E nga rau rangatira mā, e huihui mai nei, i tēnei ahiahi, tenei aku mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki Te Whare o te Kawana Tianara ki Whanganui-a-Tara.
I wish to acknowledge Hon Cameron Brewer – Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Sanjai Raj – New Zealand Standards Executive; Malcolm MacMillan – National Manager; Peter Harris – Chair of the Standards Approval Board; Roy Pryor, Danielle Aberdeen and Ramola Duncan from Standards New Zealand
And to the dedicated New Zealanders who give their time and expertise to develop the standards we all rely on every day, as Governor-General I am delighted to welcome you all to Government House Wellington. Tēnā koutou katoa.
With fittingly little flourish, New Zealand’s first home-grown standard read: ‘NZSS 143 Galvanised (zinc-coated) steel fencing wire’. It seems appropriate that our earliest standard concerned No. 8 wire – a material that has come to symbolise not only New Zealand ingenuity and practicality, but also reliability. Through your work – and that of your predecessors over almost a century – standards have become part of the often-unseen infrastructure of daily life. We can truly appreciate each other’s company this afternoon, safe in the knowledge that the food we share, this historic building we inhabit, and indeed the very air we breathe, are subject to robust standards.
As someone who has spent much of my career in academia, I am a staunch champion for expert knowledge and its application. Whether working on national, trans-Tasman, or international committees, I know how fundamental expert volunteers like yourselves are to areas such as healthcare, energy, building, data and digital, climate change, primary industries and manufacturing.
I confess when preparing for this event, I was reminded of the classic John Clarke skit from beloved Australian TV show The Games – which some of you may also know. Behind the scenes of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the organisers discover that the 100 metres athletics track actually measures 94 metres – with the construction engineer insisting that ‘no two 100 metre tracks are ever the same, everybody knows that.’
I acknowledge the many complexities involved in your work and how vital it is to our daily lives, ensuring safety and quality. I recognise how much standards are determined behind the scenes, through careful and collaborative reviewing, analysing, debating, and corroborating. Without standards, systems falter, safety is compromised, quality drops, trade stops, and innovation struggles.
One of the fundamental principles of standards is that they are created by the people that need and use them, ensuring solutions that are robust and workable in real life – ranging from farming to bungy jumping. Notably, the standard for the latter adventure activity is currently undergoing its first full review in over 25 years by a diverse committee, aiming to provide a safe and exhilarating experience for thrill-seekers worldwide.
I am proud to note that we are world leaders in many industries, giving Aotearoa New Zealand a strong global voice and influence across sectors crucial to our economy, wellbeing and long-term resilience. I am particularly heartened by Standards New Zealand’s support for our neighbours in the Pacific, through capability building and access to standards free of charge. In sharing your knowledge and expertise, you lift quality in areas such as the building industry and disaster preparedness, fostering a safer Pacific region.
I hope you all feel a strong sense of achievement, knowing that your standardisation activities have strengthened communities, protecting both people and our planet.
English polymath and writer John Ruskin said, ‘Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.’
I thank you for your ‘intelligent effort’ and acknowledge your dedication, as well as the positive impact of your work on the everyday lives of your fellow New Zealanders. The spirit of the original No. 8 wire Kiwi ingenuity lives on through your commitment to excellence and kotahitanga.
Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.