China Southern 2nd Anniversary
Consul-General Wang
Rebecca Huang
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

December 16th 2015 is a day that I will never forget.
I had a terrible fall at a Citizenship Ceremony in the afternoon and was told by the emergency doctor I was lucky not to have fractured my leg.

As I said on the day, nothing was going to stop me from being there to welcome the first China Southern Dreamliner and the party of VIPs, who flew on that inaugural flight from Guangzhou to Christchurch making our dream of this vital South to South connection a reality. The South of China and the South Island of New Zealand connected by a Dreamliner that literally made our dream come true.

It is hard to believe that day was almost two years ago – like China Southern itself, time really does fly.

I have personally had the opportunity to fly this route and what a difference it makes to wake up and clear customs at home.

Anyone who has been to functions that I have spoken at will know that I mention the flights as much as possible. That’s not because I’m moonlighting as part of China Southern’s marketing team, but rather because I really do want to express how much we as a city and indeed as a region and the South Island value these flights and to express our gratitude.

So once again I want to thank everyone in the room who is working so hard to keep the dream alive. To Rebecca and the China Southern team, thank you for the great commitment you have made to Christchurch. You are now established friends of our city and have become an important part of the Christchurch Story.

I also want to congratulate you for what you have achieved thus far. I understand that the flights will go daily once again over the peak season which is just fantastic. I am confident that you are in a sound position to expand – and I hope to see Christchurch become an important part of China Southern’s increasingly global strategy.

To Malcolm Johns and the Christchurch International Airport crew thank you very much for your ongoing support of China Southern, but more than that I want to recognise the vision you have shown that has contributed to the success of the flights. Christchurch is the Gateway to the South, the place where visitors to our country want to be. You recognise that, and I thank you for the leadership you continue to show.

To Consul-General Wang and his staff, and to everyone here who has helped us to reach this important milestone I offer you my gratitude and congratulations.

I believe this connection serves to strengthen our ties, and I wish everyone at China Southern success and prosperity. 
 
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Members of the diplomatic and consular corps (Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Finland, France, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland and United States)
Members of Parliament
City councillors 
June Lady Hillary, Sir Brian and Lady Roche
Upoko Te Maire Tau
Dr Dan Asquith, great grandson of Sir Robert Falcon Scott, and his family, representing the family internationally 
Antarcticans
Distinguished guests one and all - international, national and local
 
This is a very special occasion and one I have been looking forward to as Mayor of Christchurch from the moment I was elected. 
 
We have been speaking this week of the honour of being one of the five Antarctic Gateway Cities, and how we should see our roles as custodians - custodians of the history of Antarctic exploration, custodians of what Antarctica means to the world and custodians of what Antarctica means for our future.
 
On the 9th February 1917, 100 years ago this year, a huge crowd of people gathered here for the original unveiling ceremony of the statue that commemorates that heroic age of exploration as represented by Robert Falcon Scott and those who perished on that expedition.  
 
His words from one of his diary entries were inscribed in the plinth - I do not regret this journey, which shows that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great fortitude as ever in the past.
 
This is a heritage memorial of international significance.
 
On the 22 February 2011 it was not capable of withstanding the powerful force of nature.
 
The statue sculpted by Kathleen Scott from Italians Carrara Marble weighs 2.5 tonnes. 
 
This has been the most technically challenging statue repair ever undertaken by Christchurch City Council.
 
The break was severe and the marble is fragile, with many little fissures running through it. So there was a high risk of the marble shattering during the repair.
Much research went into finding a repair method that would strengthen and stabilise the statue to enable it to withstand future earthquakes.
 
At the same time the repair had to be sensitive to the statue’s heritage values
 
The repair strategy has been to strengthen the legs with carbon fibre rods and thread and equip the plinth with a form of base isolation to make the entire memorial more resilient
 
Innovative repair method never been used before on a statue anywhere in the world
 
The team at Emily Fryer Conservation, Consultant engineer Grant Wilkinson of Ruamoko Solutions and sculptor Mark Whyte have done an incredible job, repairing the damage but leaving little trace of their work
 
And a huge thank you to Jo Grigg who has lead an extraordinary team armed with modern technology and the finest international cooperation that involved Italian marble, Australia expoxy, US expertise on the repair strategy, the original UK artist, NZ Artist and engineer. You have delivered us a resilient statue what I have the honour to unveil today with Robert and Kathleen Scott's descendants. 
 
