Bench and Bar Dinner
I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)
I specifically greet you: Miriam Dean QC, President of the New Zealand Bar Association; Hon Christopher Finlayson, Attorney-General; Jonathan Temm, President of the New Zealand Law Society; our guests from Australia—Michael Stewart and Philip Walker, Presidents of the Australian and ACT Bar Associations respectively; Philip Selth and Dan O’Connor, Executive Directors of the New South Wales and Queensland Bar Associations respectively; Rt Hon Sir Peter Blanchard and Sir John McGrath, Judges of the Supreme Court; Hon Justice Mark O’Regan, President of the Court of Appeal and your colleagues; Judges of the High Court and District Court, notably Chief District Court Judge Russell Johnson and Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting me to contribute the after dinner address to this gathering hosted by the New Zealand Bar Association. As a continuing, and one might say recidivist member of the legal community, it is always a pleasure to connect with the two arms of the profession - those at the Bar and those who serve on the Bench.
At the outset, I bring to mind something written in an early edition of the Stanford University Law School Bulletin, which goes: “[F]or the first-class lawyer is an unusually productive mix of technician, analyst, gladiator, counsellor, tactician, institutional architect, politician and scholar.” Although he was an alumnus of two Universities other than Stanford, there could, I suggest, be no better exemplar of this description than the late George Patterson Barton whose death, two evenings ago, has cast a shadow over this week. There will be other occasions commencing at his funeral tomorrow afternoon when his many contributions will be spoken of and written about.
Monday next week will mark the start of the three month countdown to the end of my term as New Zealand’s 19th Governor-General, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the role and our nation’s prospects. I observed that Miriam Dean, in her letter asking me to deliver this address noted that you as an audience would, and I quote: “be expecting a combination of some vaguely serious points and some amusing anecdotes.” I hope not to disappoint, despite the despondency I share with you this evening as friends and colleagues of the late Dr Barton.
It almost seems like yesterday when, in early 2006, I received a telephone call asking whether I would be available for a meeting with the then Prime Minister, Rt Hon Helen Clark. At the time, I was chairing the Confidential Forum for Inpatients at Psychiatric Hospitals and was also compiling the first Register of MP’s Pecuniary Interests and I thought that the proposed meeting must be related to either task. On inquiring if I needed to bring a file or if there was anything I should prepare in advance, I received a bland and unhelpful answer saying that no files were required. As you can imagine, that made one more than a little nervous. No-one likes to go into a meeting with any Prime Minister unprepared.
When I eventually met Helen Clark a few days later she said: “You’ll have a fit when I tell you why I’ve called you here. I have with me a unanimous resolution from Cabinet endorsing my recommendation that you be New Zealand’s next Governor-General.” Well, I didn’t have a fit, but I was, some would say, uncharacteristically speechless for a few moments before responding somewhat lamely: “Well I know now why I didn’t need to bring a file!”
Being the Sovereign’s representative in New Zealand for a five year term has been an honour and a privilege. One of the abiding features of the time has been the Government House Conservation Project, which saw the building closed for 30 months from October 2008. When it reopened some 55 days ago, Susan and I were more than once asked by the media whether we felt we had been “cheated” because of not having been able to live in the House.
While we have been fortunate that the project was completed a number of months ahead of schedule, allowing us to resume residence, we never took on the role with that in mind. We knew from the outset that it was possible that the House would be closed for a significant period, but chose nonetheless to proceed because of the opportunity it presented to serve New Zealand, whatever else might be involved.
As an aside, given the more than two years we lived and worked in the House before it closed, beneath the elegant and comfortable surface, it literally creaked with age. Turning on the taps, you were never quite certain what colour of water would be emerging from the groaning pipes. Such was the buckling of some of the walls that when His Royal Highness Prince Andrew stayed in 2006, he pointed out to staff that tiles were falling off his ensuite wall.
