University of Auckland Honorary Degree Ceremony

Mr Chancellor, Hugh Fletcher, Mr Vice-Chancellor, Stuart McCutcheon, members of the University, Fellow recipients of degrees Paul Kelly and Professor Lu Yongxiang, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I sincerely thank you Mr Chancellor and in your respective places, members of the University graduate and undergraduate community, for the honour that is bestowed by the conferring of the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws.

I am conscious of he many distinguished previous recipients whose ranks I now join.  I am conscious of this University's success and reputation in which I now share some more, by having been admitted into this company.

For any person who has studied at a University it is a great occasion to later return to the familiar surroundings of the study years.  To return to receive an honorary degree elevates that to as high a degree as may be possible.

This University has always been a leading New Zealand institution whether as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand or in its last 45 years as a stand-alone body.  Having left here with a law degree in 1970 I have had many occasions to note, with satisfaction, its growing reputation as a place of learning.  I have seen its numbers grow to a point where from time to time it could claim to be the largest University in the Commonwealth.  I have seen it become recognised internationally for particular leadership it has provided in medical research and in education large numbers of overseas students who have returned to work in Pacific and Asian settings thereafter.

Closer at hand through my connections over the years with the Law School, I have seen my colleagues and later graduates serving the community as lawyers in practice, in public life, and in the judiciary.  This provides an opportunity to register with pleasure the contribution to teaching and scholarship by a few of so many.  The names Brown, Burns, Coote, Hinde, Maxton, Northey, Optican, Palmer, Taggart only begins to tell the story.

The acceptance into this University of students from backgrounds other than a New Zealand one, has been a recognition of the importance and richness of multiculturalism which has, in its own way, added to our country's reputation.  New Zealand is a place that can be said to protect diversity of backgrounds and understanding of different contributions.

May I conclude by adding a tribute to you, Mr Chancellor, for the contribution you have personally made in your leadership here.  Public service is something, which you family can be said to have had as a byword, and you, in your turn have undertaken this role with this University, with distinction.  I end by reciting the deep honour I feel by the award this is conveyed this evening, and I offer best wishes for the future ambitions and success of the University.