Pan Pacific South East Asia Women’s Association (PPSEAWA)

To Mrs Thangarani Thuraisundaram, Auckland President of the Pan Pacific South East Asia Women’s Association, to Mrs Tiahuia Abraham, National President,  to Dr Niva Thakurdas, the Reverend Valerie Hogan and Mrs Dorothy Herald, Life Members,  to Dame Dorothy Winstone, honorary member and  to everyone here;  good evening (sign) in the languages of the Realm of New Zealand, kia ora, kia orana fakalofa lahi atu and taloha ni.

Thank you for inviting me and Anand to share a meal with Auckland members of the Pan Pacific South East Asia Women’s Association.   I bring Anand’s apologies for uncharacteristically not being able to come.  He has a bad cold which is aggravating his asthma but he sends good wishes to you all.  My thanks for your invitation and for your warm welcome tonight.

It has been a privilege and honour for Anand to serve New Zealand as the Governor-General and for me to support him in the role.

I have enjoyed getting to know you in PPSEAWA since Anand was sworn in five years ago on the 23rd August 2006.  We remember fondly the occasion in 2009 when we hosted a celebration to mark the 80th anniversary of the international establishment of PPSEAWA at the Auckland Government House.  The International Conference in March 2007 was an honour to participate in early in Anand’s term and I’m glad to have the opportunity to speak to you again tonight and also on behalf of Anand.

In my own support of the role of the Governor-General, I decided promote three key themes - children; the environment; and volunteering.

As the Governor-General is traditionally the patron of various national organisations, I have agreed to share in this role and enable more patronages to be included.  The result is that I have become the patron of organisations such as the National Children's Day, the National Council of Women, Rural Women New Zealand and PPSEAWA.

Anand’s mother had spoken to me of her work with PPSEAWA, especially around the time that she went to Korea for the World Conference in 1975.  She had joined in the late 1950s and was committed to the people and to the ethos of the Association, serving as Auckland President and later as the National Vice-President.  My own three stated concerns dovetail well with the long-standing work you do on behalf of women, families and children in the Pacific and South East Asia regions.

In March this year, we marked the 80th anniversary of PPSEAWA in New Zealand.  This occurred a few years after the conferences in Hawai’i in 1928, attended by New Zealand delegates that saw the Pan Pacific Union, as it was originally called, being established.

The Association has grown to include women from more nations in the Asia-Pacific regions as diverse as India, Tonga, Korea and the United States.

There are now 19 autonomous national member associations, with many having local chapters.  PPSEAWA has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is represented at the UN in New York and Geneva, where it makes its voice heard in international decision-making.  The Association remains significant as the only women’s organisation devoted to peace and understanding in the Pacific and South East Asia.

New Zealand is facing one of the most difficult times since the end of the Second World War.  The continuing fallout from the 2008 global financial crisis combined with the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch and the tragedy on the West Coast have literally and figuratively shaken our confidence in the land beneath our feet.  The events have reinforced just how much our country is one big extended family.

We have seen the strength of New Zealand communities and argue against the outlook, often suggested in the media, of "decline".  We agree with former Waikato University Vice-Chancellor, and one-time British Member of Parliament, Professor Bryan Gould, who wrote: "Everyone should have a New Zealand childhood."

There is strength in New Zealand families and in the New Zealand qualities of tolerance good-hearted concern for others and a practical ‘can do’ attitude - although the children and families of today are markedly different from those of 50 years ago.  Families face many challenges that once did not exist, but that does not mean they are necessarily worse than they once were.  It is so easy to view the past with rose-tinted glasses.

In just the same way that increased migration has seen New Zealand become culturally, religiously and ethnically diverse, our families and New Zealanders' personal relationships have become increasingly complex.  There are more single-parent families and more blended families.  Not all couples choose to marry, some remain in de facto relationships and others, including same-sex couples, choose to enter civil unions.

These new forms of relationships challenge traditional norms.  While Anand and I chose to get married—which was very much the norm in 1970—I am very conscious that it is the quality of the relationship, and the love that infuses it, rather than its legal form, that should always be paramount.  Relationships are also occurring increasingly across ethnic, cultural and religious divides that once kept people apart—our marriage being a case in point.

My message is that at these times it will be associations like PPSEAWA and the many other community and sporting organisations that are the glue of our communities that will play a key role in getting us through.  We have been tested before and have rebounded each time to become a stronger nation.

I would like to quote American Jane Addams, who won the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize was one of the founders of PPSEAWA and is regarded by many as the founder of modern social work.  She summarised the spirit of PPSEAWA when she said:  "...what after all, has maintained the human race on this old globe despite all the calamities of nature and all the tragic failings of mankind, if not faith in new possibilities, and courage to advocate them?"

Take heart in all you do.  Anand and I wish you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.

No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.