Speech
Hutt City Rotary Luncheon Meeting
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 the afternoon (Sign)
I specifically greet you: Carol Bateman, President of Hutt City Rotary and your fellow directors; past presidents; Howard Tong, District Governor; members of Hutt City Rotary; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is with pleasure that my wife Susan and I join you for this combined meeting of the Rotary Club of Hutt City.
It is a pleasure to be in the company of Rotarians and spouses, having been for a number of years a foot soldier member and, now, honorary member of the Rotary Club of Wellington. Indeed, there were friendly murmurs in that Club that a significant reason in accepting the role of Governor-General in 2006 was to avoid what some would regard as the more weighty position of Club President!
As one who has been a lawyer, judge, ombudsman and now Governor-General I continue to value the knowledge and skills able to be gained and enjoyed as a Rotarian. It is in the giving back to the community that one learns in Rotary that one receives so much in return.
Even with that background familiarity and with a view to what is immediately ahead of me, I remain mindful of the wit of the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist from the Miami Herald, Dave Barry, who once wrote, as follows: “All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears—of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, or speaking before a Rotary Club, and of the words [on the box saying] ‘Some Assembly Required.’”
The success of service clubs like Rotary lies in their positive support for the community, focusing on those matters with which members are in agreement. Rotary Founder, Paul Harris, repeatedly emphasised the importance of friendship in bringing people together and healing divisions, be they at the neighbourhood, community, national or international level. In an inspirational message read to the 1922 Rotary convention at Los Angeles, Harris wrote that: "Friendship is a living force, not a mere indulgence. Friendship is something more than conviviality. If it were nothing more than conviviality, Rotary might well turn back for precept and example to the roistering days of long ago. Friendship, like happiness, is frequently elusive when directly sought, while it as frequently comes to men unsought when they are working together in a worthwhile cause."
As will be well known in this gathering, the first Rotary Club was founded more than a century ago when Harris, with his friends Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele and Hiram Shorey met in Madame Gallis’ Italian restaurant in Dearborn St, Chicago on 23 February 1905. Today, there are 1.2 million Rotarians in more than 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries, committed to the notion of “service above self”. And so it was that in 1943 the first Rotary Club in the Hutt Valley area, the Hutt City Rotary Club was formed.
For Susan and me, we are in our final year as the representative of the Queen of New Zealand. Barring a constitutional crisis, which no New Zealand Governor-General has ever had to face, we have together been exposed to at least one instance of every usual aspect of the role, whether that be opening Parliament, swearing in a new government or ANZAC Day commemorations and Waitangi Day celebrations.
We are thus four years and three months into what is normally a five year journey and I would like to make some comment on that journey to date and some view of the days ahead and the evolving role of the Governor-General.
An abiding feature is the closure of Government House Wellington. In packing up the House many thousands of individual items were identified, catalogued and either placed into storage, or sent to Government House Auckland, to Government House Vogel or off for restoration or display.
Susan and I have had a number of inspection visits of the project and it is fascinating to see the work now heading towards completion, including re-roofing and strengthening.
Also of particular interest is the “new”—and I place the word in quotation marks—and distinctive colour scheme. With a dark colour on the ground floor and a lighter colour on the upper floor, it matches that which coated the House when Lord and Lady Islington took up residence in the House in August 1910.
We recently, on 1 October, celebrated the centenary of Government House with the unveiling of a plaque. Although the house is still a construction site, we were fortunate enough to be able to host this event in the ballroom of Government House with current and former staff and one of my predecessors, Sir Michael Hardie Boys and his wife, Lady Mary Hardie Boys, among those in attendance.
You may wonder why we chose to hold the centenary celebration on 1 October and there is a story behind that decision.
When the Islingtons moved into Government House in August 1910, the death of King Edward VII in May 1910 had put paid to any plans for a grand opening. With the Royal Court being in full official mourning, gala events were ruled out. Royal Court mourning ending on 30 September, and on 1 October the Governor hosted a ministerial dinner in the House. It is probably for this reason that an opening plaque, if one existed, has ever been found.
However, the celebrations were to be short-lived. An outbreak of a mysterious illness, linked to the building’s sewers, saw the Islingtons move out and stay in the countryside. Questions were raised in Parliament, and the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, had to defend the work done on the House, denying that the illness was typhoid fever. MPs were so angry that they tried to cut the Government Architect’s salary by £1 in protest.
The Islingtons eventually returned and by December were reported to have hosted a large reception, with the interior of the House being lauded by a reporter from The Evening Post.
The Islingtons were the first of many Governors and Governors-General to live in the House, and Susan and I have been privileged to be number 20.
The role has changed significantly since Lord Islington’s time with the appointment of the first New Zealand-born Governor-General, Sir Arthur Porritt in 1967, and the first New Zealand-born resident Governor-General, Sir Denis Blundell, in 1972. Since that time, there have been several other firsts, with the first Māori, Sir Paul Reeves, taking on the role in 1985, the first woman, Dame Catherine Tizard in 1990, and myself as the first Governor-General of Asian and Pacific descent, in 2006.
Our backgrounds have been equally varied, with four including myself having been judges and one each having been a mayor, archbishop, surgeon, diplomat and a farmer and prime minister.
These matters reflect wider changes, not only in a sovereign and constitutional sense as New Zealand has transitioned from a colony to an independent realm, but also in the growing diversity of our society and economy. For example, in the past, whereas foreign ambassadors presented their New Zealand credentials to the Queen in London; now they travel to New Zealand and present them to the Governor-General in Wellington.
