Speech
Wellington High School senior prizegiving
I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language. Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)
I specifically greet you: Keith Powell, Chair of the Board of Trustees and your trustees; Prue Kelly, Principal of Wellington High School and members of your staff; families and friends; senior students; ladies and gentlemen.
It has been a matter of much pleasure for my wife Susan and I to accept the invitation to attend the senior prize giving here at Wellington High School. We had the opportunity to attend the prize giving in 2007 and it is great to be invited back.
When I attended this gathering three years ago, I spoke of the role and value of the education that students at Wellington High School receive. On this occasion, I would like to take a different tack by speaking of the importance of participating in our democracy and its links to the education you have received. To outline the significance of our democracy, I will speak of the efforts New Zealanders have made to defend their nation and democratic principles more widely.
Since its establishment as a modern country with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi 170 years ago, New Zealand has established a strong and vibrant democracy.
While New Zealand has long favoured diplomacy and a multilateral approach to the peaceful resolution of international disputes, New Zealanders have been prepared to match principles with action. New Zealanders have fought and died in places far from home to defend their nation and to uphold democratic principles.
On Sunday, we attended a service at St Matthews-in-the-City in Auckland to mark Remembrance Day. In two days’ time on 11 November, we will attend a service at the nearby National War Memorial in Buckle St to mark Armistice Day.
Remembrance Day, traditionally held on the second Sunday in November, remembers all those who have died in war in service of their country whilst Armistice Day acknowledges the moment when the hostilities of World War I in Europe came to an end in 1918.
This year marks 65 years since the end of the Second World War, a conflict that devastated our world on a scale not seen before, or since. It was a world that was just recovering from the tragedy of the First World War, that was ironically called the “war to end all wars” and the Great Depression that left so many people homeless and out of work.
Historians estimate that the Second World War alone claimed the lives of 50 million people worldwide, including one in every 150 New Zealanders. Many more were injured and maimed, and many grieving families were left behind.
This point was well made in a hymn that was sung at the Remembrance Day Service we attended on Sunday. Written by renowned New Zealand lyricist, Shirley Erena Murray, Honour the Dead, poignantly speaks of the terrible costs inflicted by war and the need to always strive for peace. I will not repeat it all, but the first and last stanzas make the point well:
“Honour the dead, our country’s fighting brave,
honour our children left in foreign grave
where poppies blow and sorrow seeds her flowers,
honour the crosses marked forever ours.
Honour the dream for which our nation bled
held now in trust to justify the dead,
honour their vision on this solemn day
peace known in freedom, peace the only way.”
The Second World War saw New Zealanders fight to defend their nation and cherished democratic values from what can only be described as an evil totalitarian ideology. Their honourable service reminds us that democracy can never be taken for granted.
While New Zealand is a young country by modern standards, it is also an old democracy. New Zealand has been self-governed since the 1850s and everyone, regardless of wealth, race, religion or gender, has had the right to vote for 117 years. It is a credible record of democracy.
However, you only have to read the world section of our newspapers, or to browse the internet, to see that many of the civil liberties we enjoy as New Zealand citizens continue to be denied to millions of people throughout our world.
Whilst the right to vote in free and fair elections is the most fundamental of these liberties, it does not sit in isolation. Allied to it are rights to freedom of thought and expression, freedom of association and to petition the government for the redress of grievances.
Underpinning all of them, is the right to an education, where young minds are given the ability to learn and to question the world around them. One of the early principals of this school, William Sanderson La Trobe, was a strong believer in learning that was facilitated rather than dictated by teachers. As he said more than a century ago, at the then Wellington Technical School "there would be no parrot-like repetition of teachers' words." That is a tradition that this school has maintained to this day and for which everyone here can be mightly proud.
More widely, the links between education and democracy have been frequently commented on by philosophers and others throughout time. James Madison, one of the founders of the United States, once famously said the following words: “What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?”
Participation in a democracy then is about more than just voting. It is about serving on juries, making submissions on central and local government proposals and laws, and remaining informed about key public issues. The education you have received here at Wellington High will be invaluable in responsibly discharging these key civic duties.
Next year, New Zealanders will vote in a General Election to choose the members of Parliament who will form the next government. Many of the young people here will be eligible to enrol to vote in those elections. I urge you to do so because while New Zealand’s turnout in national elections remains high by international standards, it too has dropped in recent years.
At the last election, it is estimated that only about three-quarters of those eligible to vote actually cast their ballots. It is often said that because each adult only has one vote, that it makes little difference whether one bothers to vote. I am one who disagrees with that view and to counter it, offer the words of the famous New Zealand suffragette Kate Sheppard. Sheppard, whose image graces our $10 note and who protested so that New Zealand might be able to vote. Sheppard eloquently said: “Do not think your single vote does not matter much. The rain that refreshes the parched ground is made up of single drops.”
New Zealand then is a nation with a strong democratic tradition. It is a society marked by a modern economy, a principled political culture and of high standards of healthcare and education. That legacy has been built, and protected, by successive generations.
The challenge which I offer to you in this audience, a gathering of young people on the threshold of becoming adult members of the community, is to become engaged with your democracy. It is incumbent upon you, as New Zealand citizens, to take responsibility for ensuring the legacy you have inherited continues to flourish.
Finally, as members of the senior school, you will all be heading to examinations and I wish you all the best in that regard. For many here, a further year or two at school will beckon, while for others, you will be heading to tertiary education or into the workforce, or both.
Whatever your future, may I wish you every success and may I urge you to make the most of your life ahead. The champion New Zealand motor racing driver, of 20 years ago, the late Bruce McLaren, once said: "It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone."
And on what I hope is a suitable note of inspiration, I will close in New Zealand’s first language by 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.