A century ago, this statue honoured our Antarctic history, today it honours that and much more. May it inspire our children to become our modern day explorers - our researchers and scientists - who will help secure the future of our world.
 

For those of you who are international visitors, welcome to the Mainland of New Zealand, for everyone else welcome to the People's Republic of Christchurch.
 
I make this greeting because we as a city were accused of being such when we refused to buy into the prevailing theory that selling our core infrastructure to the private sector would be in our city's interests.  We didn't buy that then and we don't buy that now.
 
We know as a city that the quadruple bottom line matters and we know that if we are to be ahead of the exponential curve we see coming we need to utilise our infrastructure to prepare for that future even if returns are sacrificed in the short term.  As a city we can't afford not to take a long term view.
 
Christchurch has a proud history of using business for good.  But it was the earthquakes that provided a catalyst for real change.
 
What happened for me, was that the earthquakes and all the experiences that followed, helped me see clearly what was important in life and that sense of purpose creates meaning for individuals, communities and cities alike. 
 
Our message to the rest of the nation and the world, is that no one needs to wait for a disaster for this to occur.
 
And that is why we so warmly welcome the Social Enterprise World Forum to Christchurch.
 
We are the Garden City of New Zealand, but what that means in the 21st century is so much more than what it meant when I was growing up. Now it is also about sustainability, food resilience, clean rivers and environmental protection.  The earthquakes have enabled us to focus on these. 
 
We now see ourselves as a city of opportunity - for all - a place that is open to new ideas, new people and new ways of doing things - a place where anything is possible. 
 
And it is from this sense of possibilities, place and purpose that Christchurch is proud to be the global capital of Social Enterprise for the week.
 
Welcome to Christchurch. Please take the opportunity to explore all that our city has to offer as you explore the world of social enterprise.
 
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

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Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor, Adelaide City Councillors, South Australia State representatives, my colleague Cr David East and Peter Cottrell, the chair of our ChCh-Adelaide Sister City Committee and Distinguished Guests
 
May I begin by acknowledging that we are meeting on the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains and pay respect to their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land. Tena koutou katoa.
 
May I also acknowledge you Lord Mayor, Martin Haese. You have been an incredibly generous host and it is greatly approeciated. I hope we in Christchurch can reciprocate at some time in the near future.
 
It is an honour and a privilege to visit Adelaide for the first time as the Mayor of your New Zealand sister city, Christchurch. 45 years is a special anniversary and much has happened since 1972. That was pre the internet, mobile phones, social media, and trolls were only the stuff of fairytales. 
 
Adelaide is Christchurch's closest Sister City (both geographically and in terms of the length of the relationship).  
 
This of course is not my first trip to Adelaide. I have been here a couple of times before. Once as a very young trade union official and then as a Cabinet Minister when I served under the leadership of the then Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Helen Clark.
 
I was struck the first time I came by the similarity of our cities' layout. I fell for the myth that they were designed by the same planner, but of course that's not the case, but there is a connection in terms of the style. And it does feel like home. The grid pattern with its parks and botanic gardens earning us both the status as a Garden City. 
 
But as I have been saying recently, what a Garden City means in the 21st century is quite different from what it meant when I was growing up. And you seemed to have created a similar vision for Adelaide around sustainability, food resilience, environmental protection and of course the smart city that we aspire to be as well, taking advantage of all that the new technologies have to offer and enabling smart citizens so they can participate directly in the governance of their city.
 
Another similarity is the recognition of the importance of the arts in the life and vitality of a liveable city. Your annual Adelaide Festival of the Arts is a match with the Christchurch Festival of Arts, which is just wrapping up now. In a post disaster environment, it is so important to foster creativity and innovation, and the arts enable us to do so in a way that we can reimagine our lives even when the going gets tough.
 
I am accompanied by University of Canterbury staff and today we visited the University of Adelaide to thank them for their support of Canterbury students after the earthquake. It had a profound effect on their lives and they have gone on to completed their degrees, never forgetting what was done. We will never forget as a city the support we received from Adelaide.
 
I also want to mention the biennial Christchurch Word Festival celebrating readers and writers. One of our key sister city projects initiated last year was to bring indigenous writers from two of our Sister Cities - Adelaide and Seattle - to connect with our own indigenous writers. I attended what was an incredibly powerful and moving presentation and discussion and had the honour of meeting Ali Cobby-Eckerman, who is not here tonight because she is overseas after receiving the Windham-Campbell prize for literary achievement.  
 
