Reception hosted by the Fiji Association

Thank you Master of Ceremonies, Professor Darius Singh

Dr Satendra Singh and Mrs Kriti Singh, Dr Sevati Tuwere and Mrs Tuwere, Deputy Mayor of Auckland City Dr Bruce Hucker, Lady Sue Turei, Adi Cakobau and your colleagues from the Fiji Parliament, people from the Fiji community in Auckland, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I greet you, if I may in the languages of Fiji and New Zealand

Kia Ora, Ni sa bula vinaka, Namashkaar, Greetings all.

May I say how wonderful it is to be here today and to see so many familiar and welcoming faces.  What wonderful ceremonies of welcome kai viti as well as Hindustani. Thank you for the great honour you bestow by it

The welcome is living evidence of the diversity we have in the 2006 New Zealand and in particular in Auckland.  That diversity is present because of our venue here in the Fale Pasifika, it is in the garlands and the costumes and in the stories that flow from them.

I was born and raised in Auckland and was a student at this University and my wife Susan and I brought up our three children here so we feel at home here.  Equally though there is also a linkage with all of you here that is happily to be shared.

It is namely that my grandparents - all four - came to Fiji and lived there - on one side living in Levuka and then Navua and then Suva, whilst on the other side living in Lawaqa near Sigatoka, then Lautoka and finally Suva.  My parents came to New Zealand although our family has maintained its links through all my life - just like our two countries have.  Every so often on an important occasion when I have to I am proud to display the girmitya shipping papers on the Berar in 1882 by which my great grandfather and grandfather on my mother's side left Calcutta in India and entered Fiji at Levuka.

Fiji and New Zealand have traditionally enjoyed a warm relationship.  Both countries shared a colonial past in the British tradition.  New Zealand has through the years supported many regional Pacific efforts with Fiji either through bilateral programmes or through institutions such as the Pacific Islands Forum or the former South Pacific Commission.  And so many of our citizens visit each other's countries as tourists.

The story of migration to New Zealand from Fiji is another interesting one - one with which, through my parents, I also have a connection. My parents came to this country in the 1920s and 1930s to be educated and eventually to undertake their lives in the New Zealand community.  They were forerunners, because the numbers of migrants when they first came were rather small. 

Migration subsequently increased in the later decades with initially white-collar workers, such as teachers, engineers and lawyers, settling in New Zealand and establishing themselves in many parts of the country.  They were followed by blue-collar contributors - even more so after the political upheavals of 1987 and afterwards.

Today, there are many elements of Fiji communities in many parts of the country.  When at a recent function and talking of diversity and I also mentioned a song that came to my mind when thinking about this diversity.

You may recall it - it was very popular in the 1980s. It was called "Melting Pot".

The band was When the Cat's Away and they sang:

"What we need is a great big melting pot, big enough for all the world and what it' s got.

Keep it stirring for a hundred years or more, turning out coffee coloured people by the score."

That song was popular here in the 1980s and in its own way it was a marker for the beginning of the celebration of the blending of cultures. 

Today, we still celebrate the merging of cultures, but we have also matured to the point where we also embrace what makes each culture unique. 

The festive garlands we are wearing this afternoon illustrate how we can display our culture with pride, without being exclusive or single-minded.

The Fiji Association has to be credited with doing much to promote this 'cultural maturing'.  The Association has worked hard at assisting people wishing to come to New Zealand and has done much to promote tolerance and understanding between the cultures.  The Association now approaches its thirtieth anniversary and its members can be justly proud of the achievements of the past three decades.

This event, and others like them, are a wonderful opportunity to share much-loved Fijian and Indian traditions with our families and with all New Zealanders. It highlights just how far we have come since the first days of people coming from Fiji to New Zealand.

It is thanks to your hard work and that of your parents that we can now say New Zealand is a great place for people of a Fiji descent to live. And that we can celebrate that heritage with pride alongside all New Zealanders.

I would encourage you all to embrace these positive times and continue your hard work to increase understanding and collegiality between this and other communities in New Zealand.

May I say that we all stand to gain from even stronger relationships - those of our own, those with others within New Zealand and those between our country and others.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge, with extreme gratitude, the tabua that has been presented.  Susan and I have come into possession during the last week of a thesis authored in 2006 about Na Tabua and have read, with interest and profit, of its significance as a symbol of goodwill, acceptance recognition and respect.

Additionally Dr Satendra Singh has informed me of the efforts that have been underway to acquire this customary token from Fiji, which is the highest honour that can be bestowed on such occasions.  I am grateful to Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, Vice President of Fiji, who has sent the tabua and can speak of a valued connection between Ratu Joni and I which is that in the contingent of two Fijian children and two Indian children coming from Fiji to New Zealand in February 1927 one was Ratu Joni's father Ratu Tom Dovi and the other my father.

My present office and that of Ratu Joni's in Fiji are fine ones to share.  Susan and I and Ratu Joni and his wife Lusi have independently had the opportunity to become friends and the totality is something that make this event memorable - just like the closeness of the links between Fiji and New Zealand on which note I wish to reiterate thanks for this occasion and to close.

Dhanbaad, Vinaka vakalevu, Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.