Seven years ago today I stepped off a plane in Wellington and began a journey which led to this point.

I already cared deeply about this country. I had been here in the 1980s. And now I found the country suffering - with a regressive National government which was even proposing to review New Zealand's pioneering nuclear-free status.

I was here as a documentary film-maker - for one of seven films I was making for the BBC with young environmentalists from around the world. The films were to be broadcast worldwide during the Earth Summit in 1992.

New Zealand television viewers, however, were denied the opportunity.

Why? Because the young environmentalist in the New Zealand film was critical of her government - for threatening her country's nuclear-free legislation.

My bond with this country was renewed by that film-making trip and within a year I had emigrated. And in New Zealand I have evolved from film-maker to politician. I have found it to be the best way to achieve what I care about.

It was necessary, for example, for me to wage a year-long campaign in order for New Zealanders to see Rubber Gloves or Green Fingers - a documentary which sought only to make a positive contribution to the national debate we ought to be having on our economic and environmental future.

The suppression of debate on television was summed up for me earlier this year when one TV executive said to me "you need to decide whether you're in politics or film-making."

Well, I always was a political film-maker. And now I'm an experienced political campaigner. I've worked with a Samoan church community to save a house from demolition. I've overcome censorship on television. And this year I led for Labour the City Vision partnership which won the Auckland City Council elections.

I get results through personal dedication and by leading a winning team. And there are many highly-skilled people in this hall today who will work with me on the campaign for Epsom.

I propose that we make the Epsom campaign a high-profile one. We need a strong Labour voice in Epsom to challenge National and Act.

A voice in harmony with our neighbours in Mount Albert, Auckland Central, Tamaki, Maungakiekie and Mount Roskill.

Yet also a distinctive voice, advocating for innovation and common sense solutions to the challenges facing our country.

One of the things this Epsom Labour voice will be advocating is a public television channel.

I am convinced that the channel should be Channel One - where New Zealanders expect public television to be and where it will do the most public good, where New Zealanders can share information and ideas, for democratic debate and a creative national culture.

Creativity is something that Act and National politicians just don't seem to understand. They are so obsessed by the rough discipline of the market that they overlook the need to nurture New Zealand's creative talent - so that it can succeed in the international market.

So this Epsom Labour voice will be speaking out for Labour's creative industries policy.

All the international evidence points to the economic contribution made by local content quotas on radio and television. By protecting our cultural identity we enable our musicians, writers, film-makers and others to be productive.

And out of their productivity will come the big international hits, bringing not just export dollars but also promotion for other New Zealand products and services.

The key to our success in the global market is our uniqueness. As Michael Porter said on his recent visit, we must stop using our small size as an excuse and we must start creating global businesses through strong branding.

This Epsom Labour voice will be promoting the concept of brand New Zealand - and the role which our government can play in marketing our brand worldwide.

Labour is already promoting New Zealand business by advocating for investment. While National and Act see us simply as a nation of consumers - which is why they want to cut the cost of everything - we see New Zealand as a nation of high-value, high return producers.

Our vision is to develop a highly skilled well-paid workforce and successful export-grade businesses. Rather than surrendering to 'market forces' we will work with the market to ensure that our people are successful in it. That's what sensible governments are doing all over the world.

The 21st Century can be one of unprecedented success for New Zealand. As the world economy evolves into a knowledge economy, with the Internet playing an increasing role in international commerce, our relative isolation is no longer an impediment.

Yet none of this is possible without investment in education and training. The vital keys to full well-paid employment are peoples' skills, knowledge and passions.

Which brings me to something I find very distressing. So many of our young people are giving up on New Zealand, taking their skills, knowledge and passions overseas, or taking their own lives.

As the Epsom Labour candidate I will do everything I can to involve and represent young people.

And I'm proud that Labour's youth policy at the last election made a clear commitment to New Zealand's clean and green identity. This Epsom Labour voice will be promoting our clean and green identity as one of our greatest national assets.

We can use 'Clean & Green' to define New Zealand, just as the British Labour government has used 'Cool Britannia' as a brand to promote their nation.

'Clean & Green' is both responsible and progressive. It appeals particularly to young people and it brings the country together around a national purpose - their future.