I should also mention Christchurch's International Airport, which has gone from strength to strength over the years, developing relationships with international airports and airlines to ensure direct long haul flights into the heart of the South Island. I must say I would have liked a direct flight from Christchurch to Adelaide yesterday. So that's something that's on my wish list.
 
I have been struck by the Lord Mayor's vision for Adelaide to be a smart, innovative city and being a ‘city where good things happen first’. Our vision is that Christchurch is a city of opportunity for all - a place that is open to new ideas, new people and new ways of doing things - a place where anything is possible. 
 
It is true that this is driven off the back of our desire not to let a serious crisis go to waste to paraphrase a former White House Chief of Staff, who said it was an opportunity to do things we didn't think we could do before. But I really feel that sense of possibility here too and something else we have in common. I also see this as the basis for a strong collaboration between our two smart city programmes and their connections to local universities and start ups. Combining our efforts could accelerate our mutual progress.
 
In conclusion, I want to make a presentation to the City of Adelaide in honour of our 45th anniversary. It is a framed korowai, a Maori cloak. A korowai is worn by a person of high standing and signifies protection and warmth, which serms so appropriate given the support we received after the earthquake. And it also signifies as honour and leadership.
 
Thank you again for the warmth of your welcome. These relationships are important and the city of Christchurch looks forward to the next 45 years of our Sister City relationship with the city of Adelaide. 
 
As I said I know how much it meant that our sister cities reached out to us in our time of need and provided support of every kind. Adelaide was no exception and this will never be forgotten. ​

Next year is 125 years since NZ became the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.  I hope today that we commit to ensuring that such a special anniversary year becomes a year of action to achieve gender equality.  That would be a fitting tribute to Kate Sheppard and the suffragists that we honour today.
 
10years ago as Minister of Women’s Affairs I reminded people of the struggle they went through. This was not won easy.
 
Kate Sheppard and her colleagues were tireless in their campaign which took on a head of steam in 1887 - distributing pamphlets, writing letters to the press, giving talks to a variety of groups, making personal contact with politicians, and of course circulating petitions.
 
Kate Sheppard believed that women could not make any of the changes needed in society without first winning the right the vote.
 
I’m not going to traverse the entire history, which is well known to us all.
 
Suffrage bills were defeated in Parliament in 1888, 1891 and 1892, but Kate Sheppard and other suffragists continued to campaign for the vote.
 
And it was on the 19th of September 1893, that Prime Minister Richard Seddon telegraphed Kate Sheppard to tell her the governor had signed the bill that gave New Zealand women the vote.
 
And this is the point I want to make today. The 1893 elections were held in late November, and over 90,000 women – representing 65 percent of women over 21 – exercised their new right to vote. That’s extraordinary given the need to enrol women and get them to the polls, especially when it was by no means universally accepted that women should be voting.
 
It is shows a complete lack of respect for these achievements if we don't vote.
 
When Kate Sheppard died in Christchurch on 13 July 1934, the Christchurch Times said:
 
‘A great woman has gone, whose name will remain an inspiration to the daughters of New Zealand while our history endures.’
 
I want that inspiration to continue to reach all New Zealanders, but particularly to the daughters of our country. I want them to claim their rights as citizens and to accept the responsibility these rights bestow.
 
I said on Friday when I opened the National Council of Women Conference - Kate Sheppard knew it wasn’t just about the vote.
 
She understood that this was only a first step towards equality when a National Council of Women gathered here for the first in Christchurch on the 13 April 1896 just three years after winning the right to vote.
 
And that's why I say it is disrespectful to Kate Sheppard, the women who stood with her and the men who cast the votes earning the right to wear the white camellia, to choose not to vote.  That is not a valid choice.
 
My message is ‘use it or lose it’. We won’t lose the vote, but we do lose the right to influence the direction our nation takes.
 
And that’s much too important to let go.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/96782859/research-backs-whnau-ora-benefits 
“Measuring the Economic Impact of Whanau Ora Programmes - He Toki ki te Mahi Case Study”
 
Ko ​Whiti-reia te turanga
Ko ​Te Hononga te whare
Ko ​Otakaro te awa
 
Tēnā koutou katoa,
 
Can I acknowledge everyone who has gathered here on this occasion - Arihia Bennett; Chief Executive Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, Dr Eruera Tarena, Chief Executive, Te Tapuae o Rehua, Dr Hana O’Regan, General Manager, Oraka, Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, Trevor Taylor and Amoroa (Molly) Luke, chairs of Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu, Professor Paul Dalziel AERU and Cath Savage Ihi Research.
 
