Category: New Zealand Government

Source: New Zealand Governor General

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o te motu e huihui nei, tenei aku mihi 

I particularly acknowledge:

• Colonel Anthony Blythen, Commander Joint Support Group
• Honorary Colonel Maree Sheard; and 
• Lieutenant Colonel Dave Foote, Chief Nursing Officer

A very warm welcome to nurses of the Royal New Zealand Army Nursing Corps, past and present.

As your Commander-in-Chief, I am delighted to host this celebration of Corps Day and to acknowledge the contribution of the Corps in our nation’s military history.

In the First World War, one of my predecessors, Lord Liverpool took great interest in the New Zealand hospital ship Maheno and expressed amazement that ‘women were able to work so constantly and at such high pressure’.

Such attributes would not be surprising to the women and men of today’s Army Nursing Corps, who have built on the reputation for efficiency and professionalism established by your forebears in the First World War’s Army Nursing Service.

Their experiences included extraordinary stories of fortitude in the face of punishing workloads, enemy shelling, and extremes of heat and cold. Some lost their lives, including ten when the transport ship Marquette was torpedoed.

The stories of our First World War nurses are still being uncovered by historians, and deserve to be more widely known. 

To mention one such example: Nurse Ethel Lewis served in Belgium before going to Serbia, where she was wounded in the trenches and was honoured by the King of Serbia for rescuing a high-ranking officer.

Newspapers here reported Nurse Lewis’s efforts to save the lives of Serbian wounded from approaching enemy forces.  The hospital was evacuated and the transport vehicles carrying the patients broke down. The only option was to continue on foot up through snowy mountain passes. 

Nurse Lewis had a nickname – Little Sister – because she was only 150 centimetres tall. That didn’t stop her from carrying a wounded soldier on her back for two miles.

When she returned home on furlough to Otaki, the shops and schools were closed in her honour and the whole town turned out to meet her at the railway station. She was met with ‘rousing cheers’ and ‘deluged with flowers’. 

In his speech to the crowd, the Chairman of the Patriotic Society said Nurse Lewis had passed through trials and hardships enough to kill many a strong man, yet ‘this frail little woman had been spared to return to them, looking fit and as well as she ever did’. Nurse Lewis could have chosen to take things quietly at that point, but she returned to the UK and served with the Army Nursing Service until the end of the War.

There will be many more recent stories to tell about the distinguished services provided by the Royal Army Nursing Corps, and no doubt we will hear some tonight.

Nurse Lewis exemplified the army nurse ethos to protect patient welfare at all costs – as well as the resourcefulness and adaptability required when deployment takes a nurse into less than ideal situations.

I imagine there must be great satisfaction in having the skills to care for patients effectively, no matter where you are. Equally I imagine there will be times when the circumstances of your work is distressing and takes a psychological toll, especially when you are far from the support of family and friends.

Most recently, the demands put on your services in responding to Cyclone Gabrielle and the COVID-19 pandemic must have been particularly challenging, and I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the role played by Colonel Anthony Blythen in establishing the Defence Force’s strategic COVID-19 response.

I am pleased to be able to assist you in observing Corps Day this year, and thereby providing appropriate acknowledgement of the contributions of departing leaders, and the arrival of new members of the Corps.

On behalf of my fellow New Zealanders, I thank you all for choosing to serve your country in this way, and I wish the Corps all the very best in the years to come.

Tonight is your night, and so I invite you please to relax and enjoy the hospitality of the House.

 

Source: New Zealand Governor General

Rau rangatira mā, e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi nui ki a koutou. Nau mai haere mai ki Te Whare Kawana o Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Kia ora tātou katoa. 

It’s my great pleasure to welcome you all to Government House Wellington. I specifically acknowledge: Her Worship Tory Whanau, Mayor of Wellington; Her Worship Janet Holborow, Mayor of the Kāpiti Coast District Council; Mr John Pearson, Deputy British High Commissioner; Angela Green, Executive Director of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts; Sarah Kemp, Chair of the Tāwhiri Board; Mere Boynton, Director Ngā Toi Māori; and Ben Ngaia, Kaumātua on behalf of Tāwhiri. Tēnā koutou katoa.

