Families who can’t afford children shouldn’t have them, according to ACT Party deputy leader Beth Houlbrooke. Here’s a list of 25 New Zealanders whose parents probably weren’t in a position to fully fund their child’s life at birth. Imagine New Zealand without…

Stan Walker, recording artist, actor and TV personality

Dr Michelle Dickinson, nanoscientist and science educator

Cliff Curtis, actor

Liam Messam, All Black

Michael Joseph Savage, former prime minister of New Zealand

Justin Lester, mayor of Wellington

Janet Frame, novelist

Steven Adams, NBA player

Mark Hunt, UFC heavyweight

Kia Riwai, nurse and Māori welfare officer

Ray Avery, scientist and social entrepreneur

Jonah Lomu, All Black

Len Lye, artist

Dove-Myer Robinson, former mayor of Auckland City

Alice May Parkinson, Manslayer

Hone Tuwhare, poet

Valerie Adams, Olympic champion shotputter

Oscar Kightley, performer and writer

Norman Kirk, former prime minister of New Zealand

Julie Christie, media entrepreneur

Richard Pearse, inventor and aviator

René Shadbolt, nurse leader of the NZ contingent in the Spanish Civil War

Iriaka Rātana, the first Māori woman to be elected to Parliament

John Key, former prime minister of New Zealand

John Banks, former ACT leader

This list was put together over an hour on a Friday afternoon. It would be easy to put together a similarly auspicious list every Friday afternoon, probably forever, so we’re very conscious that we’ll have missed many incredible New Zealanders whose parents struggled around the time of their birth. You can still @ us though.