Green MP Benjamin Doyle delivering their valedictory speech.
Photo: GILES DEXTER / RNZ
New Zealand’s first non-binary MP has farewelled Parliament, calling it a “hostile and toxic place” that wasn’t built for people like them.
Outgoing Green MP Benjamin Doyle says nothing was more important than “those we love most”, and it was for them “we must live, and fight, and at times choose to leave.”
Doyle, of Ngāpuhi and Pākehā descent, said they chose to leave Parliament not because they want to, but because “I have chosen to put my child first.”
Delivering their valedictory speech to a Debating Chamber with members of all parties present, Doyle spoke of the impact Parliament could have on a person and those they love, calling it “violent” and “toxic”.
Doyle resigned from Parliament earlier in September, citing concerns for their well-being after receiving death threats and ongoing abuse.
On Thursday evening, Doyle said no person should have to “remove their child from school due to threats to their life.”
“No person should have to avoid going to the supermarket or the letterbox because they have been advised that doing so could expose them to violence.”
Doyle said being at Parliament, “the colonisers house”, came with a price of “violence and hate to my people”, which they said they were no longer willing to pay.
“This place was not built for people like me.
“This place is hostile and toxic, especially if you are not a cis straight white man with a blue suit and a briefcase, but most of all it is not fit for purpose.”
Doyle said the nation needed to reckon with that reality.
They spoke about a political system that had been “imposed upon this land and its people from a colonial empire which sought to name, claim and maim” would never “honour Te Tiriti.”
“It will never recognise the dignity of all life or seek justice for the poor and oppressed. It was built to serve a status quo that protects the powerful at the expense of the people, at the cost of community.”
Doyle said the system was built, and could be re-built, “the revolution begins in our hearts and minds, but there it must not remain.”
“It must rise up from the land, from the people, from love and vision and hope for something infinitely better than what we are subjected to now. If not for us then for our children
and those in every generation to come.”
Doyle indicated parliament would not be a place of peace or justice as long as “bombs are dropping in Gaza, in Yemen, in Syria, in Qatar,” as long as the “land is being ripped open and exploited for finite resources,” and as long as “indigenous rights are being eroded, trans lives are being taken, disabled folks are being degraded, children’s voices are being ignored, women’s bodies are being controlled, and the rights of people in prison are being stripped.”
“No body is free until everybody is free,” Doyle said, “and this House must recognise that fundamental truth.”
“If it does not, it risks being left behind as community forges ahead in building its own future, one we can be proud to pass on to our mokopuna.”
Members of the public gallery were in tears as they concluded their speech, and Doyle embraced their Green colleagues.
Previously a Hamilton high school teacher, Doyle entered Parliament in October 2024 after Darleen Tana’s ousting.
They will be replaced by the next candidate on the Greens list: former Christchurch city councillor Mike Davidson.
Davidson will be the fifth Green MP to enter Parliament mid-term since the election.
‘This place should be for everyone’
Marama Davidson earlier spoke of her “incredible admiration and respect” for someone who had to “withstand a torrent of unprecedented abuse that no human should have to withstand.”
Conversations with and information fron police and parliamentary security had shown the unprecedented and violent nature of that abuse, she said, helping to inform their decision to resign. She respected their decision to put their family first.
“The bigger question is, how do we ensure that people can do their job and be who they are in this place with respect and safety?
“This place should be for everyone to be safe here and to be who they are, including and especially rainbow whānau, takatāpuhi whānau.”
Davidson said everyone needed to ask whether it was safe collectively at parliament for those communities.
“For a start, how about we stop targeting people with completely unfounded accusations simply because they belong to a particular community?”
She said the party can’t wait to welcome their newest MP with “open arms”. She said Mike Davidson brings a lot of particular governance experience and another South Island Green MP.
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