Speech to ACT Wellington Candidate Launch; The Museum Hotel, Cable Street, Wellington; 6:30pm, Tuesday, November 22 2007
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming along this evening to be a part of our Wellington Central candidate announcement. I'm delighted to be contesting the Wellington Central seat for ACT in 2008 - without a doubt, the most interesting seat in the country.
There's a whiff of change in the political air, and this is likely to be a boisterous election campaign, both nationwide and in this electorate - who else has meetings like the infamous Aro Valley election meeting? I'm looking forward to that.
So it is that, fully prepared for a battle of dirty tricks, I put my name forward to represent an electorate that is effectively a political barometer for the rest of the country.
You might ask what it is that makes me the right person to take up ACT's cause in a high profile seat in a rough and tumble election - I'm sometimes described as 'too nice' for politics, and being nice doesn't bring media coverage.
The fact is that the personality politics of the past decade have been an inevitable consequence of the lack of debate over the real issues facing New Zealand. Labour has become a status-quo Party, and National has openly taken positions that are the same as, or similar to, Labour's. Of late we've witnessed a vacuum around important issues like the lack of economic growth and terrible domestic violence cases - instead, attacks on individual performances have taken priority. In times of genuine crisis such trivia as Trevor Mallard's romantic interests should take up much less attention. The lack of any real debate on New Zealand's future direction allows ideological parties like ACT to prosper as the electorate inevitably looks for fresh new ideas and vision.
I have a heavy personal stake in future policy for New Zealand: I have five children, and want them to be able to pursue their chosen careers without having to leave New Zealand. I want them to travel the world as I did - but I want New Zealand, their home, to be a viable option for them; one that competes favourably with the other opportunities that will come their way.
As I prepare to contest this election it distresses me to think that many parents I talk to seemed resigned to the fact that, if successful, their children will probably leave the country. It is this resigned acceptance of polite decline that I want to tackle. When Mrs Thatcher became British Prime Minister she was determined to arrest Britain's decline and she did. Some might say she grasped the nettle too firmly, but she successfully reversed Britain's relative economic decline. Here in New Zealand the Labour Government of 1984 used the balance of payments crisis to tackle our fundamental problem of excessive State intervention in the economy.
New Zealanders must re-capture a sense of urgency for change - the only alternative is slow relative decline and loss of skills as people leave the country because, in a global economy, people can vote with their feet as well as at the ballot box.
While it's often said that Wellington Central has the most educated population in New Zealand, these 'well educated' are precisely the people whose children are likely to end up in Sydney, London or Los Angeles. I spoke recently to a woman who had four adult children, the closest was in Sydney - so at 60, she was an orphan!
As ACT's Wellington Central candidate you might like to know a little more about Heather Roy the person. Know what has shaped me into the politician standing before you.
I'm 43 and am joined this evening by my husband Duncan, a doctor at Hutt Hospital, and a selection of my children - those who didn't have a better offer tonight!
Looking back, I had a typical Kiwi upbringing: the eldest of six children, born in the small rural town of Palmerston in Otago. I know ACT is castigated as the Party of the rich, but my parents certainly weren't that: my father left school in the Fourth Form and had a number of jobs while I was growing up; my mother was a Plunket nurse before becoming a full-time mother; I shared a bedroom with my two sisters - who perpetually complained that I read too late and that they couldn't get to sleep with the light on. My own daughters often feel that they are cruelly put upon because they share a room. My parents worked hard to provide us with extras like music lessons. I attended the local primary and secondary schools - no choice available but, like most of us, I had some teachers to whom I owe a lot to and others I struggle to remember at all. My most inspiring teacher later went on to become president of the PPTA. Fortunately politics wasn't present in the classroom or, goodness knows, I wouldn't be standing here now. Instead, she has instilled in me a life-long love of literature. My sporting passion was netball and, although not the best player in my senior team, I was proud to have been picked as captain. I confess to having struggled more with the Silver Ferns recent loss to Australia than with the All Blacks World Cup performance. At school I also became an enthusiastic tramper and climber, and remained so until I met my husband.
My career path has been a little unusual in its course. I left school to study Physiotherapy in Dunedin and, as I left, my mother cautioned me against marrying a doctor on account of the long hours they work - I gave Mum's advice the weight accorded by most 18-year-olds. Duncan and I spent three years in the UK where he completed his post-graduate study and I got the very best experience at Stoke-Mandeville Hospital, an international centre of excellence in the treatment of Spinal Injuries. Even there, New Zealand physios were well-regarded for our high-quality training and work ethic - in fact, all Kiwis benefit from this reputation.
We moved back to New Zealand - Timaru - just as the stock market was crashing in 1987. I juggled bringing up small children with a bit of physio work, medical research work and managing my kids' private kindergarten. Then, in 1996 when ACT contested that first MMP election, Duncan and I became politically active - inspired by those values ACT has always promoted: freedom, choice and greater prosperity for all Kiwis. I contested the 1999 election and almost got into Parliament - but that had to wait until 2002.
