AMP Scholarship Awards Dinner

E kui mā, e koro mā, e te kaiwhakahaere Jack Regan, e te Rōpū AMP o Aotearoa, e harikoa ahau māua ko taku hoa wahine, Janine, ki te haere mai ki konei, mo tēnei hui.  Kia ora tātou katoa.  

Ladies and gentlemen and particularly Managing Director AMP Financial Services Jack Regan, thank you for inviting me and Janine here to the 2012 AMP Scholarships presentation ceremony – the 15th Annual AMP Scholarships Awards.  I also acknowledge Catherine Brenner, Chair of the AMP Life Board and Dame Rosanne Meo, Chair of the AMP Scholarship judging panel.

The historian, the late Dr Michael King, used to point out that all New Zealanders were immigrants or the descendants of immigrants.  Our ancestors left their homes - on a big OE with an uncertain future.  They came to this country, one of the last settled by human kind. 

Our Māori ancestors got into waka and crossed the Pacific.  Our European ancestors spent several months in a ship – and even well into the 20th century that voyage took about six weeks.  More recent immigrants, from the Pacific, Asia and elsewhere, have usually come on a flying waka!

Throughout those more than one thousand years or so of our history, our ancestors left family and friends, left the routines of community and social life – took enormous risks – and journeyed to fulfil an aspiration.  In most cases they had scant idea of the country they were going to, except it promised a better life.  And yet, for some when they arrived it was not all they expected.  For most there was no going back.  Whatever the circumstances they found themselves in, they had to make it work, and they had to make the best of it.

I began to think about this as I read the short pieces outlining the ambitions of the 16 finalists in the AMP National Scholarships – and I reflected that we are all descended from people who followed their stars - followed their dreams - to a new world.

The legacy of our ancestors is clear in New Zealanders today.  We are still people who get up and do, get up and go.  New Zealanders are avid travellers.  Our young people especially are mobile and mirror the get up and go migration-attitude of our forebears when they go on “their big OE.

New Zealanders are used to pitting themselves against big challenges, “going hard” and thriving.  So I think it’s pretty clear that – as the phrase goes: “It’s in our DNA.”
 
That is, of course, just what the AMP Scholarships foster.  The previous winners have gone off and done things.  And a new crop will leave here tonight to set off on amazing journeys of endeavour, discovery and self-discovery.  This notion of pursuing grand ambitions is conveyed in the Māori saying: Ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei – “Should you stumble, let it be before a lofty mountain.”

One thing that really impressed me when I read through the finalists’ submissions was that their ambitions were matched by a high level of motivation.  Each of the finalists has set their goals high and kept taking towards achieving them.

This opportunity for the scholarship winners prompted me to reflect on the early days of my life in the army – when, whatever one’s own goals and aspirations were, there was an inbuilt motivator to make sure you achieved the requirements.  He was called a Regimental Sergeant Major – and he was addressed as “Sir”!  The thing about the Regimental Sergeant Major was, he had authority and status, not only because he was “Sir” but mainly because he knew how to motivate people – he’d been there and done that, and was open to lending a hand and providing an encouraging word.

Heading out on a big challenge is hard, and staying the course – with distractions and the temptation to go off and do something much easier and more enjoyable – makes it even more difficult.  However, it seems to me an AMP Scholarship is a Regimental Sergeant Major of sorts because, through it, Scholarship winners get a lending hand.  They get encouragement, support, and funding from the AMP to go off and “do their thing”.  I applaud AMP for having started this scholarship programme and for keeping it going.  Granting these scholarships and keeping the ideal of people being able to take on big challenges is a fantastic initiative that speaks of vision, innovation and enterprise.
And to the scholarship finalists - I wish you all the best with your endeavours, now and in the future.

Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.