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Thank you for another opportunity to speak to the National Press Club of Japan.

When I spoke here in April I noted with regret that the WTO negotiating agenda had stalled as the regional trade agenda moved with extraordinary speed.

If anything that was an understatement. To underline the point, let me use my own country’s active trade agenda as an example.

Mr President. Congratulations on your election to the Presidency of this General Assembly.  You take the reins at an important time.  We wish you every success. You have our support.

The recent events in Kenya, Iraq and Pakistan show how troubled the world can be. We commiserate with the governments and people of those countries and extend our deepest sympathies to those who lost family and friends in these tragic incidents.

Mr President.

Tēna koutou, tēna koutou, tēna koutou katoa.

Good morning and thank you for inviting me to open this forum on managing volcanic risk in Auckland.

I am very pleased to be here. It's great to see so many people taking this opportunity to increase and share their knowledge about volcanic risk in Auckland, and the plans that are in place in the event of an eruption.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. It is a privilege to be here today opening the second Asia Pacific Forum on Quality Improvement in Healthcare.

I want to acknowledge the importance of the Disabled Persons Assembly who for over thirty years have been working to promote the wellbeing of disabled people in New Zealand.

I want to congratulate and commend Bev Grammer the President, Brendon Murray the President Elect and the ever-energetic Rachel Nobel who is doubling as both our MC and of course the Chief Executive of DPA; for hosting this event today.

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

Your Excellency, the Governor-General of New Zealand, Lt Gen The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae, Deputy British High Commissioner Patrick Reilly, Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Board chair Rachael Selby, members of the Trust Board, Department of Internal Affairs Chief Executive Colin MacDonald, Fellows and welcomed guests.

A special thank you to Sir Jerry Mateparae for hosting us in this lovely setting, and for His Excellency’s service as patron of the Trust.

Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be here in London and here at Asia House.

This a good opportunity to reflect on the changes in New Zealand’s economy and society over recent decades and how that has increasingly involved Asia.

Of course, New Zealand’s relationship with the United Kingdom remains fundamental.

Queen Elizabeth is Queen of New Zealand, as well as the United Kingdom.

Ka rere atu nga mihi ki te hau kainga, te tangata whenua, tena koutou katoa. 

Ki aku hoa, Te Kahui Tumuaki - ki a koe e Kimiora, tae noa ki a koutou katoa kua tae mai i nga kokona e wha o te motu, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

E nga rangatira, e nga iwi kua huihui nei, mai i nga topito o te ao, tena koutou katoa.

Tena korua nga kaumatua Sam korua ko June Jackson - nga mana whenua o tenei rohe.   You are forever gracious hosts in your rohe.

E te iwi e huihui nei ki te manaaki i te karanga o te ra, tena hoki koutou.

I want to also mihi to Richard Wallace for our mihi whakatau.

I acknowledge the leadership of Professor Ian Town - the chair of the Asthma Foundation Board - Board members and Chief Executive Angela Francis and her team.

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

Good morning everyone. Thank you, Kura, for your welcoming words for us all here today. Kia ora.

Distinguished leaders, ladies and gentlemen – a very warm welcome to this 120th anniversary celebration of women’s suffrage in New Zealand. On behalf of my ministerial and parliamentary colleagues, welcome to our Parliament.

Thank you for your welcome and thank you inviting me to speak to you.

Since your last conference much has changed. Most obviously is the fact that you have a new keynote speaker. I hope I can live up to the high standards set by my esteemed colleague and predecessor, the very able Mr Dunne.

I want to thank Dr Nigel Christie - your General Manager and Trenton Martin - your cultural advisor for the opportunity to be with you today - and to share some time thinking about the difference you make in working alongside the families whom you support.

And it is great that at this conference you have been able to bring together clients, support workers, board members and staff of Te Hauora Pou Heretanga to focus on how to achieve your mission - To Value Wellbeing.

Good morning everyone, it’s great to be here and to have the opportunity to speak to you all.

From the discovery of the Kapuni gas field in 1959, and then the much larger Maui field in 1969, the oil and gas industry has played a significant role in New Zealand’s economic development – as an energy source for industry and households, an input into the chemicals industry and as a valuable export in its own right.

In fact, crude oil is our fourth largest export after dairy, meat and wood.  It contributes more than $2.5 billion to our GDP each year.

The Vulnerable Children omnibus Bill proposes two new Acts: the Vulnerable Children Act, and the Child Harm Prevention Orders Act.

It also amends the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 and the KiwiSaver Act 2006 and makes consequential amendments to a number of other Acts.

This Bill is about protecting vulnerable children, and putting that priority ahead of the needs of adults.

These changes are bold and by their nature, controversial.

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

Thank you for inviting me to be part of this feast of education expertise.

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

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

Thanks Theo for your kind introduction and good evening everyone. Thank you to IMAC for inviting me here to close the first day of the eighth New Zealand Immunisation Conference. It really is a pleasure.

Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge:

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

Good morning everyone and thank you for inviting me to open this important and timely meeting. Thank you to Francis (CEO of Grow Rotorua) for the warm welcome.

I bring you apologies from Hon Steven Joyce who was unable to be with you on this occasion, and asked me to speak on his behalf.

Today I want to provide a bit of context for the work that you are doing now and will be doing over the next four or five years.

I think we all get very focused on the immediate demands that we face, and those of you with project management expertise have to focus on the details, because I was told over lunch time that when projects go wrong 30 per cent of the time it’s the project manager that gets sacked.

Even politicians have a higher survival rate than that. But it does mean that you have to focus.

Thank you all for being here today.

I want to particularly thank the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce for hosting this event.

None of us will forget three years and six days ago – in the early hours of September 4th, 2010 – when Canterbury was shaken by the first of what would turn out to be a series of strong earthquakes.

The most disastrous, of course, was the earthquake of 12.51pm, 22nd of February, 2011.

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

Distinguished leaders, ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to this 120th anniversary celebration of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.

Mr Speaker, I move that the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill be now read a third time.

This bill, introduced as part of Budget 2013, is about enabling tens of thousands of homes to be built.

It is about helping kiwi families to realise the dream of owning their own home.

It’s about supporting the New Zealand economic recovery by reducing the financial risks of Auckland’s house price bubble.

Introduction

Tēnā koutou katoa.

Thank you for having me at the NZAPEP Conference. It’s good to be here again.

I’d like to acknowledge the NZAPEP Board, the Chair Christine Clark, and the Deputy Chair Margie Sorenson.

This is such a wonderful occasion to come together, to celebrate a new era; an era in which the language of the hands is being recognised as the key to communication and opportunity.

I want to firstly acknowledge our Human Rights Commissioner for Disability Issues; Paul Gibson; who is such a bold advocate; a passionate champion for people with disabilities.