January 30, 2014
Hard work and study earns MP list spot
National’s newest Maori MP has given testimony to the importance of education.
Jo Hayes replaced Katrina Shanks, who resigned to become chief executive of the Funeral Directors' Association.
Ms Hayes acknowledged her Apanui and Rangihuna whanau of Ngati Porou and her Karaitiana whanau of Kahungunu and Te Atihaunui a Paparangi, and talked of how the stigma of being a young solo mother made her determined to go back to school in her 20s.
She eventually became the first in her immediate whanau to get a university degree, which inspired her sisters to follow suit.
"That’s been my message to a lot of women who have said to me, 'Oh you are so lucky.' Luck's got nothing to do with it. It's just hard graft and you just have to do it but the rewards are really amazing at the end of the day," she says.
Jo Hayes says she has learned to pick her fights, and that the best way to fight is to be successful.
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