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Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for your warm welcome; it’s a pleasure to be here this morning. I would first like to acknowledge:

Good evening and thank you for the invitation to talk about the work we are doing to improve the public health service in New Zealand.

Good health is hugely important to New Zealand families. A strong public health service gives families peace of mind – knowing that the care they need will be there, when they need it.

And that’s the priority of our government too. Protecting and growing the public health service for New Zealand families.

And with your support, the public health service is making a lot of progress.

E nga mana, e nga reo, tena koutou. Ngati Toa Rangatira, Ngati Raukawa, Te Atiawa, tena koutou katoa.

Tena hoki koutou nga whanaunga aku tuakana o te puku o te wheke ara o Te Moana Nui a Kiwa.

E nga kaiwhakahaere o tenei hui, tena hoki koutou.

I want to acknowledge the nations that you call home and the birth waters of the Pacific Ocean that is the umbilical cord that connects us and creates our whakapapa ties.

It is a particular honour for us all to have the Niue High Commissioner her Excellency, Mrs O’Love Jacobson with us tonight.

Talofa lava. Malo e lelei. Faklofa Iahi atu. Ni sa bula vinaka. Kia orana. Taloha ni. Kia ora koutou katoa. Greetings.

Thank you Fetaiaki Tukia Matu for your warm welcome and thank you also Neil Watson for hosting us this morning.

Hekia Parata and I are very pleased to be able to come to Otahuhu College to officially launch the new guide to help deliver better health services for secondary school students.

[Delivered by George Ngatai, on her behalf, as a result of travel disruptions]

Tena koutou katoa

Ka mihi atu au ki te tangata whenua, te hau kainga, nau te reo i karanga mai ki a matou, i mihi mai ki a matou tenei ope.

Ki te ope kua huihui mai i te ra nei, mo tenei hui whakahirahira – tena koutou, tena koutou, aa tena tatou katoa.

I want to thank

· Geraint Martin – the Chief Executive of Counties Manukau District Health Board,

The public service deserves congratulations on its achievements over the last five years because it’s unique in three ways.

The Kiwi Counts survey shows that, in general, the public thinks services are better now than they were five years ago, almost across the board.

Secondly, it’s been impressive that we’ve been able to meet our fiscal objectives every year for the past five years. That is very unusual by the standards of any developed country. I would argue that the path ahead looks more sustainable than we had expected.

Tena koutou katoa, good morning and thank you for the invitation to speak today at the opening of the 5th International Gambling Conference.

I would like to begin by welcoming all of you, in particular our international guests and distinguished speakers, some of whom have travelled from around the globe to be here.

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

Thank you Brendan for your introduction.

And special welcome to our guest speakers, young carer Lauren Hitchin and Carers New Zealand CEO Laurie Hilsgen.

I would also like to acknowledge my colleagues the Honourable Chester Borrows, Honourable Michael Woodhouse, Honourable Tariana Turia and Hon Ruth Dyson.

E nga mana, e nga reo, e te iwi o te motu, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa

It’s a pleasure to be here this morning to open the SAS Users New Zealand conference.

We’re at a very exciting place at the moment.

The world of data analytics is new for a lot of people in Government, and just a little bit scary for some.

But the way I see it - by harnessing the skills analysts like you have when you look at information, we have the power to change - and save - lives. 

Thank you Mai Chen for the introduction and thank you also to the New Zealand Asian Leaders organisation for inviting me here to speak at the inaugural Asian Leaders Forum.

While I have only recently been appointed in the role of Associate Minister of Tourism, I have been the MP for Rotorua since 2008 so I am well aware of the value of tourism and the increasing opportunities that Asia presents. I would like to talk briefly about these today. 

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

Thank you Lindy for your kind introduction.

I would like to acknowledge this year’s 14 Escalator participants.

I also want to acknowledge Lindy as the inspiration behind the Agri-Women’s Development Trust.

Lindy, your foresight and determination in the development of the Escalator programme enables many more women to step up and show what they can do beyond the farm.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I would first of all like to thank the NZ/China Council for providing this forum for business leaders here in Auckland for the APEC Business Advisory Council meetings. To our foreign guests, especially those who are making their first visit to New Zealand let me extend the warmest of welcomes.

