Adult and Community Education House, Thorndon, Wellington

In the last week, one of my close friends has experienced a sudden shock jolt into blindness, taking all of us into a harrowing journey of change and challenge.

Instantly, over night, all of us have come to appreciate the incredible gift of vision; the vital key to life that comes with your eyes wide open.

We have wondered how to see in the darkness, we have all looked for options about how to bring the light back in.

In many ways, today is another aspect of that same journey as we address the experience of seeing but not reading; speaking but not being able to communicate; the barriers associated with illiteracy and lack of English skills which get in the way of full and informed participation.

Today we open our eyes to new opportunities, in welcoming a package of national community based literacy and language programmes for employees.

It couldn't come soon enough.

According to the 2006 Adult Literacy and Lifeskills survey, approximately 1.1 million New Zealanders have literacy skills below that needed to participate fully in society.

And in terms of measuring what counts, 51% of adults have numeracy skills lower than that needed to meet the complex demands of life and of work.

We must not accept these figures as our fate.

We can all make a commitment to enterprise and innovation; to mutual self-help; to a collective vision for advancement.

And that is exactly what we are doing today.

The programme being launched today responds to the initiative and drive of at a minimum some 1730 employees.

The key to the success of this project is that the employees are self-referred and have identified their own work goals - for which the aspiration of workplace literacy is an important component.

The drive to acquire language, literacy and numeracy skills is, of course, of great value to the employer with the real and tangible benefits being seen in the workplace.  There's the improvements in productivity, in morale and job satisfaction, and workplace competence.

But there is also the collective good, the public good.  By that I mean the way in which the energy and creative spark in all our citizens is harnessed.

Developing language skills and literacy is an enduring journey of building the capacity to communicate, to read and to shape our world.  It is not a luxury; it should not be only the privilege of those with access to resources.

Literacy is a right and a responsibility that all peoples of New Zealand should enjoy.

For some of our new migrants and refugees an inability to speak and read in the English language can prevent them from fulfilling their potential in New Zealand. As we all know, language and literacy are keys that can open many doors.

I am a strong supporter of the efforts being made in our primary and secondary schools to focus on literacy and numeracy as the prime means of improving student achievement.

But learning doesn't finish when one leaves the school gates.

And so I am delighted to be part of this exciting new initiative which is to provide individual employees or small groups of employees with individualized and free literacy and numeracy tuition.

Their strength lies in the recognition that we must be able to provide for multiple pathways; for pathways which are flexible and respond to the needs of the individual learners.

This is not about rote learning; singing times tables in unison; everyone doing the same task at the same time in the same way.

This is about lifelong learning - the influence of which spreads to the wider family; it builds communities; it strengthens a nation.

There is so much said about the seemingly intractable problems for Maori with low literacy and numeracy skills.

But I want to put forward another way of looking at this.

Early experiences of literacy for Maori were illuminating - in both te reo Maori and in English.  History tells us that at early contact, Maori saw in literacy a key to a new future; a future in which they could be partners in national development.

We are aware of the volume of texts that Maori were accessing at this time.  By 1840 William Colenso had produced over 74,000 books and pamphlets in te reo Maori.

And it is notable that during the Taranaki land wars, Maori were producing their own newspapers  - evidence of the levels of literacy that were part of our communities.

What happened to cause the statistics I cited earlier?  What was the reason the light of learning seemed to fade?

Today we are doing something about the crisis that remains as a legacy.

Today is all about having the opportunity to be able to shape our future - and that is what is so exciting about this launch.

I want to particularly acknowledge the leadership that is evident in the joint approach from Literacy Aotearoa and English Language Partners New Zealand  - what was known as ESOL Home Tutors.

Both of these organizations know about self-determination.  They know what it is to be driven by the aspirations of your people.  They know what is to truly want to meet the needs of their communities.

And so it is only right that it is Literacy Aotearoa and English Language Partners New Zealand that have been contracted to deliver 'targeted provision'.

Language and literacy is part of our culture - and it is wonderful to share with others who have come to our country so that they can share all that is Aotearoa New Zealand.

I want to really mihi to all of these people - to those passionate people with a soul - who support others to learn, to read, to write.  Our communities are better for their influence and their generosity.

Tena tatou katoa.