Order of St John Investiture

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o te motu, te taua o Hato Hone, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and members of the Order of St John, greetings.  Can I also thank everyone for attending this Investiture Service at the First Presbyterian Church.

I would especially like to acknowledge Reverend Richard Gray, and thank him for his welcome to this beautiful church and to this important occasion for the Order of St John.

This is a special occasion for me.  This is my first St John Investiture Service as Prior.  I am pleased and honoured to take up this role, and thank all of you for the warm welcome to the Order. 

Such is the nature of the Office that this is the first opportunity to acknowledge my predecessor, Sir Anand Satyanand, and Lady Susan, for their contribution to St John.  Sir Anand served as Governor-General and as Prior faithfully and with dignity.  He and Lady Susan are warm and compassionate people and I wish them well as they ease back into their own lives.

This is a special day for the Postulants and their families, loved ones and supporters.  To the Postulants, I congratulate you on this momentous day, for your achievements and your dedication to St John in New Zealand.

Your achievements are many and your commitment to St John runs deep.  Naturally, many are serving as volunteer ambulance officers and paramedics.  Many more, however, are active in St John’s youth programmes, in fundraising initiatives or in training volunteers and running community first aid programmes.  Others are working as chaplains or in the unsung, but important roles, as secretaries or treasurers of local St John committees. 

Your years of service and your commitment to St John’s core values will be recognised today. We will honour your integrity, teamwork, professionalism and empathy.   As much as our values are key tenets of how we should conduct ourselves, you are examples to us all.  Your service not only reflects on your own character, and your own commitment, but it also does great credit to St John.  As Prior, I thank you for all that you have done for St John.

I am pleased to find that the Order of St John in New Zealand is a strong and vibrant organisation.  It is an organisation that serves New Zealanders in both the good times and the sad times. 

St John has, like all of New Zealand, dealt with some of the biggest challenges in our country’s recent history. The calamitous Canterbury earthquakes, the Pike River Mine tragedy, tornados in Taranaki and Auckland, adverse weather in many parts of the country: these challenges have tested our people and our resources.

Through all of these events St John provided significant emergency crisis responses while at the same time continuing to provide important day-to-day services many New Zealanders depend upon.    I particularly want to acknowledge our Canterbury members for their commitment to St John while enduring their own difficult circumstances, including the tragic loss of so many friends and family.

But it has not all been sad.  As I mentioned at the Postulant’s dinner last night, St John’s service during the Rugby World Cup, was part of what made that event such a wonderful success.

I would like to register my appreciation and to on-the-record thank all of those in St John—both paid staff and volunteers, and in all parts of the organisation, who have been there in both the good times and the sad times and rose to face those challenges together.

New Zealanders value our work and hold us all in high esteem. They do so because St John makes New Zealand a better place.  They do so because the values St John protects and upholds are the values that we, as New Zealanders, share and are wired into our DNA—values of generosity, tolerance and compassion for others.

Because St John reflects the best qualities that New Zealanders hold dear, they are prepared to reciprocate and show their appreciation.  For example here in Southland local businessman Louis Crimp has made an extraordinarily generous donation to St John.

The support St John gets from organisations and from members of the public who volunteer their time or donate cannot be taken for granted.   We must work hard to earn that goodwill by striving, moving forward, adapting and responding to the opportunities before us.

In conclusion, I am delighted to be here as the Prior of St John in New Zealand and as Governor-General.  I take pride in the work the members of St John do every day, across every community in New Zealand. 

I congratulate everyone I will invest this afternoon and thank you for your work in our communities.  Thank you all for being here today and for all that you do for St John.  You are part of a wonderful and worthy tradition and an organisation that will stay vital and relevant for many years to come.  Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.