Officer Cadet School of NZ Graduation Ceremony

May I begin by greeting everyone 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: Major General Lou Gardiner, Chief of Army; Colonel Roger McElwain, Commander, NZ Land Training and Doctrine Group; Lieutenant Colonel Paul Curry, Commandant of the Officer Cadet School of New Zealand; the Defence Advisers from the Australian, Singapore and Papua New Guinea high commissions; Warrant Officer (class one) Bo Ngata, Sergeant Major of the Army; Commanding Officers and Regimental Sergeant Majors of the NZ Army; Graduating Officers; Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting my wife Susan and me to attend this graduation at the Officer Cadet School of New Zealand. As Governor-General and as Commander-in-Chief of New Zealand's Defence Force, it was with pleasure that I accepted the invitation to be Reviewing Officer of the 38th graduating class of the New Zealand Commissioning Course.

Today's graduating class consists of 42 New Zealanders, two Australians, one Papua New Guinean and one Singaporean.  To get to this point you have undertaken rigorous training, including more than 180 days in the field that featured a close country field exercise in Kaitaia. 

You are all physically fit and mentally and intellectually alert.  To demonstrate that you have the potential to be the future leaders of your respective defence forces you have had to prove yourselves worthy of the maxims of commissioned service in the army.  Those qualities include courage, loyalty, initiative, integrity and the pursuit of excellence.

A key quality that binds these qualities together is leadership or what might described in military language as 'a command presence'. 

However, leadership is a difficult concept to define.  We all know it when we see it, but trying to pin down exactly what it is often eludes us.  Some people define leadership by vision, some by charisma, and some by the ability to inspire others. My own experience of leadership tells me that there are two words that leaders resonate—trust and respect.

As Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, and acting on the advice of Ministers, I appoint the Chief of Defence Force and commission other officers.  In doing so, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen and your country, and on the advice of Ministers, I place a formal trust in the Chief of Defence Force and in you.  Each commission I sign places my "trust and confidence in your loyalty, courage and good conduct" in carefully discharging your duties as an officer and maintaining the discipline of subordinate officers and ranks and following the orders and directions of your superiors.

If so authorised, you may one day have to give orders for the men and women under your command to use deadly force against others.  The reality of active military service is that men and women under your command may be injured or even killed in fulfilling their duties—duties that you may have ordered them to undertake.  These are not powers and responsibilities that our society lightly gives to anyone.

But while your country places a formal trust in you, retaining that trust requires you to build the respect of your superiors, your colleagues and the men and women under your command.  In doing so, you must respect the chain of command.  The spirit of Ngati Tumatauenga is that the Army is one family of people bound together by the ethic of service to your country, military professionalism, common values, and mutual respect, mutual trust and camaraderie.

When involved in disaster relief either at home or abroad, or in peacekeeping overseas, you will also need to earn the respect of the communities in which you serve. 

Even when called upon to engage in active combat, you need to respect those who are non-combatants and abide by the principles of the Geneva Conventions.  This may be a difficult path to follow when those you meet in combat may show no respect for those Conventions or attempt to hide among non-combatants.

Throughout my career as a lawyer, judge, ombudsman and now as Governor-General, I have seen many examples of leadership. In discussing leadership, it is important to distinguish between leaders and leadership qualities.  Not everyone's career, will see them become a mayor, prime minister, chief executive, or general, but everyone can exhibit leadership. 

Key leadership qualities include an ability to listen, to be professional in dealing with others, and to display integrity, honesty and respect. 

There is an old saying that "actions speak louder than words."  What you do in life says as much about who you are, and your commitment to those values, as what you say.  Your deeds can be a positive example to others that promote positive change and provide inspiration to the men and women under your command. 

Leadership can take many forms.  Throughout the year, there are investiture ceremonies at the Government Houses in Wellington or Auckland where awards are conferred by the Governor-General to recognise those who have achieved in commerce, community and public service.  Some of those achievements are at a local level and others at the national or international level.  All, however, have shown leadership.

Another quality of leadership is courage.  Earlier this month, as Patron of the Royal New Zealand Returned & Services Association, I had the great privilege of bestowing its highest honour, the Badge in Gold, on Corporal Willie Apiata, who I had invested with the first Victoria Cross for New Zealand in July.  His courageous deeds, in placing the life of a comrade—a mate—before his own, are an inspiration to everyone.

I also unveiled a symbolic Badge in Gold to recognise 21 other New Zealanders who had won the Victoria Cross.  Despite being humble people, they had received these high honours for their outstanding gallantry and courage.  Their example shows that everyone can display leadership qualities.

Many would argue that courage is the highest virtue of all because without it, none of the others—duty, honesty and integrity to name but a few—would be possible. As the British writer of the last century, C.S. Lewis, once said: "Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point."

While those who received the Victoria Cross displayed courage under fire, equally as important is having the courage of your own convictions.  It means holding on to core values such as honesty and integrity when others would give expediency a higher priority.  The German political theorist Hannah Arendt, who wrote seminal works on the origins of totalitarianism, put the point well when she said: "The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil."

With your military careers as officers about to begin, many of you will be excited.  Some will also be apprehensive.  While both are valid emotions, always remember that leaders need to keep their feet on the ground and to recognise that it is their purpose to serve.  The following comment by a wonderful New Zealander, the late Dame Whina Cooper, on mana and the responsibilities of leadership, captures this sentiment well.  As quoted in historian, the late Dr Michael King's biography of her, she said:

I can't sleep at night, because even at night I'm worrying about things and planning things.  It's the mana, you see.  If you've got it, it never lets you alone.  You have to be thinking about the people and working for them, all the time.

On that note of service, 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