We became Wellingtonians in 2000, moving from the South Island for my husband's career. This is a move that has worked out well for me. I took to Wellington like a duck to water, working for a time as publicity officer for the New Zealand Portrait Gallery. The first thing that struck me about Wellington is that people drive politely, frequently giving way when not legally required to do so - that doesn't often happen elsewhere. More importantly, I found that Wellingtonians judge you for you - who your parents were doesn't cut much ice, and what school you went to is of peripheral interest.
Wellingtonians were also very tolerant when I stood for the Western Ward of the Wellington City Council in 2001 - a slightly cheeky bid when I'd only lived here for a short time. But, as I campaigned, people were more interested in the fact that I had a good grasp of local issues and that I'd voice their concerns around the Council table; I missed out by just 34 votes. I'd decided when I had children that I would always do one unpaid community activity at any given time - something that has frequently stretched to several voluntary jobs at once. With children attending three different Wellington Central schools - as well as cricket, soccer and running clubs - there's plenty of choice, and any number of fundraising activities to assist with. My major effort over the past seven years has been my role of Gala Convenor for the Karori Normal School Gala. Leading the team of enthusiastic parents to help raise our local school over $40,000 on a Saturday every October is extremely rewarding and great fun. Wellington Central communities of interest are strong and combine to make our city a great place to live.
In keeping with this, last year I fulfilled a long-time dream of joining the New Zealand Army as a territorial soldier. While Territorial's do receive payment, I donate all of mine to the RSA. I belong to 5 Wellington West Coast Taranaki Battalion Group and am a Field Engineer. I enjoy my training weekends enormously - it is very different from my day job and keeps me in touch with 'real kiwis'. I'm frequently asked what it is I learnt from my Basic Training experience. The answer is simple: teamwork, discipline, leadership and pride. Not bad principles to apply to life, and principles I know are valued by the hard-working people of Wellington Central. I immediately felt at home in Wellington with its concentration on education, focus on the arts - as well as sport - culture of promotion on merit, and absence of a thug culture. ACT values are Wellington Central values. People believe in the importance of choice, diversity, a level playing field, taking responsibility, and looking after those less fortunate.
Wellington Central is the electorate in which I live, and the one I want to represent. It is the best educated electorate in New Zealand. While it is the wealthiest, it is income rich, not asset rich.
Under a Labour MP Wellington Central is taken for granted by this Labour-led Government. The result has been an obvious lack of investment in infrastructure. This is also true of the wider Wellington region - with all Labour MPs - barring Labour's supporter Peter Dunne, making up a sea of red - which routinely misses out on important central government investment. As such, Wellington's poor economic performance compared to the nationwide average is no surprise. There was a lot of controversy over the motorway bypass, but it was never intended to stop in the middle of the city - the money ran out just before the 1975 election, when then Works Minister Hugh Watt diverted his remaining budget to Auckland's spaghetti junction (co-incidentally smack bang in the middle of his own marginal electorate). Some things, you might conclude, don't change.
Wellington Central will continue to be overlooked as long as it is taken for granted as a safe Labour seat. If you really want to be noticed, then it is necessary to be a marginal seat. Wellington Central was best served when former ACT Leader Richard Prebble was its local MP - Richard won the seat because he took the people seriously and battled on their behalf.
I intend to do the same - telling people what to do is insulting and patronising; it is listening to them, and campaigning for them, that is important. It is through living in Wellington Central, and listening to people, that has given me a true insight into what Wellingtonians need and want; about what issues are affecting them and what THEY - not the Government - feel is important. Issues like roading - notably inner-city congestion and the ongoing saga of Transmission Gully; infrastructure; the environment; public transport; rates; spending and leadership; crime ... the list goes on.
As part of my Wellington Central campaign, I am also launching a new website,
http://www.roy.org.nz/. At this site you will be able to see what I have been doing both in Parliament and around Wellington Central - as well as what I plan to do, and ways in which you can take part. The website also has a brief rundown on my campaign team, giveaways and allows you to let me know what issues you feel are important to the electorate and the region as a whole.
This electorate deserves an MP that is one of the people. Above all, Wellington Central deserves to choose its MP from a fair and broad field. I intend to promote that race by giving Wellington Central voters an enthusiastic and able choice. We in ACT like nothing better than competition.
Ladies and gentlemen: let the competition begin.
Visit the ACT on Campus web site!
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The last national elections in 2005 were aweful for the ACT Party, smacking our vote-count to bits and reducing the party to just two members. What happened?
Press Contact: Andy Moore, 
Here we have ACT Deputy Leader, Heather Roy, looking a whole lot more attractive than Iain Lees-Galloway (Lees-Galloway is the candidate taking over from Steve Maharey as Labour's Palmerston North Candidate.)
