Fairfax Media New Zealand Business Hall of Fame dinner

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in 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 evening [sign]

May I specifically greet you: Tony Caughey, Board Chair of the Enterprise New Zealand Trust; John Lindsay, Chairman of the Auckland Chambers of Commerce; Joan Withers, Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Media, laureates of the Fairfax Media New Zealand Business Hall of Fame; distinguished guests; Hon Lianne Dalziel, Minister of Commerce; students; ladies and gentlemen.

My wife Susan and I are delighted to be with you this evening and thank you for the invitation.  I add my personal congratulations to the new laureates of the Fairfax Media New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.

In some cases those congratulations go to descendants because one of the unique things about the Business Hall of Fame is that it reaches back into our country's history and recognises the contributions of those who have gone before us as well as congratulating today's business champions, and thus providing a lineage of enterprise.

The addition of eight laureates this year brings the total to 100 and I am told that there is no prospect of running out of worthy contenders for space in the Hall of Fame in the near or distant future. 

I am sure this is the case given the success of New Zealand students in the recent Global Enterprise Challenge.

It is particularly gratifying to see here tonight students who took part in that Challenge as well as other students who have taken part in the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise scheme.

I am told that the challenge this year was set by Australian students, to come up with a product that would lessen the demand for fresh water supplies.

The New Zealand team developed a special type of asparagus that could be grown in sea water - and which could also be used to produce biofuels. That concept won them the competition.

This is an example of the kind of lateral thinking that has powered innovation in many highly successful New Zealand businesses, employing significant numbers of New Zealanders and generating the wealth upon which our country's prosperity is based.

Purely as examples, I would like to mention just two of those businesses tonight because I have had the pleasure of meeting their principals in recent months—Bill Gallagher, who was made a laureate in 2004 and Ken Stevens who was recognised in 2008 New Year's Honours list.

At the Fieldays at Mystery Creek last month, I met Bill Gallagher of the Gallagher Group. Seventy years ago his father, Bill Gallagher senior, who was a farmer, devised an electric shock device to stop his horse rubbing up against the family car—thus inventing the electric fence. That's a story of our famous 'number eight wire' ingenuity if ever there was one!  But in doing so, it also revolutionised pastoral farming by allowing farmers to manage and control grazing more flexibly.

In the seven decades since then, Gallaghers have developed increasingly sophisticated animal management devices—culminating in the one they launched at the Fieldays—which allows farmers to keep data on each animal using touch screen technology that can literally be used in the field.

Constant innovation is the hallmark of this remarkable company that employs 700 people and is a highly successful exporter.  

In fact, Bill Gallagher has been called an "export hero" and has also been acknowledged by a man who is one of New Zealand's standout exporters himself - Ken Stevens.

I met Ken Stevens in April at an investiture ceremony at Government House Auckland when I had the honour of presenting him with the Insignia of a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition for his services to exporting. 

In 1972, Ken Stevens bought a small engineering company in Auckland that employed just five staff and turned it into Glidepath, a world leader in airport baggage handling systems.

Ninety-five per cent of Glidepath's Auckland production is exported - to more than 50 countries.

During Export Year 2007, Ken Stevens gave an enormous amount of time and energy as a Business Champion to helping other companies towards export success. He hosted, or gave presentations to, more than one hundred events, reaching an audience of more than 2500 people.

Ken Stevens sees helping to foster a culture of enterprise and business innovation as one of his major missions.

May I say that that kind of generosity of spirit is a key to the success of New Zealand exporting and is also at the heart of the Fairfax Media Business Hall of Fame.

I would like to congratulate the Business Hall of Fame on having attracted a substantial new sponsor and on having established a physical presence in the University of Auckland Business School.

I am sure the wall that features the Business Hall of Fame will be an inspiration and provide examples of leadership to the thousands of students who will walk past it every day. I would be on safe ground in predicting that some of them will join those we are celebrating tonight. 

The example that the laureates of the Business Hall of Fame provide reminds me a comment by the late Sir Edmund Hillary that captures well that inspirational quality.  He said, and I quote: "You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things - to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated."

And on that heartening note I would like to close by offering you all greetings and wishing you good health and fortitude in your endeavours in New Zealand's first language - Maori: