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It is my great pleasure to welcome you all this morning to the Healthy Drug Law Parliamentary Symposium, and to our sponsor, the New Zealand Drug Foundation.

I thank Alison for her warm introduction.

Alison has taken a strong interest on drug issues for some time now, and she and I have spoken on it relatively frequently – I cannot think of a better Chair for this event.

Today we have come from all corners of the world to work together on shifting attitudes and responses to drug issues.

Good morning, Kia ora tatou everyone.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here, on this momentous day in New Zealand’s firefighting history, to mark the establishment of Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge a few special guests:

Kia ora and good evening everyone.

Welcome to all of you to celebrate the achievement of some significant milestones in Government’s digital journey, which you have all had a part in delivering over the past five years.

Through the Better Public Services Programme and Functional Leadership, Ministers set some ambitious goals.

I am delighted to see how far we have come – in the way we use technology, in the services provided to our citizens and the way we are working collaboratively across Government.

I would like to welcome you all here today – in particular the CAARA members visiting from Australia.

CAARA has been hosted by Archives New Zealand in Wellington once before, about 10 years ago – it is great you could make it over to us this time, and I hope that your meetings so far have been insightful and productive.

It is great that the New Zealand National Archives is hosting this symposium to coincide with your visit. My hope is that everyone here will get to absorb some new knowledge from the four speakers this afternoon.

Tēnā koutou katoa

I am pleased to welcome you to the opening of this extraordinary exhibition.

At the centre of He Tohu are three taonga which have played a significant role in shaping our nation:

• He Whakaputanga, the 1835 Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of the New Zealand;
• the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi; and 
• the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition.

I would especially like to welcome and acknowledge:

Tēnā koutou katoa

I would like to welcome you all here to celebrate the launch of three New Zealand Post stamps commemorating the He Tohu exhibition.

I would especially like to acknowledge:

It is a pleasure to open this year’s Australasian Casino and Gambling Regulators’ Conference.

Today, I will briefly share with you some thoughts about your Conference theme “regulatory excellence”.

But first, I want to reiterate the warm welcome provided by the mihi whakatau and waiata.

Thank you all for joining us in Auckland, especially our international guests and speakers who have travelled from across Australasia and further afield to be here.

Tēnā koutou, hello and good morning ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for the opportunity to open this conference, and to share some thoughts about building a 21st century digital government.

‘Digital government’ and ‘digital transformation’ are buzzwords you will all be well familiar with.

They are nice, high level terms that flow easily off the tongue.

But what does ‘digital government’ and ‘digital transformation’ really mean for your average person?

Good morning and kia ora koutou.

I am pleased and honoured to open this year’s annual Five Nations Passport Conference which begins today.

Firstly, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to delegates from participating countries here today from: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Republic of Ireland.

Thank you for coming all the way to Wellington, New Zealand.

Tēnā koutou katoa

Thank you all for being here today to witness and support these three taonga on their journey from Archives New Zealand to their new home here at the National Library.

Many of you have travelled a long way to be here, and I think that this illustrates the significance of these documents to New Zealanders.

This ceremony properly acknowledges the mana of these taonga and the people who created them.

For many of us, today is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Kia ora tatou.

I am very excited to be here to celebrate the launch of Te Puna Foundation.

The Foundation is the start of a wonderful new chapter in the National Library story and for the people of New Zealand.

For Aotearoa to thrive as a nation, for its people to become all they can be and achieve their potential, we need to unlock the knowledge held within the National Library.

"It gives me great pleasure to be here today to welcome you all to this, the first national forum on advance care planning.

I appreciate the opening words of Dr Barry Snow and Leigh Manson and found Kirstin’s story inspiring – a story that has set the scene for the next couple of days.

As many of you know, advance care planning helps people prepare for the future and provides an opportunity to have a say about treatment planning.

"Kia ora koutou and good morning.

Thank you, Brendan for your introduction.

I do appreciate the invitation from Paramedics Australasia to open this year’s annual conference, not only as Associate Health Minister, but also as someone who has a close relationship with the ambulance and emergency services sector, through my primary portfolio responsibility as Minister of Internal Affairs.

Tēnā koutou, hello and good morning ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you to the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry for the Interior for hosting both the Government 3.0 forum and the 3rd Digital 5 Ministerial Summit – and kia ora to my fellow D5 Ministers.

I am delighted to join you today to talk about my beautiful country, New Zealand, and how our government is using the enormous potential offered by technology to transform the way we deliver services to our citizens.

Firstly I would like to start by acknowledging the following people from the UFBA here today: your President, Russell Anderson, and Vice-President, Alan Kittelty; your Chief Executive Officer, George Verry; Rick Braddock, Chairperson of the UFBA Board, and Patron of the UFBA, Dame Margaret Bazley; Deputy chair of the UFBA Board, Glenn Williams and Board members Nigel Lilley, Bill Butzbach, and Matt Cleaver.

Kia ora tātou, talofa lava and warm greetings to you all. Firstly, my thanks to Mr Mitch Cuevas and the NZSMI for your invitation to attend your annual conference once again. I would like to acknowledge Scott Milne, Executive Director of SMI, and all the distinguished guests here today. It is my pleasure to be able to address you on a few relevant topics to your conference. As a starting point, as with any government, a top priority for us is improving access to health care and delivering better health services.

Kia ora Tatou and a very good afternoon to you all.

Thank you for the invitation to speak at your AGM this afternoon and for the kind introduction.

May I acknowledge:

• Barry Dyer, CEO of Responsible Care
• Gordon MacDonald, Chief Executive of WorkSafe New Zealand.
• Tom Barratt, Chairman RCNZ

This afternoon I want to share some insights with you about the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Bill and in particular what the changes will mean in relationship to the chemical industry.

Āta mārie, nau mai, haere mai, tēnā koutou katoa.

Good morning everyone and welcome to the final day of The Mental Health Services Conference 2016, or perhaps better known by many, as the Themes (ThMHS) conference. 

My greetings to you the service users, your whānau and families, and the mental health and addictions workforce in the various roles that you provide in delivering these much needed services.

A very warm welcome also to our Australian colleagues and all other international visitors participating in this annual conference. 

Good morning and kiaora koutou.

Thank you, Tony for your introduction.

I was honoured to receive the invitation from the Aeromedical Society of Australasia (ASA) and the College of Air & Surface Transport Nurses (COASTN) to open this year’s annual conference.

A very warm welcome to those visiting from overseas – I understand we have visitors here from Germany, the USA, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and of course a strong Australian contingent.

Good evening.

It is a privilege to be here tonight for this important event, launching Taking Action on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: 2016-2019.

I would like to start by thanking you all for joining me here this evening.

The representation in this room is humbling.

It reflects not only how important this issue is, but the willingness across communities, sectors, industries and agencies to work together to make a difference.

Tēnā koutou katoa

I would like to acknowledge and welcome all guests here today, to celebrate this important milestone in our journey to launch an exciting new exhibition of three of our treasured taonga that shape us a nation. 

I wish to welcome our manawhenua leaders Neville Baker and Taku Parai.

Neville and Taku, also other manawhenua representatives here today, have stood with us throughout this exhibition journey, guiding and supporting us on tikanga and protocols.

For this we thank you sincerely.