Whāngārei Club Centenary Dinner

I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in 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 evening (Sign)

I then specifically greet you: Richard Johns, President of the Whāngārei  Club and your wife Betty; Keith Gordon, Immediate past-President of the Whāngārei  Club; Minister of the Crown Hon Phil Heatley and your wife Jenny; Len Johnson, who currently the longest standing member of the Whāngārei  Club and your wife Pauline; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting Susan and I to attend this formal dinner of the historic and cherished Whāngārei  Club this evening on the occasion no less of it's centenary.

I would first like to say how pleasant to have occasion  to be in Whāngārei  a city in which I have had some kind of association in my former careers as a lawyer Judge and Ombudsman.  Earlier today we had the pleasure of officially opening the Northland Events Centre, also known as Toll Stadium, which will play host to two 2011 Rugby World Cup matches which is exciting both for the local community and for the wider region.

Northland is an area which displays a beauty bearing a landscape that is different to any other part of this country. Susan and I have enjoyed holidaying in many parts of it prior to our Waitangi Day focused visits in this role.

It is an honour to speak to the Club this evening and to take my place in a long tradition of Governors General addressing its members.  I understand that the tradition goes back possibly to the Viscount Jellicoe in the 1920s am told that other prominent speakers include the likes of Sir Robert Muldoon who I believe was invited to speak while Prime Minister, but by the time of his visit in 1986 having called the 1984 snap election, he no longer held that role!

It thus seemed fitting to ensure that this engagement went into the programme before my role as Governor-General concludes on 23 August.

But that is to jest.  I would like to take an opportunity to talk a little about some of the highlights of the role and activities of Governor-General since Susan and I took up residence in Government House in Wellington on Wednesday 23 August 2006.

The last almost five years has been many things—a privilege, a learning curve and a mixture of exhilaration and anxiety along with the ever present challenge of fitting it all in.

It almost seems like yesterday when, in early 2006, I received a telephone call asking whether I would be available for a meeting with the then Prime Minister, Rt Hon Helen Clark.  At the time, I was chairing the Confidential Forum for Inpatients at Psychiatric Hospitals and was also compiling the first Register of MP’s Pecuniary Interests and I thought that the proposed meeting must be related to either task.  On inquiring if I needed to bring a file or if there was anything I should prepare in advance, I received a bland and unhelpful answer saying that no files were required.  As you can imagine, that made one more than a little nervous.  No-one likes to go into a meeting with any Prime Minister unprepared.

When I eventually met Helen Clark a few days later she said: “You’ll have a fit when I tell you why I’ve called you here.  I have with me a unanimous resolution from Cabinet endorsing my recommendation that you be New Zealand’s next Governor-General.”  Well, I didn’t have a fit, but I was, some would say, uncharacteristically speechless for a few moments before responding somewhat lamely: “Well I know now why I didn’t need to bring a file!”

Being the Sovereign’s representative in New Zealand for a five year term has been an honour. One of the abiding features of the time has been the Government House Conservation Project, which saw the building closed for 30 months from October 2008.  When it reopened two months ago, Susan and I were more than once asked by the media whether we felt we had been “cheated” because of not having been able to live in the House.

While we have been fortunate that the project was completed a number of months ahead of schedule, allowing us to resume residence, we never took on the role with that in mind.  We knew from the outset that it was possible that the House would be closed for a significant period, but chose nonetheless to proceed because of the opportunity it presented to serve New Zealand, whatever else might be involved.
As an aside, given the more than two years we lived and worked in the House before it closed, beneath the elegant and comfortable surface, it literally creaked with age.  Turning on taps, you were never quite certain what colour of water would be emerging from the pipes.  Such was the buckling of some of the walls that when HRH Prince Andrew the Duke York stayed in 2006, he pointed out to staff that tiles were falling off his ensuite wall.

Stories of the flying roof tiles that regularly came off in high winds, or the leaking roof became legion.  One story that is less well known is that workers removing the lining on the first floor discovered three tonnes of bricks, a remnant of a former chimney, sitting on a few pieces of four by two.

The bricks had sat, unseen and unsupported, for some 50 years above the State Dining Room where a great many important people including Heads of State had been entertained.  When I first heard this 18 months ago, it seemed a humorous story.  In light of more recent events in Christchurch, however, it is only good fortune that these bricks did not come falling through the ceiling.  In hindsight this all emphasises how valuable the seismic strengthening that has been done, will be for the longevity of the House.

Returning to the substantive point, however, the closure of the House gave us an unrivalled opportunity to take the Governor-General role out into the community, for example, by undertaking investitures in a number of parts of the country as well as pressing Government House Auckland into greater service.  In this we have been assisted throughout by management and staff at Government House who have worked hard to maintain standards while looking for innovative initiatives to further the Governor-General role.  In other words we have enjoyed “wearing the jersey” so to speak, regardless of where we lived.  I will admit that there have been more than a few times, of waking up in the morning and for a few moments wondering: “Where are we again?”

Barring a constitutional crisis, which thankfully no New Zealand Governor-General has ever faced, there is now no aspect of the role that Susan and I have not experienced, whether that be opening Parliament, swearing in a new government or ANZAC Day commemorations and Waitangi Day celebrations.

While every day is different and every day poses a new challenge, five years seems to be the right length of time to be in the role.  Over that time there have been many “highlights” which seem almost impossible to make list of.

One particular highlight to make mention of, has been the privilege of seeing New Zealand and New Zealanders at their best.  Investiture and award ceremonies are a case in point.  The deeds of the people who receive the highest honours are well known to us all.  Many will be aware of the significant recent media attention at those ceremonies for example where golfing great, Sir Bob Charles, received New Zealand’s highest honour, the Order of New Zealand, and author and chef Dame Alison Holst and of course household name businessman Sir Michael Hill formerly of Whāngārei  were knighted.

Other highlights include visiting communities throughout the length and breadth of this country. Yesterday Susan and I had the privilege of being received at each of the four schools serving Kaikohe Northland schools in a highly planned manoeuvre taking just under four hours. I cannot recall packing so much into a morning! If I could make one general conclusion on what has impressed me the most from visiting many schools across New Zealand, from the far north to the deep south, is the spirit and passion of our country's young people in schools like yesterday led by skilled professional teachers and backed by the local communities - farming and business, Maori and Pakeha.

At the end of yesterday we made one last visit, in the role of Governor-General to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, which were of course a generous gift to New Zealand in 1932 by our predecessors in office: Lord Charles and Lady Elaine Bledisloe.

During that time I had the privilege of joining sixteen of my predecessors and members of the Royal Family, including the Her Majesty the Queen of New Zealand, who have planted a Pohutukawa tree in what is known as “Pohutukawa Grove” which is situated just behind the Treaty House.

As Governor-General, I must observe that I have now planted so many trees I should be eligible to apply for carbon credits when they come on stream!  One particular tree planting memory springs to mind when we visited a country Hawke’s Bay school where the children had pre-prepared the hole while the speeches were goi g on inside. They had become more than a little carried away and had dug a hole which could have accommodated a 44 gallon drum into which I was supposed to place a diminutive kowhai seedling.  Needless to say, some considerable back filling was required or the seedling would have been completely lost!
 
Finally, I would be remiss, if I did not make some respectful reference to the significance of this Club, which was founded in 1911.  It was the year that the Walsh Brothers' Howard Wright biplane Manurewa made its first flight in Papakura, when New Zealand’s first coat of arms was promulgated, and when bookmakers were banned from New Zealand racecourses. It was also when the first International Women’s Day was celebrated and saw the establishment of the Chinese Republic under Dr Sun Yat Sen.

In my own time I have enjoyed membership of the Northern Club and the Wellington Club and this am keenly aware of the opportunity this place provides to meet with people who share a range of professional, personal and artistic interests.

This is the great value of institutions such as the Whāngārei  Club. They are forums that nurture reflection and discussion outside of a formal professional environment.

A Club such as this is also valuable in that it reflects not only the people who are its members, but also the physical environment in which it operates. The Club reflects the city's business and civic leaders’ capacity to engage with part of our country's future.
It thus becomes important to congratulate the club on its centenary. Reaching the milestone is testament to the Club’s value and longevity. It has seen two World Wars and much more undoubtedly with members who went and fought on battlefields far from home. It has seen New Zealand change and flourish and become a small but principled nation - one described by a former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as "a country that works".

To close, I will quote some words of the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, speaking of the qualities of the Singapore Cricket Club. He said:

"Perhaps in this [Cricket Club], we have a symbol of what has been happening in [Singapore]. It cannot stay still but there is an indefinable quality about this Club which no other club can match—it bridges the transformation from what was, to what is, and represents our capacity to meet what will be."
 
Replacing the word Singapore with Whāngārei  and leaving out the word Cricket, one can say, so it is with The Whāngārei  Club.
And on that note I will close in New Zealand’s first language Maori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.

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