"I'm honoured to be a member of this House today, continuing their fight on the very same steps."
Of Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Porou descent, Ms Davidson wore the korowai of her nana's iwi Ngai Tupoto.
A large part of the speech was dedicated to her nana Patricia Broughton - a "soft, squishy, gentle and caring" woman who also had a "stubborn commitment to justice".
"If I could bring a tiny bit of my nana's mana to my work, then I will know that I have succeeded," she said.
Outlining her political position, she said successive governments had been protecting and penalising the wrong people, in particular indigenous peoples.
"They have got it completely backwards. They have pulled out the red carpet for the big corporations who have at their core the pillaging of earth, the extraction of its natural resources and the exploitation of its people.
"They want to share the risks but not the benefits."
She wanted to help create an economy and society that "works for all of us".
Ms Davidson spoke of being priced out of her rental property in South Auckland earlier this year.
She struggled to find a new rental to live in with her six children, looking at more than 30 homes which often had 30 applicants.
When she became an MP, finding a property in Wellington became a lot easier, she said.
"You know what - you shouldn't have to become an MP to get a house to live in."
The list MP's family were in the public gallery. She apologised to her husband Paul Davidson, who hated the limelight and did not care for politics.
"I am sorry you married into exactly the opposite."
Ms Davidson replaces former co-leader Russel Norman, who left Parliament to head Greenpeace New Zealand.
She will be responsible for social housing, human rights, Maori development and Pacific issues.
