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Parliamentary Colleagues
Dr Virginia Hope – Chair of Hutt Valley DHB
Keriata Stuart, Chair of the Maori Partnership Board
Graham Dyer, CEO
Peter Glensor, former Chair, current Board member
Staff and ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for inviting me here to celebrate this important development for the people of the Hutt Valley.

What we are celebrating this morning is:

It’s my pleasure to be here today.

I want to start by taking you back to the situation the Government found itself in when it first came into office in November 2008.

At that time we were all hearing stories of people who had, on the advice of financial advisers, diversified their life savings into a variety of finance companies.

And we all know how those stories ended.

When finance companies began to fall like dominos in 2006 and onwards, some $8.6 billion of investors’ money was put at risk.

Good afternoon and welcome to launch of a New Approach for Supporting People with Disabilities through Local Area Coordination.

This is a very significant step in improving services for people with disabilities, and fulfils an election commitment made by the National Party in 2008. 

This new approach is about supporting people to take control of their lives with the freedom to choose how they live. It’s about giving people more say about how they spend the resources the taxpayers make available to assist them and their families.

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā hau e whā.  Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Good afternoon everyone – and thank you Frances for your introduction.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge all those affected by the earthquakes in Christchurch.

Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you again.

I’d like to acknowledge the contribution of your Patron, John Chibnall.  John is the epitome of the professional volunteer without whose efforts our fisheries management would be much the poorer. I particularly acknowledge John’s valuable input over the years representing Northland fishers. I’m a very keen one of those.

President John Burton, Members of the University Club, ladies and gentlemen - thank you for inviting me to join you here this afternoon.

Today I am going to talk to you about one of the largest restructurings, public or private, ever attempted in Australasia. I am going to talk to you about the amalgamation of eight sizeable councils to create one single organisation – the new Auckland Council. 

Kia ora hui hui tatou katoa

It is great to join you for this special celebration of a quarter of a century of the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

Tonight, I want to join with others and acknowledge the huge contribution made by Helen Hughes, Morgan Williams and Dr Jan Wright and their staff, and to outline the Government’s ideas for expanding the role of the Parliamentary Commissioner.

First some acknowledgements:

Good afternoon.  Thank you for inviting me to open the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Royal College of Surgeons here in Queenstown.

First up, thank you for the great work you and your teams have done to produce yet another year of record elective surgery in 2010/11. This has meant more people getting vitally needed surgery faster. More patients than ever before are being treated, sooner.

Good morning. It's great to be here with so many ICT professionals from both the public and private sector.

I have apologies from the Minister of Finance Bill English, who is very interested in this subject and wanted to be here, but unfortunately has commitments in Auckland this morning.

It’s not often that we have the opportunity to get so many Chief Executives, Chief Information Officers, and ICT industry thought leaders in one room together.

Whoever it was that coined the phrase, ‘A good man is hard to find’ clearly had not met Gregory Fortuin and Kim Workman.

Today we are here to celebrate two very good men – men who have lived their lives in a way which is inspirational to us all.

Last night I released a pack of resources around whanau wellbeing including a set on becoming a Dad.   The key messages we were promoting are that becoming a father is easy, being a Dad isn’t.  

A good dad is someone who speaks openly and honestly with compassion. 

One of the greatest sources of celebration, of unity, of togetherness that we share, as peoples of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, is the gift of song.

And so when I think of the concept of ‘E Tu’ to stand tall, I am inevitably drawn to the words of a waiata that our children are brought up on

E tu kahikatea , hei whakapae ururoa
Awhi mai awhi atu, tatou, tatou e.

Director Li,
Deputy Director Han,
Distinguished guests

I would like to thank the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, and the China Academy of Social Sciences, for the opportunity to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by economic integration in the Asia-Pacific.

Imperatives for regional integration

When we address the question of how we should move forward trade and investment integration in the Asia-Pacific, it is obvious that we are discussing a long term strategy.

I have been looking forward to being here with you today; to be joining you in the pathway forward – He ara whakamua.

I have to share with you, that in all honesty, sometimes I attend hui and without realizing it I am scanning the room for a Maori face; searching out that connection, Maori mai, Maori atu.

