Auckland Regional Migrant Services Annual Public Meeting

May to begin by greeting you in the languages of the realm of New Zealand - English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the afternoon (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Colin Dale and Dr Mary Dawson, Chairperson and Executive Director respectively of the Auckland Regional Migrant Services Charitable Trust; Etetu Bowden, Trust Member and fellow Trustees; Kaumatua of Ngati Whatua; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting my wife Susan and me to attend the Annual Public Meeting of the Auckland Regional Migrant Services Charitable Trust at Three Kings Mall today.

As Patron of the Trust, I have been asked to launch three specific initiatives and facilities today, but before I do so I would like to comment briefly on New Zealand's changing cultural mix and the role of the Trust.

I agreed to be the Patron of the Trust for several reasons.  While I was born in New Zealand, both my parents and grandparents where migrants—my grandparents were born in India and moved to Fiji, while my parents were born in Fiji and moved here. 

So I have a keen understanding of how difficult it can often be for migrants to settle in a new country. For those for whom English is not their first language, there are inevitable linguistic difficulties.  Can you imagine the embarrassment a young child might feel when turning up to school with an empty plate when a notice sent home to parents told them that their children needed to "bring a plate" for a school function.  The child in question, for this is a true story, was not a migrant from Asia—but from Britain—but her parents still fell foul of the finer points of New Zealand English.

On top of those language difficulties, are the issues of understanding a new society and culture and finding work and making friends. 

All these issues are compounded further if the migrant happens to be a refugee.  Unlike other immigrants who move to another country for the positive reason that they want to, refugees do so because for the negative reason that they have been forced to leave. Many have suffered abuse, including torture, and may have continually lived a life full of violence and fear.  Sometimes they will have their families with them, but that is not always the case.  On occasions, members of their families may have died in the violence that caused them to flee.

Another key reason why I decided to become your Patron was because of New Zealand's increasingly diverse cultural and ethnic mix. 

The last Census revealed that 23 percent of New Zealanders were born overseas.  A century ago, almost all of those people would have hailed from Britain or Ireland.  Today, about 28 percent come from those places—the same proportion as those from Asia.  In many ways, my appointment as Governor-General reflects this underlying demographic shift.

I believe this increasing diversity has the ability to enrich New Zealand's culture, society and economy.  But it also poses challenges as the values of those new to this country may conflict with the democratic and secular values that New Zealanders hold dear.  New Zealand will need to sensibly debate how these differing values can be accommodated and I believe the Auckland Regional Migrant Services Charitable Trust will play an important role in that debate.

That seems a good point from which to launch Valuing Voices—Democratic Dialogues.  This online resource kit, developed by the Trust with the support of the Auckland Regional Council, gives real meaning to the comments I have just made in that can be used to assist migrants and refugees to participate in New Zealand's democracy and play an active role as New Zealand citizens.  In launching this kit I wish to congratulate everyone involved in this commendable initiative and I believe we will now see a short PowerPoint presentation on the screen above me.

The second initiative I have been asked to launch is the Friends of ARMS, a new entity established under the organisation's Trust Deed.  What is effectively a "supporters group" for the organisation—and I believe we should be seeing its new logo on the screen behind me—signals ARMS commitment to the wider range of stakeholder groups and individuals whose support and common interests it values and seeks to acknowledge. 

Again, I congratulate the Trust on this initiative, because it recognises that assisting new migrants is not a one-way street, but a two-way partnership between the migrants, the community and a host of different agencies.

Finally, I have been asked to open the ARMS Learning Centre, which is an extension of the Trust's current premises.  Supported by the ASB Community Trust, it will be used primarily for offering employment assistance initiatives for refugees.  Before I formally open the Centre, I again congratulate everyone involved in establishing a facility that will fill an identifiable gap for refugees in Auckland.

In conclusion then, the Auckland Regional Migrant Services Charitable Trust has, in five short years, established itself as a leading service agency in supporting migrants and refugees, not only to live and work in New Zealand, but to fully become New Zealand citizens.  The Trust also reminds us all of our roots.  As the historian, the late Dr Michael King, once wrote: "In a country inhabited for a mere one thousand years, everybody is an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants."

On that note I will close in Maori by issuing greetings and wishing you good health and fortitude in your endeavours.

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa