council, before thanking his wife and wider family - noting he did not know who his biological father was.

"My wider family tree is difficult to explain at the best of times. What I would like to say is I have always been loved. My mum was in her way the greatest politician you would ever meet - she had a knack of knowing how to press someone's buttons and skill to walk away and watch the almighty eruption happen, while someone else would be taking the blame."

He also spoke of the value of the Provincial Growth Fund, saying it helped fund several incentives for local jobs and improving environmental outcomes, and criticised Labour's Three Waters and RMA reform projects.

He also spoke of the need to resolve racial tensions, saying "I see us all as one" and "in my lifetime we all had the same opportunities and it's what one does with those opportunities that should define us".

Finally, he turned to his desire for rural communities to be empowered, and his love of the horse racing industry - saying his favourite past-time was harness racing.

Former Wellington Mayor Andy Foster went biblical in referring to the "political miracle" of the party's resurrection, saying "even Lazarus could do it only once, New Zealand First has done it twice".

"We all come here to make a difference, we come here because we care, we care very much about this beautiful country, we care about our home."

He spoke of his "comfortable" childhood, raised by "honest, hardworking, supportive suburban parents", who had a tougher start to life than he did growing up in London's East Ham during the second world war and great depression.

It was Rogernomics, he said, that spurred him into politics, a "topsy-turvy political period when the left became the right, and the right wasn't quite sure what to do about it ... changes were needed but the speed and brutality came at enormous cost to people".

He said it taught him to dislike government ideology, hidden agendas, and weak checks and balances in the system.

He also referred to his 30-year career at Wellington City Council, the final three of them as mayor, and highlighted his commitment to environmentalism through the Zealandia sanctuary in Karori and regrowth projects on the town belt.

Tanya Unkovich, a former life coach - following a few words in Croatian, where her parents were born - spoke of her family's house in Dargaville having burned to the ground when she was about eight, ending their dairy farming and prompting a move to Auckland.

She spoke of how hard it had been for them as immigrants, but how people with hope could endure incredible burdens.

"It is said that the quality of your life is due to the quality of your decisions. My life has been a series of pivotal decisions - each has contributed to the little girl from the farm having the privilege of standing here today."

She spoke of being scolded by her mother at age 14 for not doing well at school, and resolving to do better, "which is why I again share this message to our youth that yes you can, and what can happen to others can also happen to you".

She became an accountant before shifting to counselling and coaching, but it was the death from cancer of her husband Phil Morrow at age 40 that gave her renewed purpose in her work in mental health.

"It was on the day of Phil's funeral that I declared that no matter the extent of suffering that was ahead I would search for meaning from this event and find purpose again and remain committed to be of service to others."

She broke down in tears at the end of her speech as she thanked her husband Grant Anderson, particularly for his support of her parents.

All the other NZ First MPs - Peters, Jones, Mark Patterson and Jenny Marcroft, have been MPs before.