Whangārei MP Emily Henderson gives impassioned valedictory speech

Whangārei MP Emily Henderson said she "didn’t stand in 2020 with any expectation of winning".

Outgoing Whangārei MP Emily Henderson has spoken of becoming part of a team she “never expected to join” and how she was looking forward to returning to her work in court reform.

In her valedictory speech to Parliament on August 22, Henderson also referred to the rise of extremism in New Zealand, which she recently revealed to the Advocate as having been targeted by extremist mobs at Northland markets.

“The space for constructive debate and the ability to tolerate opposing views amongst the public – and especially in the toxic swamp of social media – has changed significantly.

“These aren’t normal times.

“Normally, extremism rolls right off New Zealanders, but this is a time of heightened anxiety, where many voters are, undeniably, on edge, struggling to come to terms with an uncertainty we haven’t had to face since the 1930s.”

Henderson also spoke of scapegoats and divisiveness, saying “the temptation to divide in order to rule is clearly present and it is a danger”.

She highlighted the death of UK MP Jo Cox, who was brutally murdered by an extreme right-wing terrorist in 2016.

“Jo Cox herself in her maiden speech just a year before her murder … said that all of us whatever our ethnicity or allegiances, have far more in common than we ever had to divide us.

“As someone about to fade back into the mass of ordinary Kiwi voters who depend upon you to keep us safe, I am asking you to heed her words.”

Henderson won the Whangārei electorate from National’s Shane Reti in 2020, the first woman to do so and the first Labour MP in over 45 years.

Henderson said even though she “didn’t stand in 2020 with any expectation of winning”, and “if you cut me open you’d find ‘Labour’ stencilled on my heart”, she admitted politics wasn’t the best way she could serve New Zealand.

“I’d been researching and writing about how to reform the court system and make it safer for vulnerable people for 25 years before I entered this place.

“... when I sat down and really thought about the next term, I realised that as much as I enjoy the job and the team, it’s generating new ideas that I believe I add the most value.”

She acknowledged those she was leaving, including fellow Northland Labour MPs Kelvin Davis and Willow-Jean Prime – “my brother and sister in arms in Team Te Tai Tokerau” - along with those in the gallery and “the wonderful crew from my office”.

“This is an incredible team.

“Admittedly, it’s a team I never expected to join, and let’s be honest – you were as shocked as I was.

“But the welcome … the warmth and the wrap-around has made the decision to leave so soon so much harder.”

Whangārei MP Emily Henderson is looking forward to returning to the courtroom after a term in politics.

Henderson said her proudest moments include when former Health Minister Andrew Little stood up at the announcement of a new Whangārei hospital “and complained bitterly that he’d had to give in because the local MP made his ears bleed”.

Another highlight was a visit to Whangārei Girls’ High, “where I learnt that a group of girls from Raumanga and Otaika, two of our poorest suburbs, had taken on board our previous session on petitioning Parliament, and now had over a thousand signatures demanding we extend our free school lunch policy”.

“... that is my single proudest moment because those girls - so shy they had to come see me in a little huddle and took many attempts to get the words out - they now know how to demand better.”

Henderson announced in March she wouldn’t contest the upcoming election on October 14 and would retire from politics.

Labour’s Whangārei Electorate Committee selected Angie Warren-Clark - who was raised in Northland - as its new candidate.

Henderson said of Warren-Clark: “I believe in her so much I’ve just become her campaign manager”, and thanked her “wonderful family and friends for their support”.

Jenny Ling is a news reporter and features writer for the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering roading, health, food, business and animal welfare issues.