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Thanks for the invitation to your conference. I’m glad to be here.

To start by going back a bit . . . in 1937, Mickey Savage carried a dining table through the front door of 12 Fife Lane, Miramar, here in Wellington, and opened New Zealand’s first state house.

He backed an excellent model.  It kicked off the development of mass state housing, provided shelter for generations of New Zealanders, and for several decades the state picked up the tab for good quality social housing used by working people.

Thank you Dr Harry Pert for introducing me, and to our hosts, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

I am extremely pleased to be here today, to celebrate with you the launch of this document. I congratulate the College policy team, and particularly mihi to Dr Tane Taylor and Te Akoranga a Maui, the Maori Faculty who have worked hard to develop this strategy which we all hope will support the further growth of a health workforce ready and engaged in lifting Maori health outcomes.

Good afternoon and thank you all for being here to mark this significant milestone. 

Today we launch the New Zealand Formulary and I must say I am delighted that this day has now come.

In many respects, we all take for granted that medicines are used in many settings throughout the community and in hospitals to treat a wide range of New Zealanders with various conditions. 

In many cases medicines keep us well, thereby keeping the ambulance at the top of that proverbial cliff. 

Acknowledgements

Mayor Bob Parker and Mayoress Jo Nicholls-Parker

Dame Margaret Bazley

Geoff Bascand

Roger Sutton

The owners of Dollan House, Vincent and Cecilia Chia

Thanks for the invitation to talk to you today. It’s my first time at this Forum as you know, so it’s nice to be here, getting a little of that special Coast flavour into my day! 

Before I talk about the minerals sector I’d like to just quickly cover the background to the economic work we’re doing.

The Government has set ambitious economic goals for New Zealand that require a significant improvement in our economic performance.

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

Madam Chair, it is a great privilege to present New Zealand’s 2010 and seventh report under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and to provide an update on recent developments. I look forward to a constructive and open dialogue with the Committee today.

I acknowledge the Chair of the Committee Ms Silvia Pimental, of Brazil, Professor Niklas Bruun from Finland, the country rapporteur for New Zealand and other members of the Committee.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.  It is a pleasure to be here at this very prestigious World Conference on Timber Engineering.

To acknowledge:

It’s a pleasure to be here in Queenstown to speak with you all today about the Better Local Government reform programme.

I’d like to explain what we are aiming to achieve, where we have got to so far, and where to next.

It’s a great pleasure to be back with you to open the Local Government New Zealand conference, and to be here in beautiful Queenstown.

I’d like to acknowledge your President, Lawrence Yule, and your board members for their hard work. I enjoy a great working relationship with Lawrence and meet regularly with him and LGNZ chief executive Malcolm Alexander.

I’d also like to extend my personal thanks to Local Government Minister David Carter, who took up the portfolio earlier this year, in addition to his role as Primary Industries Minister.

Good morning.

Toitu, the word, is such a rich name for this event. It is interpreted in many ways, ‘enduring’, ‘untouched’, ‘kept pure’, ‘protected’ – all of these words and meanings bring with it a sense of strength and empowerment.

I have a special association to this word Toitu – it links us directly to one of our tupuna – Tinirau. He left us the challenge Toitu te kupu; toitu te mana; toitu te whenua.

Today is Day 5 of the Government’s new immunisation health target: that by the end of 2014, 95% of all eight-month olds will be fully vaccinated.

This new immunisation target replaces the highly successful target focused on lifting the immunisation rate of two year olds.

In the past three years of the earlier health target, New Zealand went from one of the lowest immunisation rates in the developed world to one of the best. Today I can tell you that 93% of all kiwi two year olds are fully immunised. That compares to only 67% in 2007.

Thank you for your welcome.

Can I start by acknowledging some of the special guests tonight – former Prime Minister John Howard, Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott and members of his Parliamentary team.

And I’d like to thank the Menzies Research Centre for inviting me to give this lecture.

The Menzies Research Centre has made an important contribution to public policy thinking in Australia over many years. It is an impressive institution.

In the spirit of Puanga, I think firstly of those who have passed on, blazing a pathway for us to follow – and I think particularly of Denis McLeod and Lucy Kapa – who both gave so generously of themselves in their commitment to health promotion and public health.

No reira, te hunga mate ki te hunga mate, te hunga ora ki te hunga ora, tēnā koutou.  

What will our horizons hold for us in 2012?  What pathway will we follow?

Tena koutou katoa

Ki a Kingi Tuheitia, me te kahui ariki anei nga mihi. Aa ki te tangata whenua o te rohe nei, nga iwi o te waka o Tainui – tena koutou.

Welcome to the New Zealand Institute of Forestry Conference.

It’s a pleasure to be opening your conference here in Christchurch and thank you, delegates, for attending and supporting Canterbury’s economy.

Looking around the city, you will see that we are entering a major rebuilding phase.

Talofa lava, mālō e lelei, bula vinaka, kia orana, tēnā koutou katoa.

Thank you to Reverend Alesana McCarthy for our opening karakia this afternoon. 

To Anita Finnigan, the visionary who founded BEST some 24 years ago, staff of the BEST team and whānau here today - thank you for inviting me to be the keynote speaker at your graduation ceremony for the Certificate in Tourism and Certificate in Business Administration.

I would like to acknowledge your President Bruce Wills, Vice-President William Rolleston, Chief Executive Conor English, provincial presidents and delegates.

I am going to touch on topics across both my Primary Industries and Local Government portfolios and I am happy to take questions from you shortly.

I know you’ve just had a session on Local Government but I’d like to explain briefly what’s driving the reforms from the Government’s point of view.

Good morning and thank you for inviting me today.

Firstly I would like to acknowledge RSE Employers, Growers and Contractors here today. Thank you for your work in making the RSE scheme a success over the last five years.

I also want to acknowledge the government officials and organisations here today who have also worked hard on this programme.

Thanks also to Peter Silcock, Chairman Geoff Lewis and the Horticulture New Zealand staff and their supporters, who have worked hard to make this conference happen.

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Thank you very much for inviting me here to speak today.  It’s always great to get out and about and see different parts of the country. 

Thank you Angela for your kind introduction and all of you for the warm welcome.  I would also like to acknowledge Chief Executive Mike Tyrer, the Board and staff of Age Concern Tauranga and invited guests.

Introduction:

• Good afternoon I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to you today.

• Today I would like to spend a few minutes on the Government’s priorities for the building and construction sector and the Department of Building and Housing’s work programme.

• And I would like to thank Registered Master Builders (RMBF) for the work you have done in supporting the Department to implement the programme so far.

When a Member of Parliament gets elected and comes to the House for the first time, he or she comes with some preconceptions, some baggage and some dreams.

When I first stood for Parliament I had a fair dollop of all three.

These grew or diminished in proportion with the following election defeats, until I finally won a seat and have retained it through two successive elections.

No doubt it is the same for all of us when we start a new career or take up a new position.

• Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to open your conference - it is a pleasure to be here again.

• I would like to acknowledge Andrew Giles, CEO of the Retirement Villages Association of Australia who is attending the conference.

Around the world there is a particular song which strikes deep to the heart of all of us who believe in the concept of a better world.

It is an anthem of universal hope. And I want to share just one verse of that song, as we lead off into this very important conference:

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world