When I was asked by Te Putahitanga if I would receive this report “Measuring the Economic Impact of Whanau Ora Programmes - He Toki ki te Mahi Case Study” in the context of the Social Enterprise World Forum that is happening here in Christchurch this month, I was keen to do so.
 
I want to explain why. Since the earthquakes happened I have become a champion of resilience. Not in the 'gosh you are all so resilient, and by that I really mean stoic' sense and not in the sense of an international catchphrase that has become code for governments abandoning vulnerable communities to a market they have no say or control over.
 
I talk about resilience as a powerful word that captures a capacity to absorb, adapt and thrive in the face of adversity whether it's a shock or chronic stress. It's also about the ability to co-create a vision for the future and take charge of ensuring that it happens no matter what.
 
Pioneers who settled this land, from those who journeyed across the Pacific Ocean from East Polynesia to Te Waipounamu to those who sailed from the British Isles centuries later, brought with them stories of resilience. And so too is the reclaiming of the status of Ngai Tahu in this city and region.
 
It is this story in particular that reinforces my very strong view that a high trust environment is a pre-requisite to building resilience. We are building a relationship of trust as a city with Ngai Tahu and with the Papatipu Rūnanga of our area. We have established a joint standing committee of Council - the first in the history of our city - and much of the central city redesign has incorporated Maori history as part of the landscape, with Matapopore working hand in hand with central government, council and the private sector. Trust is a prerequisite.
 
It's very easy to say that people have lost trust in governments - central and local alike. We use phrases like alternative facts and fake news so that we, can quietly mock those who think their messages are getting through. But those messages are getting through and we are to blame. Trust cannot survive these times when people will not engage.
 
My focus on post-disaster environments after the earthquakes has led me to understand that loss of trust in government is not the only issue. Governments have stopped trusting the people. For too long governments think they have to fix our problems for us. As long as we think of communities as problems to be solved we will continue in that vein. 
 
I have been introduced into the world of ABCD - asset-based community development - and the strengths-based approach, it asks us to employ, in order to tackle the challenges we need to confront as communities. 
 
Instead of looking at problems, we look instead to the community’s strengths - the assets that always exist. We look at the level of social capital - and how that can be built - because we know that what we invest in social capital will reap benefits way beyond that investment when we need to make a withdrawal.
 
When I consider the measurement of Whanau Ora as being achieved when whanau are:
Self-managing
Living healthy lifestyles
Participating fully in society
Confidently participating in Te Ao Maori
Economically secure and successfully involved in wealth creation 
Cohesive, resilient and nurturing
Responsible stewards of their natural and living environments,
 
I see an immediate connection between asset-based community development and Whanau Ora.
 
It is from this kaupapa that I receive this report “Measuring the Economic Impact of Whanau Ora Programmes - He Toki ki te Mahi Case Study”. This is an extraordinary report that provides economic proof that building capability through a Whānau Ora commissioning approach pays off - in this case by an incredible ratio of 7.1!
 
W will hear tonight about He Toki ki te Rika, a Māori trades training initiative in partnership with ARA, focused on building Māori capability and leadership within the trades workforce, and how that feeds into He Toki Ki Te Mahi.
 
This is a model of social enterprise that leads us into the world forum in a special way. This report challenges our assumptions about traditional approaches, favouring the partnership model. And the ripple effects of this programme haven't even been begun to be quantified either. 
 
The report ends as follows: 
 
“It is likely that the benefits considered in this analysis will ripple out though whānau, both in the present and in the future. This is a consequence of success in the Whānau Ora goal of whānau being “economically secure and successfully involved in wealth creation.”
 
Congratulations to those with the vision to establish this programme and for the researchers that will enable this approach to challenge the status quo because the status quo is not good enough if we are to make real change for the benefit of generations to come.
 
No reira tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Christchurch Beautifying Association
 
President Ron Andrew and Committee Members, Special Guests Trevor and Jill Lord, (Owner and restorer of Woodford heritage Homestead, Built by original CBA Committee Member Albert Kaye and his wife Eliza Bannerman Kaye in 1886/7), distinguished guests one and all.
 