Stories of the flying roof tiles that regularly came off in high winds, or the leaking roof, are legion. One story that is less well known is that workers removing the lining on the first floor discovered three tonnes of bricks, a remnant of a former chimney, sitting on a few pieces of four by two. The bricks had sat, unseen and unsupported, for some 50 years above the State Dining Room where a great many important people including Heads of State had been entertained. When I first heard this 18 months ago, it seemed a humorous story. In light of more recent events in Christchurch, however, it is only by good fortune that these bricks had not come falling through the ceiling. This all emphasises how valuable the seismic strengthening that has been done, will be for the longevity of the House.
Returning to the substantive point, however, the closure of the House gave us an unrivalled opportunity to take the Governor-General role out into the community, for example, by undertaking investitures in a number of parts of the country as well as pressing Government House Auckland into greater service. In this we have been assisted throughout by the Official Secretary and staff at Government House who have worked hard to maintain standards while looking for innovative initiatives to further the Governor-General role. In other words we have enjoyed “wearing the jersey” so to speak, regardless of where we lived. I will admit that there have been more than a few times, of waking up in the morning and for a few moments wondering: “Where are we again?”
Barring a constitutional crisis, which thankfully no New Zealand Governor-General has ever faced, there is now no aspect of the role that Susan and I have not experienced, whether that be opening Parliament, swearing in a new government or ANZAC Day commemorations and Waitangi Day celebrations.
While every day is different and every day poses a new challenge, five years seems to be the right length of time to be in the role. It does, however, take a while for the public to recognise exactly who may be in the saddle. I remember in late 2006 being asked by a youngster at a primary school in Onehunga in Auckland: “Do they let you stay at Dame Silvia’s house?” And then there are those occasions when even the best of informed people suffer from the occasional Freudian slip. In 2008, when we visited Matamata, our welcome was provided by a well known former Minister of the Crown who told those gathered: "and it is very good, Your Excellency, that you have brought Mrs Baragwanath with you as well"!
As you might imagine, my earlier careers had provided me with some knowledge of the workings of our government processes. But it is only when one is in the job that the extent of what is involved becomes fully apparent. I have almost lost count of the numbers of laws I have been called on to consider and sign since assenting to the Coroners Act in 2006.
I had the “privilege”—and I tentatively place those words in quotes—of signing the largest piece of legislation ever passed by the New Zealand House of Representatives. You will not be surprised to hear that it was a law involving taxation. At 2,855 pages the Income Tax Act 2007 covers four volumes. The Minister of Revenue, Hon Peter Dunne, assured me before I gave assent that, despite its doorstop size, it was better worded and repealed an even larger amount of incomprehensible law. No doubt there are people present this evening better placed than myself to say whether the Minister’s confidence has been justified!
As Governor-General, there are three layers of roles—constitutional, ceremonial and community leadership. Each is of continuing interest and I am fortunate and indebted to the wholehearted support and participation that has been provided by Susan, particularly with regard to the ceremonial and community activities.
Being Governor-General is a singular role and there is nothing that compares with it. No better single working example of this exists than the document which I have been asked to sign three times (and I have brought a copy with me this evening) is the instrument under the British Settlements Act 1887 UK and an Order In Council in London dated 30 July 1923 appointing the Governor-General of New Zealand “the Governor of the Ross Dependency” and thus appointing a New Zealander (generally an employee of Department of Conservation) to be what is termed an officer of the Government of the equally uninhabited Dependency”.
More seriously, in the Governor-General role, one is not a celebrity or politician out to gather votes or to seek popularity. Even so, we continue to be greeted with genuine warmth wherever we go, having visited almost every corner of New Zealand. That can be in both times of great national rejoicing and also times of great national sadness. On the positive side of the ledger, that can be investitures such as that for Corporal Willie Apiata with the Victoria Cross for New Zealand or handing the Bledisloe Cup to Richie McCaw. On the sadder side, in the last six months we have visited Canterbury on a number of occasions to offer support and encouragement to some of those affected by both earthquakes in Canterbury as well as attending the memorial services for those who died in Pike River coal mine and in the 22 February earthquake.