Today as I look around me, I see in this hui connections which link me through whakapapa and the most precious ties of whanau. I see hauora Maori providers; whanau with diabetes; Maori nurses; I see me.

Good morning – it’s a pleasure to be here for the twentieth annual Education New Zealand conference. It happens against the backdrop of a very uncertain world -

Your Excellencies, the Governor General of New Zealand, the Right Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand, and Lady Susan Satyanand, members of the Trust Board, Chief Executive Brendan Boyle, Fellows and welcomed guests.

This is a very special event for us all today – to acknowledge and honour the achievements of the twenty-three Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellows, who completed their Fellowships in 2009 and 2010.

Mr Chairman, Roger Haines QC

Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning.

When this Government came to office it put in place an economic agenda that had one single minded purpose — to lift the nation’s economic performance and deliver the standard of living New Zealanders expect and deserve.

Kia ora Koutou.

Thank you for inviting me to be here today to celebrate developing the world’s first bicultural ASIST tool and the launch of Lifeline’s new SafeTALK campaign.

This is an exciting day for you all as it sees the culmination of a great deal of hard work!

But, more importantly your hard work will contribute to improving they way we address the issue of suicide in New Zealand.  

I want to firstly acknowledge the presence of

• Heitia Hiha (Ngati Matepu); 
• Her honour the Mayor of Napier, Barbara Arnott; 
• members and tenants of the Napier Community House Trust;
• and the wider community who are so central to this place.

When I opened my diary and saw that I was going to a fifth birthday celebration I had to say I was quite excited.

I was even more pleased when I saw that the celebration was in Ikaroa Rawhiti – specifically the Hawkes Bay. 

Good morning.

This is your fourth annual conference, and the fourth time I have come to speak at it, including the last three times as Minister of Health. 

It's good to be here.

I note that your theme this year is “Taking control of our world”. 

With the year we have had so far, and the kick off of the Rugby World Cup less than a month away, I can’t think of a more appropriate, but perhaps more challenging, theme to have.

Canterbury

Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon.

Secretary-General Tuiloma Neroni Slade.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Distinguished guests.

Kia ora and Pacific greetings to you all.

It’s a great pleasure to be here today to deliver this address in the 40th anniversary year of the Pacific Islands Forum.

New Zealand is committed to strengthening and deepening relations with our closest neighbours in the Pacific.

This Government has made good progress on Pacific relations in the past few years since we came into office.

Thanks, Sir John, for those remarks.

Ladies and Gentlemen …

A woman from a small South Island town borrowed $250 from a payday lender over the internet.

The loan was for two weeks and with interest and fees she was due to pay back $375 from her loan of $250.

But she was not able to pay the full amount back within the two weeks.

World Hepatitis Day

I want to thank John Hornell, the Chief Executive of the Hepatitis Foundation, for the invitation to join with you all today, on a most auspicious occasion.    I am pleased to welcome to you all to your place.

This Parliamentary Breakfast has been called to mark the first ever World Hepatitis Day.  The World Health Organisation has officially recognised 28 July 2011 as World Hepatitis Day to draw global attention to the need to be aware of hepatitis.

It’s a pleasure to be here tonight to formally launch the New Zealand Poplar and Willow Research Trust.

Can I take this opportunity to publicly congratulate Bruce Wills on his appointment as President of Federated Farmers. Bruce, I look forward to working with you in your new role.

Can I also acknowledge Grant and Bernie Weller from the Waimea Valley in Southland – this year’s Ballance Farm Environment Award National winners, who are here tonight.

Rangitane o Manawatu, tena koutou.
E nga mana o tenei whenua, mihi mai, mihi mai.
Ko te awa o Whanganui tenei e mihi atu
No reira, e nga iwi, e nga reo, tena koutou katoa

I want to acknowledge and pay tribute to
• Palmerston North Mayor Jono Naylor;
• Manawatu District Mayor Ian McKelvie,
• present and past city councillors and former Mayor Jill White

All of you have played a significant role in supporting this very distinctive development - this wonderful building in front of us.