With Gratitude

Yesterday morning I was picked up by my good friend and National Party electorate chair Bryan Hall, to attend a meeting at Parliament to talk about a project we've been working on. Nothing unique or suspicious about that, other than Bryan offering to drive me.

Little did I know that one of the most special and moving moments of my life was about to unfold.

After clearing Parliament's security process, we were asked to take a seat in the Leader's office while the Caucus meeting came to a close. Again, no surprise in that other than we were left alone in the Leader's office to get up to who knows what. Nice artwork and family pics by the way Simon.

Around 15 minutes later we were asked to head into the Caucus room, again with my expectation that we'd be presenting a project on Wellington local body elections we've been working on.

To my surprise my wife Amanda and daughter Ella were in the room, together with Young Nats President and good friend Sam Stead and Ronogotai executive member and good friend Andrew Mahoney. A very unusual ensemble to be in a room otherwise exclusively full of National Party MPs.

I was welcomed by leader Simon Bridges and President Peter Goodfellow and asked to take a seat at the head table. Peter then proceeded to read out an amazing tribute to my 20-year involvement in the National Party; covering campaigns, policy work, volunteer activities, candidate coaching and mentoring. Most importantly though, Peter noted the many close friendships I've made with a range of people over this time. As is often said in the party, you come for the politics but stay for the people.

Peter concluded his speech noting I was to be the 2019 National Party recipient of the Presidential Citation, an award given to only one person within the Party each year. It is a true honour of the highest order, and something I am proud to have attained and humbled by.

In my short response I noted the Bob Dylan quote from 1975 in which he states the "purpose of life is not about finding meaning, but about creating meaning." My involvement in the National Party has provided me a context to express myself in so many ways, creating a range of meaningful and life enhancing experiences.

To understand why this is so special to me, you also need to understand where I came from.

Growing up, my grandfather lived with us during my political formative years. He was Labour through and through, and would share with me stories of Michael Joseph Savage buying shoes for kids in the depression, of John A Lee building houses for the poor, and of how Norman Kirk was the great messiah that New Zealand lost too early. These informed my early political views, and were carried through until my late twenties.

Serendipity meant that I shared a flight from Melbourne to Sydney with an older gent in 1999. I'd had a few drinks the night before and was feeling a little rough, and he looked even the worse for wear than I felt. We quickly started a conversation after sharing a joke about our previous nights, and when asked what he did for a living he responded "I'm a farmer".

I can hold up a farming conversation for less than a minute, so as the conversation tired he added "and I'm also involved in politics." This peeked my interest, as it was my intention at that stage to work a couple of years in Sydney before heading back to New Zealand to run for Parliament - for Labour. It turned out he was a Senator in the Australian Parliament and one of Prime Minister John Howard's closest advisors.

The aircraft conversation that ensued led to me realising that my values, life outlook and belief in self determination with a social safety net were the policies of the Australian Liberals and New Zealand National Parties, not of Labour. A couple of months later I took the leap of joining the New Zealand National Party as an offshore member. On my return to New Zealand in 2002 I was invited to get actively involved in the National Party, and have been active ever since. I can also add that I wouldn't have met my wife Amanda if it hadn't been for a National Party conference I flew into Auckland for in 2004, but that's a story for another time.

Regardless of your political persuasion, being involved in groups of like minded people is how we all create meaning in our lives. I am proud that my meaning was added to by my involvement in such a worthy and influential organisation.