Thank you for the invitation to speak on the occasion of your 120th anniversary - commemorated on Friday 8th September. 
 
1897 Christchurch. This was the year of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. Victoria Lake in Hagley Park was formed and named in her honour. In June the Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort designed clock-tower was erected on corner of High, Lichfield and Manchester Streets, now standing on the corner of Victoria and Salisbury Streets. The work creating the area known as Victoria Square was completed in 1897.
 
Christchurch was and is New Zealand's Garden City. And your Association has been a part of that from its inception.
 
What I have been saying though, is that what a Garden City means in the 21st century is so much more than what it meant when I was growing up. 
 
Now it's not only about the beauty of our gardens and parks - a vista I proudly show off from the top floor of the Council building to visitors from around the world - I say you can see that we are New Zealand's Garden City. Now it is also about being focused on sustainability, environmental protection, clean rivers and streams and food resilience. A 21st Century Garden City is all of these.
 
But it is also about beauty. I went to the Len Lye Exhibition recently and was reminded of the moment that his fascination with his art began.
 
It was in his family backyard on Manchester St. He was a young boy and his father was dying. He was ushered into the backyard while the adults talked. He kicked an old kerosene can, which made a massive crash and flashed as it caught the sunlight. When he wrote of this moment years later, he said, "We're all stopped short by wonder sometimes and that's when it first stopped me in its tracks."
 
Nature has this wonderful capacity to stop us short by wonder. 
 
When I am feeling down, when I feel that joy has been drained from my life, it is the beauty of nature that can replenish the soul in a way that little else can. 
 
I remember when I ran for Mayor there was a lot of concern that we were going to stop being a garden city, that all our English heritage would be replaced, the willows on the Avon would go and native plantings would replace our beautiful and colourful introduced flowers and trees including the cherry trees that blossom so dramatically at this time of the year.
 
I am pleased to see our pre-colonial history finds its place in the regeneration of the city. Our Maori history is rich indeed. But there is no question from Mana Whenua that our history is shared and that one cannot be fully expressed without the other.
 
Your Association's role in establishing the Floral Clock, (something I never took for granted as a child - I always wanted to visit it if we went into town), is a tribute to the Garden City. The Daffodils in Hagley Park give a colourful visualisation of spring like no other. And the Peacock Fountain, after exciting a huge debate over the colour scheme, is a popular photo spot for residents and visitors alike. 
 
I walk past the Waterwheel established for your centenary on most days, and it reminds me of those who had the passion for beautifying our city. They were ahead of their time. And of course it was the centenary year that saw Christchurch awarded Garden City of the World out of 600 entries. Something your association contributed much to achieve.
 
And today you are looking to the The Garden City of the Future. The Garden Village you are promoting speaks to a living village - an ideal that brings communities together to share the joy of gardening and creating wonderful environments in which to live and from time to time to be stopped short by wonder.
 
Congratulations on your 120th Anniversary - I came today because I wanted you to know how valued you are by your city. As Mayor of Christchurch and a former Member of Parliament I stand along the Mayors and MPs before me who have encouraged you in your work. 
 
Thank you for what you have done and for what you continue to do.

Click Can I acknowledge and thank the General Manager of Yoogo, Kirsten Corson, Christchurch City Councillors and staff, and our partners who have helped make this announcement possible.
 
Today I have the privilege to announce a world leading electric car sharing scheme for Christchurch, which will be underway in November. Initiated by the Council, it has brought together the public sector, private businesses and our city’s residents as well, to share in the new technologies which will become standard in the future. 
 
A few months ago, after a competitive tender, the Council selected vehicle management company, Yoogo, as our partner to develop an electric car sharing scheme and together we have turned a dream into a reality. But the partnership has delivered more than we had even dreamed. The fact that it includes residents, takes this scheme to the next level before it’s even off the ground.
 
In order to realise a dream, you need to begin with someone who dreams the dream.
I would like to acknowledge Cr Vicki Buck, who chairs the Innovation and Sustainable Development Committee for her vision, passion and leadership. This is the way of the future.
 
It means Christchurch is demonstrating strong leadership in innovation and carbon emission reduction by being the first city in New Zealand, and one of the few cities internationally, that has a 100% battery electric car sharing service.
 
When you think about this in the context of the autonomous e-shuttle being trialled at Christchurch International Airport and other initiatives that are coming our way, you can see what an important role Christchurch is playing in trialling emerging technologies. The airport trial, for example, will assist central government write the regulatory framework for using autonomous vehicles on New Zealand roads.
 
