New Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March has spoken out about inequality and the treatment of immigrants in New Zealand during his powerful first address in Parliament today, saying: "The rules were simply not made for us."
The newly elected MP began "acknowledging everybody who has ever had to lie to Work and Income to survive".
He also shared an expression from the LGBT+ community: "Be gay, do crimes."
"To me it means to be transgressive, to acknowledge that decision makers have created rules that criminalise our survival and our existence," Menéndez March explained.
"The rules were simply not made for us. They were made to uphold a system where the wealthy few keep getting richer at the expense of our planet, and this House is enabling it."
For some politicians, Menéndez March says discussions about low wages, public housing, benefit levels and the rights of migrants is "abstract stuff".
However for others, it's less theoretical.
Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, Teanau Tuiono and Ricardo Menéndez March say they're looking to tackle some big issues now they're in Parliament.
"We talk about increasing incomes and public housing for all because we know what it is like to count your dollars before the next paycheque," he said.
"We fight for overhauling the welfare system because we know what it is like to be sitting for hours at Work and Income, having every single receipt scrutinised in order to get a measly food grant, while corporates easily accessed millions of dollars of subsidies during the pandemic in a high-trust model."
Instead of being abstract, Menéndez March calls it a "fight for the survival of the communities we serve and we belong to".
The Mexican-born MP also shared concerns around apparent hypocrisy when it comes to treatment of migrants in the country.
"While we were being blamed for buying up all the houses, we were also being blamed for bringing low-skilled, low-wage labour that didn't contribute to the economy — or so they claimed," he says.
"It was politicians dismissing the labour of low-waged workers as low-skilled and low-value that made me tune into local politics."
Menéndez March was elected as a Green Party list MP in the latest election and is the party's spokesperson for commerce and consumer affairs, food safety, immigration, senior citizens, social development, sports and recreation and tourism.
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