Likewise, Governors-General have in the modern era, at the request of the Government, increasingly travelled abroad, representing all New Zealanders in a non-political way at major international events and generally promoting New Zealand interests abroad. For example, we have recently represented New Zealand at 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the Beijing Olympics, at the United Nations in New York and at Gallipoli on ANZAC Day in 2008. We have also undertaken a number of State Visits to countries such as Australia, Canada, Mongolia, India, Turkey, Singapore, Samoa, Timor-Leste and, last month, to Brunei.
From an agent of a once global empire, the New Zealand Governor-General of the 21st Century is a New Zealander who represents the Head of State in New Zealand, and New Zealand to the rest of the world.
While Susan and I have entered our last year in the role, it is one that continues to challenge us both, in the best of ways. It is a privilege to serve in it and while we have learnt much, each day continues to be different from the day before and to stretch knowledge in a nice way.
As you might imagine my career as a lawyer, judge and ombudsman 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 is distilled. I have lost count of the numbers of laws and regulations I have signed since assenting to the Coroners Act 2006.
As Governor-General, there are three roles—constitutional, ceremonial and community leadership. Each is of continuing interest and I am fortunate and indebted to the support that I receive from 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. One is not a celebrity or out to gather votes or to seek popularity. Even so, we continue to be greeted with genuine warmth having visited all four corners of New Zealand. Most recently we visited Canterbury to offer our support and encouragement to some of those affected by the devastating 4 September earthquake.
In my previous careers, I was often involved in focusing on or resolving inherently negative matters. As a lawyer it was prosecuting or defending someone accused of a criminal offence. As a judge, presiding over trials and sentencing those convicted. As an ombudsman, it was attempting to resolve grievances between members of the public and governmental agencies.
As Governor-General, Susan and I have been privileged to see 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 media attention obtained by the investiture ceremony where the New Zealand special effects master Sir Richard Taylor was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
But equally as interesting, and rarely as well known, are the stories of those who receive the Queen’s Service Medal or are awarded the life membership of a particular charity. Invariably they have worked tirelessly, often for years on end, providing vital community services or support or working on key community projects. Some have been involved with schools, others with environmental causes, some as fire fighters or volunteer paramedics, and some with sports or Māori or ethnic groups. But they have all shown leadership, engagement with their communities and an underlying recognition that enjoying the rights and benefits of a democracy also involves obligations and responsibilities.
The Governor-General’s role is one I have found to be continually absorbing. Every day is different and it is not a 9-5 job. There are several hundred engagements every year and my contribution today is one of more than 25 speeches I will have prepared and delivered at the end of this month, while Susan will have also given a number of speeches in the same period.
We will sometimes attend three functions a day. Attending and speaking at a dinner will be followed by meeting a community group or opening a conference the following morning and speaking to a reception in the late afternoon. Supported by the experienced staff of Government House, we are briefed and advised on all these engagements.
So what do I see as the challenges for the next 9 months? In my speeches I have developed and stressed three key themes—the richness and challenge of New Zealand’s increasingly diverse cultural make-up, the need for greater community engagement and benefits of civic education.
On New Year’s Day, I issued a 2010 New Year message in which I stressed the importance of identifying and supporting our community’s young and emerging leaders.
In that message, I contrasted 2010 being the 170th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of the Waitangi and the 65th anniversary of the end of the Second World War with the recent global financial crisis. They are contrasting anniversaries—one speaks of partnership and the other of a conflict that claimed millions of lives.
The response of people after the World War II was not despair but a resounding vote of faith in the future. People established families and built stronger communities.
Referring to the recent global financial meltdown, in my message I noted that it was clear that individuals, families and communities have been hurt by the crisis, but that New Zealanders' best qualities—ingenuity, tenacity and humour—have enabled them to rebound. Community groups and volunteers have responded to those in need, while businesses continue to create and market innovative products and services. New Zealanders have called on their tight connections to friends and family and proved that these are vitally important in times of adversity.
I concluded with the following challenge: “It seems fitting to suggest, 170 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and 65 years after the end of the Second World War, that a challenge should go out to renew the spirit of partnership and hope that came out of both events. Tomorrow's leaders need the skills, confidence and support to take on the mantle of community leadership. We should all focus on identifying and encouraging these leaders whether they emerge in public positions, through voluntary service to others, in sport, education or business. I believe this is a New Year resolution proposal that we can all build on.”
The theme of the message about nurturing tomorrow’s leaders should naturally resonate with members of a Rotary Club. The community projects that Rotary Clubs undertake, and the fundraising support that is given to other essential services, is invaluable in providing a focus for emerging leaders and an opportunity for everyone to display leadership qualities. I note that the Dowse Art Museum and Te Omanga Hospice, of which I had the pleasure of attending their annual black tie dinner earlier this year, both receive support from Hutt City Rotary.
I understand that this Club was the visionary behind the Hutt River Trail. This trail, which provides a continuous off-road recreational trail the length of the Hutt River, is a wonderful thing to have. Congratulations are due to this Club on your facilitating role between the two cities in the Hutt Valley – Hutt City and Upper Hutt City – the Regional Council, and the combined Rotary Clubs of the valley.
In conclusion, a challenge which I offer to this audience is to continue to build on Rotary’s fine history of nurturing leadership potential to assist our nation’s emerging leaders. Rotarians don’t stand on the sidelines when an issue appears and mutter: “Someone should do something about that” and then turn away. Instead, they roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. That defining quality of what makes Rotary special, is also what makes New Zealand and New Zealanders special. As Saatchi and Saatchi worldwide chief executive Kevin Roberts once said:
“We were the last to be discovered and the first to see the light. This makes us one of the great experimental cultures. We try things first. Whether it’s votes for women, the welfare state or the market economy, powered flight, nuclear physics, anti-nuclearism, biculturalism. First-isms. The New in New Zealand is our reason to exist.”
And on what I hope is a satisfactory note of optimism, I will close in New Zealand’s first language Māori, 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.