Dame Silvia Cartwright: We need to talk through problems

Silvia Cartwright

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o te motu, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Nga mihi o te tau kia koutou.

Greetings: Prime Minister the Rt Hon Helen Clark, The Hon Margaret Wilson, His Excellency the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Richard Fell, Dr Don Brash, the Bishop of Auckland the Rt Rev John Paterson, ladies and gentlemen.

I welcome you all to Government House Auckland. A particularly warm welcome to our guest the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea Sir Paulias Matane and Lady Matane. I am delighted to be here today to mark Waitangi Day in New Zealand's largest city.

As you may know, this function is usually held at Government House in Wellington. But alterations and extensions to Government House Auckland mean we are now in a position to hold this event here aswell. So I am glad you managed to join us here today to celebrate the birthday of our nation. I hope you enjoy the beautiful setting in which Auckland Government House sits.

It has been a wonderful Waitangi Day, beginning for me at te pitowhenua, the birthplace of our nation, Waitangi. As Chair of the Waitangi National Trust, the guardian of the Treaty Grounds, every Governor-General is involved very closely with Waitangi.

After nearly five years in this role, I would like to emphasise how much I have enjoyed my association with the Trust and its work. Over 75 years ago, Waitangi was gifted to the nation by my predecessor Lord Bledisloe, for the benefit of all New Zealanders. It is a place of great interest for all of us, in surroundings of sublime beauty.

Each year more and more people visit the tranquil grounds to explore the Treaty House, the Whare Runanga, the traditional waka, or to experience something of the culture of the Maori of the north. Each and every one of us should visit at least once in a lifetime. It is a treasure, a taonga of this nation.

Celebrations at Waitangi on Waitangi Day have changed a great deal over the years. The day itself is now preceded by a week-long festival of activities involving families, schools, youth and community groups. It is a warm, colourful affair with music, kapa haka, the spectacular launch of waka and thousands of people milling in the beautiful grounds.

But it is also a spiritual time, a time for reflection. Every year, there is a dawn service of karakia at the Whare Runanga in the Treaty Grounds. There, kaumatua and dignitaries acknowledge our ancestors in korero, prayer and song. Of course there is also plenty of discussion about the Treaty itself and how it has shaped our nation – sometimes too much discussion for some of us!

But where once Waitangi Day was associated mainly with the gathering up in the Bay of Islands, it is now a truly national day, throughout New Zealand. So every year, I try to visit another place apart from Waitangi to see how Waitangi Day is celebrated there.

Earlier today, I was in Hamilton where there was a day-long festival, organised by the local runanga. The gathering was full of energy and vitality, and it was as colourful as it was harmonious. It was a multi-cultural event in every sense of the word, with many of New Zealand's ethnic groups being represented, either formally or informally.

The same multi-cultural flavour is evident here in Auckland. We are very much a nation of many faces and over many years, have become so increasingly. We are a nation in which, by and large, people from all manner of different backgrounds can live in peace and harmony and without fear of persecution. We are a nation that welcomes new arrivals and acknowledges the value to be gained from the influence of other cultures.

Yet we are also a nation that is fiercely proud of our bicultural history. For 200 years or so, Maori from the North, East, West and South of our two islands, and Pakeha of all nationalities, but mainly from Britain, Ireland and continental Europe, have together forged a country, a nation that is strong and unique.

Though we are often described as a young country, we have grown rapidly in confidence. This confidence would not be possible were it not for a constantly improving understanding of our own identity. We have built on the strength of our indigenous Maori culture to develop a genuinely New Zealand set of traditions that give us a feeling of nationhood – particularly when we are overseas.

On the world stage, New Zealand is recognised more and more for its unique qualities – and I speak not only of our most obvious asset – our beautiful land, but of the qualities inherent in our people: strength in character, vision, creativity and determination. In my many visits overseas I have discovered that New Zealand is seen more and more as a truly independent, peace-loving, culturally unique and economically savvy country that many states around the globe look to for inspiration.

That is something we can be proud of. However pride is not to be confused with complacency. We are a hard-working country, and we must continue to work to become a better place. Alongside our robust and fair democratic processes, we have developed the healthy practice of continuous and rigorous self-examination.

How well do we look after our sick, our elderly, our young? How well do we treat people who come to us for help? How open are we to different cultures? How well do we educate our future generations and in what kind of state do we leave our planet for them to inherit? How seriously do we take our responsibilities as world citizen and peacemaker?

How well do we look after our natural resources? How well do we protect our taonga and how much respect do we show our ancestors and those who have fallen for our country? These are all questions we ask ourselves on a regular basis – and we must continue to do so in the future.

One of our greatest historians, the late Michael King, once commented on how we deal with contentious issues:
I see the great continuities in New Zealand history as being decency and common sense and up until now when we've confronted these things we've been able to talk them through.

It is that "talking through" that is perhaps our greatest strength. We have not always talked together as much as we should, and perhaps there will be times like that in the future. But as a general rule, no matter how much we differ on this topic or on that, we are always ready to debate. That quality is reflected in the very healthy, stable and just system we have here in New Zealand.

This is my last Waitangi Day as Governor-General. I have learned much in the past five years. And I have seen what can be achieved if we put our minds to it.

I have been privileged to be part of a major development programme at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds which will ensure the birthplace of our nation will be able to welcome the many thousands of visitors from New Zealand and from overseas, numbers that increase every year, and that it is appropriately equipped to reflect its importance in the history of our nation.

I have seen the development of education programmes on the Treaty and I have seen ongoing resolutions to historic grievances. I have seen the continuing re-examination of our history and the righting of wrongs.

I have seen Maori and Pakeha, side by side as New Zealanders – wonderful ambassadors for our country overseas. I have seen our shared, genuine desire to live in peace and friendship and to create a better society where all New Zealanders have a decent standard of living and the right to pursue their dreams.

I have watched as New Zealand demonstrates these qualities to a world desperate to find models of a peaceful, constructive way of life for people of different ethnicities, religions and political beliefs. We have much to be proud of, and I have been proud to be Governor-General of this country.

Today, on Waitangi Day, let us as always, remember our history, but let us look forward also to a bright future for our country: Aotearoa.

Tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.