As Governor-General, and patron of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts, I’m so pleased to have this opportunity to celebrate the success of these past four weeks, and to acknowledge all those who have made this event possible.

Wellington is a city that has long held the mantle of New Zealand’s cultural capital. However, there has been a particular, additional magic in the air over this past month.

Dr Davies and I had the great pleasure of attending a number of events on the Festival programme. We went to see Sounds of the Sanctuary: a magical evening of music presented by the New Zealand String Quartet, set in the beautiful surroundings of Zealandia. We also went to see one of my favourite authors, Anne Enright, speak on the power of love and literature.

Dr Davies also attended the Magic of Movement writing workshop with Rachel Davies, heard the brilliant Damon Salesa speak on the human history of the Pacific Ocean, as well as Lynn Davidson discuss the art of memoir.

Despite our best efforts, between the two of us, we barely scratched the surface of what was an extraordinary programme: both in terms of the number of events, but also their range and diversity.

The Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts has brought together some of the very finest writers, dancers, comedians, musicians, and artists from around New Zealand and across the world: from The National playing to a packed-out TSB Arena, to Moment Factory’s Light Cycles, brilliantly illuminating the Wellington Botanical Gardens in ways never seen before.

As some of you may know, I come from a career that has straddled both academia and the public service – and I understand what a fraught thing it can be to discuss the “value” of the arts. I think few have answered the question more concisely than the great German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who said that: ‘All artforms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living.’

The arts enhance all of our lives by helping us to see the beauty of the world around us, by attuning our powers of observation and expression, and by giving us a stronger sense of identity and self. The arts also strengthen our capacity for empathy, and our ability to consider the world from another’s perspective.

As British author Jeanette Winterson puts it so well: ‘What art does is to coax us away from the mechanical and toward the miraculous… Art asks us to think differently, see differently, hear differently, and ultimately to act differently, which is why art has moral force.’ 

At a time where we might feel overwhelmed by the events in the world around us, the arts remain a place of comfort, and a source of wisdom and guidance – a place where we can remind ourselves of the goodness in the world and each other.

As those in this room know better than any, the arts cannot and do not happen in a vacuum. They require the support of those artists who put so much of themselves into their work, as well as the spaces where those artists can perform and share that work. In short, the arts require the hard work, commitment, and selflessness of the sorts of generous and visionary people here this evening.

I know that this Festival is the result of over two years of planning and preparation – and it is a testament to the Festival organisers and sponsors, as well as so many brilliant artists and performers, that it has been such a great success. Through your work, generosity, and inspiration, you have given audiences members across Wellington experiences they will never forget. 

My sincere thanks and congratulations once again to Angela and your team for pulling together this wonderful event – and above all, for your steadfast belief in and love of the arts. 

Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.

Source: New Zealand Governor General

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o te motu e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora tātou katoa.

 

I specifically acknowledge

 

• Hon Simon Watts (Minister for Climate Change)
• Hon James Shaw
• Hon Marama Davidson 
• Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan
• Hon Rachel Brooking
• Hon Eugenie Sage
• Dame Anne Salmond
• Nicola Toki, Kate Graeme, and Jessica Lamb of Forest and Bird; and 
• Joan Leckie, QSM, Distinguished Life Member

 

It’s my great privilege to host this celebration to mark 100 years of Forest and Bird in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A centennial year is a time to look back and acknowledge key moments in history, and shortly Nicola will outline the many achievements of Forest and Bird over that time. 

For my part, I will take a moment to highlight just a few of the vice-regal contributions to conservation in Aotearoa. 

In the 1890s, Governor Onslow lobbied for the protection of plants and animals, and persuaded the Government to add the huia to a small list of protected birds. He also named his baby son Huia. 

In 1914, Lord and Lady Liverpool became patrons of an early version of Forest and Bird, and Lord Bledisloe became Patron in 1930. He liked to speak at some length about New Zealand native plants he recommended for home gardens, at a time when such ideas were not at all fashionable.

Long after he left office, Lord Bledisloe continued to act as an Honorary Vice President of Forest and Bird, and in 1947, he spoke out in support of the preservation of Waipoua Forest. 

Our first New Zealand-born Governor-General, Sir Arthur Porritt was the son of a Forest and Bird Vice-President, Ernest Porritt. 

