Leader’s Opening Remarks To Labour Party Conference
Jacinda
Ardern Labour Party
Leader Tū mai te
haeata kei mata-hau-ariki tatou Tēnā tatou
katoa [Translation - May we reflect on the past,
with the future beaming bright for the horizons we will
pursue.] Good evening and welcome to you all. What
an absolute pleasure it is to be here in Tamaki Makaurau,
but especially in South Auckland – gateway to the Pacific
and as Aupito William Sio would say – home of world
champions. I want to start with a few
acknowledgements. Firstly, to our outgoing Labour President.
Thank you Claire. Your time in the role feels like it has
flown by but in amongst it you have had to deal with some
incredibly difficult but also important periods. You are a
person of great integrity. You leave the party in a stronger
position, and we are most grateful to you for what you have
sacrificed to do that. To our incoming President, Jill
Day, you bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and
enthusiasm and we are lucky to have you. To our
tireless Labour Council, each time we gather together I am
constantly reminded of the good people who serve our party,
I thank you too. To our Labour Caucus. What an
incredible team you are. To those who aren’t based here,
welcome and enjoy your time here in Auckland with your
colleagues, family and party members. But to our most
important group of all – our Labour Members. I have
been the Prime Minister for five years now. But I have been
a Labour member for 25. More than half my life. And because
I started as a volunteer, delivering flyers, door knocking,
helping co-ordinate volunteers – that is how I know and
appreciate that you are the ones that bring us here, into
government. And that has long been the
case. Many of you will know that Norman Kirk is a
great hero of mine. It feels fitting to reflect on him this
evening. After all, it’s 50 years ago that he was in
government. That feels astounding to me, because even though
I was too young to know him as a Prime Minister, we have all
been impacted by his legacy. Just as he built his own
house of concrete blocks years before, he began the work of
rebuilding a nation, block by block in 1972. Sweat,
vision, drive. Necessity. Housing, for the people,
healthcare for the people, full employment and equal
opportunity for all. Having left school early to bring
an income home he would later introduce the Domestic
Purposes Benefit for sole parents to care for their
children. Ever mindful that the early years produce
the adult of latter years. People were put back at the
heart of government. New Zealand Day, later to become
Waitangi day, was introduced as a public holiday to
represent the importance of a collective national
identity. But the imperative first and foremost was to
accelerate economic recovery. Inflation was running
high and so wages had to be lifted. Infrastructure was
ramped up, homes were built. Beneficiaries were given
a Christmas bonus to assist with cost of living
pressures. The beginnings of superannuation as we know
it today were fought for. A diplomatic hand was
stretched out to China, the beginning of our significant
export growth. But what future does a country have if
you do not stand firm in the face of adversity, of
challenge, of common threat. The answer for a small trading
country like ours was no future at all. And so Kirk
declared our foreign policy would mirror our national
interests. He stood up against Nuclear testing in the
Pacific and South African apartheid. He brought us closer to
our neighbour Australia by allowing passport free
travel. He was, as the song about him would suggest, a
man of great labour, he worked incredibly hard. And he
did all of this, and so much more, in his prime ministership
of 1 year and 8 months, before he died in office. In
that small amount of time, he laid many of the foundations
for New Zealand as we know it today. Despite the
challenges of the day, the impending oil shock, inflation,
he invested in our kids, our families, their homes, their
jobs, their good health, their education, their right to
retirement. He did what Labour Governments do, and he
made progress for New Zealand despite the challenges of the
day. And 50 years later, that remains the way Labour
governments govern. And it’s why we are all
here. Tonight we have the chance to honour Norman Kirk
with a special event at this conference, an exhibition by
John Millar. But tonight I also want to dedicate
tonight to the people who helped get Kirk, Lange, Clark,
Savage, Fraser – every Labour prime minister into the
privilege of office and the honour of government. All
of you, and those who came before you. Over the past
five years, I have met many of you. I have seen you purchase
countless tea towels. We have talked, laughed, hugged
pre-Covid and elbow bumped post-Covid. And now we enter the
next phase. An election year. For those outside of a
political party, I have no doubt that there will be an
assumption that election is all about the battle itself. But
we know, it’s not. The vast majority of us did not get
into politics for the sport. We’re not here for the back
and forth of the House. We don’t endlessly debate remits
for fun. At least, not most of us. We are here because
we genuinely believe that politics is a place where you can
make positive change. And that Labour represents
that. And so, this weekend, is our time to plan again
for the unexpected, but also the things that motivate us
into politics in the first place too. To reflect on
what we’ve done, but also on what needs to be
done. To refresh and rejuvenate for the year
ahead. To remember, why we are Labour. So, after
five years of progress, let’s keep going. No reira,
tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou
katoa.4
November 2022 Leader’s opening remarks
to Labour Party Conference