In terms of the climate - both literal and economic - you have come to New Zealand at the right time. We hope you will do more than talk about the APEC Business Advisory Agenda and actually do some business here. This is a country very much open for business.

Mr Speaker, I move, that the Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Amendment Bill be now read a first time.  I nominate the Health Select Committee to consider the Bill. 

Thank you Mayor Wallace for your kind introduction; and thank you also Dr Caroline Seelig, I am very pleased to be able to join you for the launch of the Hutt Valley Primary Science Education Network.

I congratulate Open Polytechnic and Hutt City Council on their contribution to nurturing science in schools. 

I know all of you here today will agree with me when I say we cannot underestimate how important science and innovation will be for the future of New Zealand.

It is a great honour to be in the presence of our Governor General, His Excellency Lieutenant General the Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae.

I acknowledge our kaumatua Te Ariki Morehu, Dr Huirangi Waikerepuru and Des Ripia and thank you for the guidance you bring to this hui.

Our distinguished manuhiri, Dr Eduardo Duran, Associate Professor Jacque Gray, Professor Judi Atkinson, Mr Normand D’Aragon.

Our wise and wonderful scholars and philosophers including Moana Jackson, Moe Milne, Associate Professor Luamanuvao Winnie Laban and Dr Keri Lawson-Te Aho.

E nga Rangatira

E tau nei ki Waitangi

Tena koutou

Tena tatau katoa

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Waitangi Day is a special day for New Zealanders. It’s a day when we reflect on the history of our young country, and it’s a day when we think about what we want for New Zealand’s future.

We come together here each year to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Treaty is more than a document which created a new nation.

2014 marks the centenary of World War I, it’s the year of our triennial general elections and it’s the year of the Rio Football World Cup. The topic of this year’s Rotary speech is not about military, political or sporting battles but a little-known battle in our vast forests between pests and our native birds.

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

Your Excellency, British High Commissioner Vicki Treadell, Sir Jame and Lady Helen McNeish, Sir Roderick and Lady Anna Weir, members of the Trust Board, including chair Rachael Selby, Fellows and guests.

To begin, I would like to thank you your Excellency for hosting us in this beautiful setting.

I became Minister for the Community and Voluntary sector in 2011 and thus began my involvement with and understanding of the Winston Churchill Memorial trust.

Good morning. I hope you all had a good Christmas break and you’re starting 2014 eager and energised.

I know I am.

And I know the Government is, because there are a lot of things to get done this year.

Later in the year there’ll be an election, where I’ll seek the support of New Zealanders to continue the direction this country is going in.

I want to thank Nikora Lanifole and the roopu from Hato Petera who have welcomed us here today who provided a perfect foundation from which to launch this report.

Thank you also to Stevie Davis-Tana, for your fine work in hosting this hui today.

I would like to acknowledge all the dignitaries from your communities tonight. I would also like to mihi to Ben Makisi and to my friend Arthur Anae and to Carmel Sepuloni. To the Director of Health from Fiji, Hilda Fa’asalele and to Cathy O’Malley. Also to the wonderful band.

Thank you to Fuimaono Karl for your warm welcome tonight.   I have to say, I have always liked your style. I am not really known for my style. Style is what tonight is all about.

Talofa lava, Kia orana, Mālō e lelei, Ni sa bula vinaka, Taloha ni, Fakaalofa lahi atu, and greetings to you all.

Welcome everyone to the New Zealand Early Childhood Education and Care conference, organised in cooperation with the OECD.

I wish to extend a warm welcome, in particular, to all the OECD representatives and partner countries who have travelled a long way to be here today - it is a great pleasure to welcome you to New Zealand.

I’m delighted to be here and to give some opening comments to this conference.

I want to thank Dr Debbie Ryan for extending the welcome for me to be here - and acknowledge Hilda Fa’asalele for her kind introduction.

It is a pleasure to be here with you all on the verges of the rippling waters of Te Whanganui-a-Tara.   It was an inspired choice to hold this event at Te Wharewaka o Poneke.

Firstly, we acknowledge the significance of this place, once the harbour frontage of Te Aro Pa, kainga of one of the largest Maori communities in Wellington up until the 1880s.