Next I want to acknowledge As well as the car share partners who currently include:
Ara Institute of Canterbury
Aurecon
Beca
Canterbury District Health Board
Chapman Tripp
Christchurch International Airport
Environment Canterbury
Jacobs
Meridian Energy
Tonkin and Taylor
Warren and Mahoney
 
I would like to thank these 11 organisations for working with Council to enable this city-wide electric car sharing scheme to happen.
 
And as I've said, as well as the car share partners, Christchurch residents will also have the ability to book and use the electric vehicles. This creates the opportunity for people to 'give e-travel' a go.
 
Council also researched and developed a city-wide hub concept and worked with key stakeholders to make the car sharing service accessible across the city. These hubs are essential to the success of this scheme as this is where the charging infrastructure and vehicles will be located.
 
With Council working on setting up the battery electric off-street hub model, there was a significant amount of work required on assessing power supply availability for charging infrastructure for each potential car sharing hub in the city. I would like to thank Orion for working with Council, and now with Yoogo, on this important aspect of the scheme.
 
I would like to give special thanks to Yoogo for coming on-board with our shared vision for an innovative 100% battery electric car sharing service for Christchurch. 
 
Electric vehicles will help to contribute to our target of reducing emissions. Changing 52 of Council’s compact cars will reduce emissions by an estimated 45 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
 
But the much bigger impact will be the city-wide element of this – that is why we are so pleased that our car share partners came on board to get this scheme off the ground, and we expect this to grow as further businesses sign up and residents are able to use the service.
 
I would like to now ask Kirsten Corson, Yoogo General Manager, to update you on the car sharing service that will be rolled-out city-wide.
here to edit.

Welcome to you all this afternoon. It is a real privilege to be here.
 
Today’s event marks the launch of the Youth Action plan, a document that is the result of young people engaging with young people about what they want and how we might achieve that together.
 
Community engagement lies at the heart of this plan, and I would like to acknowledge all those who have already put a significant amount of work into developing this approach. The Christchurch Youth Council has put in a tremendous amount of work and been a key player in seeing this plan created, and will also look to be caretaker of the plan moving forward.
 
The CYC are also developing a way to monitor progress and develop mechanisms to report back to young people throughout the city. This emphasis on meaningful feedback loops and constant engagement with young people will ensure that the voice of young people is heard. The great thing about this Action Plan is that it can be refreshed every year so it can stay relevant to young people and to the city as a whole.

I want to take this opportunity to make an important announcement. As part of the Christchurch City Council’s review into Community Grants Funding, it was proposed that a contestable Youth Initiatives Fund be established to replace a Youth Ideas Fund that simply hadn’t got off the ground.  This will get off the ground because you will a real say in running it.
 
The Fund will provide $50,000 of contestable funding in its first year to support projects that will provide direct benefits to young people in Christchurch. It is intended that the fund will be managed in a partnership between youth organisations and Council.
 
The youth organisations will agree on the criteria, framework and decision-making process for the allocations of funds, and the Council will administer the payments.
 
The Youth Initiative Fund will enable young people to decide for themselves where funding is best allocated, and empower them to determine their own priorities and desired outcomes, thus reiterating the aims and goals of the Youth action plan itself. I am so pleased to be able to announce such a meaningful contribution towards those goals.
 
This Action Plan is a great demonstration of how, if we actually take the time to ask, our young people will engage with civic issues.

Issues like transport, the environment, youth representation and a sense of belonging are recognised in the report as important issues facing the city. This shared learning approach which is embedded in the Youth action plan enables everyone to contribute to the development and regeneration of our ever-evolving city, which at its heart must be inclusive if it aspires to be dynamic.

While this report goes a long way to welcoming young people to the decision-making table, we need to ensure that this is an ongoing and constructive dialogue.
​
Thank you once again to all those involved for all your hard work and perseverance on a very important goal of active representation and engagement for the young people of Christchurch.

I’d like to acknowledge Te Maire Tau, the Upoko of Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga, for the karakia

A special thank you to our brand new organisation, ChristchurchNZ for organising this event. I’ve been singing don’t rain on my parade all week. Unfortunately the weather is one thing we can’t control.