That's the future of my daughter Claris. And I consider that one of my responsibilities as her parent is to help build a country with a future.

If we want to tackle both mounting unemployment and environmental damage we must use our human resources more effectively and our natural resources more efficiently.

A sustainable economy sustains both full employment and the environment. A Labour government can forge partnerships with business and unions to foster that sustainable economy.

And while we pursue the knowledge based and high-tech industries of the new millennium, let's not forget the ongoing importance of our primary produce. Agriculture is the engine room of our economy and the key to our clean and green identity.

Here in urban Epsom we must support a rural revival based on the booming global demand and the premium prices paid for organic produce.

Organic agriculture will not only bring prosperity for our nation. It will also bring back jobs to rural communities, which will reduce the population stress on our cities, particularly Auckland.

And here in Auckland we urgently need to concentrate on our infrastructure, instead of supporting a development agenda to double the region's population.

We do not need more motorways to divide us. What we need is effective public transport. Public transport is not just kinder to the environment. It is fundamental to urban prosperity.

Labour can use this connection between good environmental practice and sound economics to determine priorities and realize opportunities in all areas of life. We need to unleash the power of our imagination and think beyond the square.

That may feel a little 'alternative'. Indeed, it's the very type of thinking which has been suppressed by the rigid ideology of the National government.

Imagine, for example, if we put solar hot water heating into every New Zealand home. The demands on our national grid would go down, and we would create regional industries in manufacturing and installing technology which is friendlier to the environment.

It need not cost the taxpayer anything. Each household can continue to pay for their electricity at their former rate of consumption from the national grid until the cost of their solar hot water system has been fully recovered.

That's the kind of pragmatic win-win solution which a Labour government can implement.

Leading the world as the clean and green nation is in harmony with our positive role in foreign affairs - advocating for peace, disarmament, human rights and the environment.

And in the week the world celebrates fifty years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights we can be proud that it was New Zealand who lobbied successfully for the declaration to include social and economic rights - like the rights to work, to reasonable working hours and paid holidays, to health, housing, education and social services.

New Zealand's tradition of leadership by example is a Labour tradition. And Labour leads by serving and representing people.

Power for us is not an end in itself. We use power to empower people. Young and old, women and men, Maori, Pakeha - all New Zealanders are entitled to opportunity.

Labour knows that poverty suppresses opportunities. Our policy is to give all New Zealanders access to their basic needs:

• to quality education - in the local community - from properly resourced early childhood education, through fairly resourced primary and secondary education to affordable tertiary education;
• to work - with fair workplace relations - and paid parental leave;
• to a decent home at a fair cost relative to income;
• to public healthcare - prompt, reliable and accessible;
• to security in old age - with superannuation that keeps pace with both prices and wages.

I know we won't be able to do it all overnight. We'll inherit a wrecked economy. I'm a person who sets goals and then works steadily towards them. And I know that we'll be progressing when New Zealanders start working together again.

Epsom is a thinking electorate and, as your candidate, I will appeal to the minds as well as the hearts of Epsom voters. I will listen to them and establish a dialogue. They will find that I am the candidate who best represents them.

I'll provide the contrast needed to differentiate Labour from its opposition in Epsom. The National and Act candidates are conservative and stuck in their rigid ideology. I am liberal, pragmatic and forward-looking. Those are the qualities which Epsom needs to represent it in Parliament.

I will bring energy and intelligence to the Labour campaign for Epsom. I will use all my people and communications skills, on constituents' doorsteps, in their letterboxes and in the media.

Just as we did with the City Vision campaign I - and my campaign team - will bring out the vote in Epsom for Labour.

The principal objective must always be the party vote, which I think we should aim to double from the 7,000 we achieved here at the last election to 14,000.

With a strong national swing to Labour, a strong Epsom candidate and a strong campaign team I believe that target is attainable.

And if we aim high with the Labour campaign here we just might pip Act and National at the electorate post too.

So I ask you to support me today as your candidate to bring Labour to Epsom and Epsom to Labour.

Thank you.

David Jacobs
djacobs@xtra.co.nz
Phone: (64 9) 376 6060
Fax: (64 9) 376 6077
PO Box 78121, Grey Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand