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Honourable Members, please be seated. At the beginning of every new Parliament, the Governor-General formally opens proceedings by delivering the Speech from the Throne. This is an occasion of some pomp and ceremony. I wear formal dress, a little like…

Mr President, distinguished guests, Councillors and Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, ladies and gentlemen: It is a great honour to speak to you this evening: both as a newly admitted Honorary Fellow of this most respected College;…

You will all have seen copies of those old maps on which the empty spaces beyond the known shores bore the inscription - or the warning - "Here be dragons." New Zealand lay in one of those empty spaces, once. Of course, it was not empty. Navigators from…

Good morning - tena koutou katoa. Right from the start - well, even before it - I've failed three of the tests of true leadership. First, I've failed to identify my objective: I didn't get a title to this talk to the organisers in time for the printing of…

Sir John, Mr Fraser, Board Members, competitors, judges, sponsors, everyone involved in the Youth Skills Olympics. It is a privilege to be invited to share this Award Ceremony with you; just as it was so interesting and so stimulating to go to the Expo…

Kei te mana whenua; e rangi Prince Michael; Kei te Pirimia; kei nga mangai o nga whenua o te ao; kei te motu whanui e pae nei; tena koutou katoa. I have extended greetings to the Maori people of this place; to His Royal Highness Prince Michael; to the…

Your Worship and Mrs Gair, Doctor Diana Mason, Mr Clews, Mr Dowson, ladies and gentlemen. - Nga hau e wha Nga iwi e tau nei Tena koutou People from the four points of the compass Everyone gathered here Greetings to you. - Tena tatou katoa E whai nei Nga…

PUU-TAUAKI TAPU, PUU-TAUAKI MANA, PUU-TAUAKI IHI, TUU MAI, I TO TURANGA, WHAKAARI! TO TIHI, KIA RANGINUI, E TUU IHO NEI! O REKEREKE, KIA PAPA, E AWHI AKE NEI! PUU-TAUAKI TUPUA, NAU RAA, AA MATAATUA, WAKA TAPU, I MAI-MAI, KI TENEI TUA-WHENUA, TUU MAI! TUU…

My paternal grandfather, in his younger days, was a fiery Primitive Methodist minister who devoted much energy to writing and distributing pamphlets denouncing the Roman Catholic Church in general, and the evils of the papacy in particular. The boys at my…

Tihei mauri ora! Te Arawa tapu ... Te Arawa mana ... Te Arawa waka ... Te Arawa iwi ... mai Maketu ... ki Tongariro ... mai Tongariro ... ki Maketu. Tenei te mihi atu kia koutou ... nga upoko ariki ... Te Arawa whanui - tena koutou, tena koutou, tena…

On occasions like this, I have developed a habit, which perhaps I should break, of quoting a great 19th-century judge, Lord Bowen. It was Lord Bowen who began an after-dinner speech once by observing that, unlike him, Daniel in the lion's den had the…

Vice-Chancellor, ladies and gentlemen. I resist the Papal precedent and in our own languages say simply good evening and greetings - tena kotou, tena kotou, tena kotou katoa. I had the very great privilege of attending a school where languages were all…

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. There's increasingly strong evidence being collected around the world, that the make-up of the old-fashioned nuclear family - kids, plus mum, plus dad - is the most functional, the most desirable. Granted, it…

   , The Role of the Governor-General under MMP,     Tonight's talk, the role of the Governor-General under MMP, is I suspect, awaited with some interest, and not just in this room. Quite coincidentally, it fits in with the theme of a seminar organised by…

The Role of the Governor-General under MMP, Tonight's talk, the role of the Governor-General under MMP, is I suspect, awaited with some interest, and not just in this room. Quite coincidentally, it fits in with the theme of a seminar organised by the…

All the world may be a stage; but the portrayal of all the parts, and all the seasons that are played out on it, falls to the lot - the happy lot - of only a few. And for 25 years, some of those few have come and gone on this stage, some trailing clouds…

Mr President, Mr President, members of the judiciary from near and far, other distinguished guests, people of Ngai Tahu, ladies and gentlemen, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. There has, I should admit, been a sense of unreality about, the…

Prime Minister and Mrs Bolger, Mr Speaker and Mrs Tapsell, members of the Executive Council, the Chief Justice and Lady Eichelbaum, ladies and gentlemen. E te mana tangata, e te mana whenua, o te upoko o te ika nei, tae-atu hoki ki a koutou, nga ka-ranga-…

"Engineering and its customers" is the subject for this year's Hopkins Lecture, as advertised. It has turned out, however, to be one of those iceberg subjects that hides much of its size below the surface - the hidden part turned out to be the general…

Tena koutou e kui ma. Can it really be a year ago that I had the pleasure of entertaining the League at Government House in Wellington? I thought we were having an investiture and reception. Instead we had an instant party! In fact, about six of them all…

Good evening. As the programme says, the subject matter of this presentation tonight is "Early vice-regal representation in New Zealand between 1840 and 1889, from Sir George Gipps to Colonel T. Gore Browne, from Governor Grey to Sir William Jervois":…

Lovers of the English language have been besotted with Shakespeare for 400 years now. Shakespeare was probably happy with what he experienced - being loved at first sight - but the love has lasted. Teachers still instruct their pupils: "Muse on William…

Somehow, I suspect that this isn't news: Suffrage Centennial Year is pretty much over. Come December 31st, this Cinderella Festival turns into a pumpkin, you might say. Many people have spoken and written about the year. Here are just a few of their…

Your Worship, Your Excellency the President of Ireland, Honourable Minister, gentlemen and ladies. We've rediscovered and reclaimed a lot of valuable history, this last year in New Zealand. We've remembered just how it came about that New Zealand was the…

Suffrage Centennial Year, as I'm sure you've noticed, has come in for some mockery. Necks have been observed to redden at the very idea of some of the events. But no matter. The Centennial has promoted greater awareness of the history of women in New…

Kia ora tatou. Good evening everyone. Rumour has it that I am to talk tonight about the role of the Governor-General. As a rule, of course, you shouldn't always believe what you hear. But to talk about something else would put the Friends of the Turnbull…

Mrs Buck, Mrs Shipley, Mr Norrish, Ms Ayers, teachers. I know I'm being anachronistic, but to adapt the first half of a famous quotation, gaining the franchise was indeed "one small step for women." It was not however, a giant leap for womankind. The…

Madam Mayor, Your Excellencies, gentlemen and ladies. "Pacific Island Women in Development" is a very large theme for a conference to have. There are questions it raises immediately. The first is, what is development? - what does successful development…

Graduands and partners, mums and dads, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, teachers and, just to make sure no-one gets left out, ladies and gentlemen. As soon-to-be teachers, it's possible that you graduands here this afternoon have already mentally…

Graduands and partners, mums and dads, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, teachers and, to make sure no-one gets left out, ladies and gentlemen. It's a risky business, asking for a keynote address at a graduation ceremony. After all, this sort of…

The poor old kiwi has had a bad press. When I looked up references to the kiwi, in addition to all those about the "inarticulate kiwi", invariably referring to the New Zealand male person, usually made by intellectual British females or sometimes males,…

One of my distinguished predecessors, the Viscount Cobham, finding himself in the position that I find myself in today, commenced his lecture with these words: "To be asked to give the Thomas Cawthron Memorial Lecture is a great honour, but it is an…