In my previous careers, as a lawyer, judge and ombudsman, I was often involved in focusing on inherently negative matters or resolving disputes involving inherently negative matters. Whose error of judgement? Whose bad act? It is a situation with which many in this room will be familiar. As Governor-General, has come the privilege of seeing New Zealand and New Zealanders at their best. Investiture and award ceremonies are a case in point. The deeds of the people who receive the highest honours are well known to us all. Many will be aware of the significant recent media attention at those ceremonies for example where golfing great, Sir Bob Charles, received New Zealand’s highest honour, the Order of New Zealand, and author and chef Dame Alison Holst and businessman Sir Michael Hill were knighted.
But equally interesting, and rarely as well known, are the stories of those who receive the Queen’s Service Medal or who may have been awarded the life membership of a particular charity. Time and again they are people who have worked tirelessly, often for years on end, providing vital community services or support or working on key community projects.
One sees people in all sorts of emotions—happy, tense, sad and excited. I recall at an Order of St John event when one youngster became so excited that when the Governor-General came along that he did a double salute!
You are also called upon to undertake duties that are never mentioned in the terms of appointment. As those who know us will affirm, Susan has always been the one with the green finger, my contribution being largely limited to mowing lawns and matters not calling for finesse. As Governor-General, though, I have planted so many trees I should be eligible to apply for carbon credits. We visited one Hawke’s Bay school where the children had pre-prepared the hole. They had become more than a little carried away and had dug a hole which could have accommodated a 44 gallon drum into which I was supposed to place a diminutive kowhai seedling. Needless to say, some back filling was required or the seedling would have been completely lost!
The Governor-General’s role is one I have found to be continually absorbing. Every day is different and it is not anything of a 9-5 job. There are several hundred engagements every year and my contribution this evening is one of more than 40 speeches I will have prepared and delivered since the beginning of April, while Susan will have also given a number of speeches in the same period.
We will sometimes attend three or four functions a day, sometimes going our separate ways to attend functions at the same time, like this evening. Supported by the experienced staff of Government House, we are briefed and advised well on all of these engagements.
It is also been a privilege, at the request of the Government, to represent the contemporary interests of New Zealand abroad, whether at Gallipoli or Passchendaele, at the United Nations in New York, the Olympics in Beijing, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi or the recent Royal Wedding in London. There have also been visits at the Governor-General level to Canada, Australia, Finland, Brunei, Singapore, India and Mongolia as well as widely throughout the Pacific.
In conclusion, despite the vagaries of the media, with which there has been the occasional contretemps—I will say no more on that front—I consider the office of the Governor-General to be in good health. Each incumbent has been able to place their own distinctive stamp on the role which has been built upon by their predecessors. Sir Zelman Cowen, who succeeded Sir John Kerr as Governor-General of Australia, once said that it was part of the Governor-General role to help interpret the nation to itself. I have followed an approach as Governor-General to particularly emphasise issues around community engagement, the opportunities inherent in New Zealand’s cultural, religious and ethnic diversity and the advantages to be obtained from acquiring civics knowledge.
While we often focus on moments of cultural or religious division or when our community fails, the view I have is far more optimistic on both these fronts and on our national prospects more generally. New Zealanders are, by and large, tolerant people who, while they value their individuality and privacy, are always concerned for their fellow citizens, regardless of their background.
The Canterbury earthquakes and the mining disaster on the West Coast are cases in point for community assistance being applied. The response of New Zealanders to these events underscores just how much our country is one big extended family, joined together by so many strands. It is what gives so much hope and optimism for New Zealand’s prospects, even in the difficult times we all face.
To close I will quote with some words of the late Dr Michael King, whose closing paragraph of his Penguin History of New Zealand seem as pertinent now, as they were when he wrote them, seven years ago. He said:
“[M]ost New Zealanders, whatever their cultural backgrounds, are good-hearted, practical, commonsensical and tolerant. Those qualities are part of the national cultural capital that has in the past saved the country from the worst excesses of chauvinism and racism seen in other parts of the world. They are as sound a basis as any for optimism about the country’s future.”
And on that note, expressing confidence in our nation’s prospects, I will close in New Zealand’s first language, offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours. No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.