Sir Arthur’s son Jonathon developed an interest in the environment during his father’s term of office in Aotearoa. Sir Jonathon has been honoured for his many distinguished services to environmental protection in the UK, and is co-Patron, with me, of the Aotearoa Circle.

I am proud to continue the vice-regal patronage of Forest and Bird, and on behalf of my fellow New Zealanders, I thank everyone involved for your work to safeguard and improve the wellbeing of our whenua, moana, flora and fauna. 

Here at Government House, we are fortunate to see tangible benefits of Forest and Bird initiatives. Our staff can recall the days when possums would get into the House through open windows and wreck havoc. Native birds were a rare sight in the grounds. 

Thanks to predator control, and the work of Jim and Eve Lynch of Forest and Bird to establish Zealandia, we now enjoy native birdsong and the wonderful antics of tui, kereru and kaka.  

New Zealanders owe a debt of gratitude to Forest and Bird for working to establish a network of sanctuaries in Aotearoa, where fragile ecosystems have a chance to recover, and our birds can re-establish themselves. 

In the 1920s, Forest and Bird’s founder, Val Sanderson campaigned against the deforestation of hill country, in order to halt erosion, silting of rivers, and flooding. The destruction of our forests by deer was another great concern of his.

A hundred years later, those threats to our forests are still on the Forest and Bird agenda – and the scope of advocacy has broadened over the years to include the protection of endangered species and the wellbeing of our oceans and sea-life.

Val Sanderson would have been gratified to see the granting of Royal patronage in the 1960s, and to witness the lifetime of environmental advocacy by His Majesty King Charles, who has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the existential threats posed by biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and the climate crisis.

New Zealanders increasingly share His Majesty’s concerns, as well as His Majesty’s high regard for the natural world. Even though we are mostly urban dwellers, our souls are nourished when we can touch base with our bush, mountains, rivers and beaches – and hear our birds welcoming the dawn of a new day. 

In te Ao Māori, human beings are an integral part of natural world, and awa and maunga are central to identity. The concept of kaitiakitanga – that we are merely temporary guardians of our natural world, charged with leaving it in better shape than we found it – increasingly resonates with New Zealanders. The kaupapa of Forest and Bird has played a part in developing that consciousness.

It’s not surprising that many thousands of New Zealanders – from all walks of life – and from all political persuasions – have welcomed the opportunities Forest and Bird provides to become involved in preserving our precious natural heritage.

From its beginnings, it has been an effective vehicle for citizen action, providing opportunities to do what we can to improve the wellbeing of our environment, whether it be raising seedlings, restoring wetlands, planting a riverbank, removing invasive plants, setting traps, helping out at a reserve, choosing to buy sustainable fish for dinner, or petitioning local and central government.

At a time when the sheer scale of our ecological challenges can seem overwhelming, the history of Forest and Bird gives New Zealanders hope, agency, and confidence that we can achieve more than we previously thought possible. 

Individuals and communities have been empowered by a shared vision to work for something bigger than their own back-yards, and have left a bequest for their descendants that they can be proud of. 

The wins have not been quick or easy. Fortunately, Forest and Bird has a strong and loyal support base, and the generations of young New Zealanders in conservation clubs and youth hubs will ensure the mahi will continue.

It certainly helps when people like John Oliver choose to become involved. His invitation to bemused people in Paris, Mumbai, Tokyo, London and Ipanema to vote in the Bird of the Century campaign helped raise a substantial sum for Forest and Bird – and was great PR for citizen participation. 

I conclude tonight with the reflections of Scott Momaday, a Native American Pulitzer Prize winner:

“Those who came before me did not take for granted the world in which they lived… They touched the ground, the trees, the stones with respect and reverence. I believe that they imagined me before I was born, that they prepared the way for me, that they placed their faith and hope in me and in the generations that followed and will follow them. Will I give my children an inheritance of the earth? Or will I give them less than I was given?”

For one hundred years, Forest and Bird has invited New Zealanders to reflect on our responsibilities to the earth we have inherited – and our responsibilities to ensure that we give more than we were given. 

May you continue to fulfil that vital role, with good heart and resolve in the years to come.

No reira, tēna koutou, tēna koutou, tēna tatou katoa.