Speech
Surf Life Saving Northern Region
Kia ora, ngā mihi o te po ki a koutou. Nau mai, haere mai rā ki Te Whare Kawana o Tamaki Makaurau.
Good evening and greetings to you all. Welcome to Government House Auckland.
I specifically acknowledge: Peter Brown and Sue Brewster, President and Acting CEO of Surf Lifesaving Northern Region respectively and Sir Bob Harvey, a surf lifesaving stalwart and our MC tonight.
It is a great pleasure for Janine and me to welcome you all to Government House this evening. It’s only the second surf lifesaving activity that I’ve attended as your Patron.
I do take a close interest in Surf Life Saving. And tonight I am very pleased, as your Patron, to officially launch this Diversity Project.
Going to the beach is as much a part of New Zealand’s heritage as spending time with family and friends, playing sport, enjoying the outdoors and having a barbeque. Surf lifesaving involves all of these benefits.
As a boy in Whanganui I was a member of the Castlecliff Surf Lifesaving Club. From personal experience, I can say that surf lifesaving programmes can have a tremendously positive impact on young people – New Zealand’s rangatahi.
Surf life-saving got me out of the house doing useful things, it kept me fit over the summer and taught me how I could enjoy the sea and to respect it. There were other benefits: a sense of personal responsibility and personal resilience, a stronger community spirit and teamwork.
For many New Zealanders, surf life-savers have helped to make a day at the beach a safe and happy time. Surf life-savers have literally “saved the day”. However, our being here tonight confirms there is more we can do.
The drowning statistics for Māori, Pacific and ethnic communities continue to be of concern – and as more and more of our citizens are not New Zealand-born, this issue is not going to go away. A fresh approach is required.
I congratulate Surf Life Saving Northern Region for taking the initiative and establishing a Diversity Project.
In doing so, Surf Life Saving is showing a commitment to reach out to those at-risk communities by tailoring its programmes.
It makes sense to start the project in the Northern region as this is where the highest proportion of those at-risk communities live.
I saw another example of the commitment and innovation of Surf Lifesaving people and clubs two weeks ago when I was at the Tolaga Bay Surf Life-Saving Club.
In Tolaga Bay, they have added extra activities to the standard training – for example club members are instructed on how to operate traditional waka and how to gather kai moana properly. The aim of their programme is to both develop effective lifeguards and to teach rangatahi how to operate effectively and safely in a marine environment.
It will be interesting to see if the Tolaga Bay initiative and the work you are doing here to broaden club membership are picked up in other regions around New Zealand.
To the students in the first intake of the Diversity Project – I hope you are enjoying yourselves. Make the most of this opportunity, take what you learn to your friends and families, encourage them to also become involved in surf life-saving and most of all share your knowledge so that they respect and enjoy our beaches.
Kia ora huihui tātou katoa