But we are absolutely delighted to host Emirates Team NZ and the Americas Cup here in Christchurch.  In 1995 the Auld Mug was paraded through our streets – and it is great to do so again today.  We want to honour and pay tribute to the whole team and everyone associated with the win. We especially want to acknowledge the members of the team from Christchurch and Canterbury - welcome home.
Can I also acknowledge Grant Dalton and in so doing acknowledge all of the people that play the different roles that have supported the team to victory – technicians, engineers, coaches, builders, chefs, physios. And can I acknowledge Kevin Shoebridge for responding to my emails.

Christchurch’s special claim to fame in the win comes from Milton Bloomfield who designed the cat’s steering wheel, so Peter Burling’s hands were clasped throughout on some local ingenuity.

Can I acknowledge Emirates as well - we are the smallest city in the world into which an Emirates A380 flies daily – we value our relationship very much.

Although Auckland may be the city of sails, Canterbury is the sporting capital of New Zealand – and we have a strong sailing community too with famous names such as Egnot, Mander, de Their, Philpott and of course Lyttelton’s Peter Lester.

It’s great to have representatives from the Waimakariri Sailing & Power Boat club, along with the Akaroa, Naval Point, Pleasant Point, Charteris Bay, Mount Pleasant and Christchurch Yacht Clubs here today.

So again, I want to pay tribute to Emirates Team NZ.  I want to acknowledge the respectful way that Peter Burling represented the team – I saw a true leader on the television screen after each race.  We were all proud of how you handled the international spotlight and how your grit and determination shone through.

Thank you to the whole team for making the trip down to Christchurch … you made it clear all along that you were very excited about coming here and that you wanted the celebration to go ahead in spite of the weather. 

Congratulations on an outstanding sporting achievement.  You have made us incredibly proud.

It is a real privilege to welcome you all here for the Australasia-Pacific Disaster Management, Recovery & Emergency Communications Forum 2017.  For those of you from out of town – welcome to Christchurch – and for those of you from overseas, welcome to New Zealand as well.
​
I have taken as the theme of my welcoming address the words I found on your website.  Resilience: Saving lives today, investing in tomorrow.

As your programme highlights, “To build a resilient Asia-Pacific requires a paradigm shift from a response-recovery governance to a risk-sensitive development approach, and a stronger regional co-operation for managing trans-boundary disasters.”

People lie at the heart of this conversation – building resilient communities is not something governments can do for communities, but it is not something that all communities can do on their own. Co-operation and collaboration lie at the heart of a planning and decision-making environment that promotes risk awareness and risk reduction, together with better preparedness, readiness, response and recovery.  I have said many times that we prepare for the immediate response to disaster but not for recovery – and that’s where building resilience comes in.

I always start with this slide, because it’s such a great photo of me.  It’s the end of 2011 and the aftermath of the last of the large aftershocks that followed the 4 Sept 2010 and 10 months almost to the day after the devastating February 22 earthquake that claimed 185 lives, injured 100s more, destroyed buildings and damaged the land, leading the government to buy out around 8000 homes.

The headline – Good News. You’re more prepared than you think and the quote: actual emergencies look more like people coming together than cities falling apart – both come from the San Francisco emergency preparedness website. And they are very accurate.  There are things we do as cities or regions or communities that prepare us for an emergency, but what I have come to realise is that is true of preparedness for recovery too.  But we don’t always see them.

I attended a recovery seminar shortly after the February earthquake and heard one of the speakers say that it was vital to understand the pre-existing story – what was going on before the disaster struck.  He was referring to identifying pre-existing vulnerabilities, given that disaster can present an opportunity to address those.  I now know it to be equally true of pre-existing strengths – the building blocks of recovery and resilience.

My message today is how important it is to recognise these building blocks as preparedness initiatives when considering a Disaster Risk Management framework, because they can shape both the nature and the speed of recovery and build resilience at the same time. 

I didn’t know what I didn’t know on September 4 2010.  I’d never heard about liquefaction or lateral spread.  I spent the next 3 years learning as much as I could.  I discovered an entire body of knowledge on Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction including many of the issues that you have on your agenda.  Our own civil defence and emergency management plans were based on international best practice. But they were not seen as ‘fit for purpose’ in terms of what was regarded as an unprecedented event. There was a view that we were actually re-writing international best practice … on a day-by-day basis’. The image on the left is Feb 1931 in Hawke’s Bay in the North Island and the second is Feb 2011 in Christchurch.
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Many of the first people who died in Hawke’s Bay, were those who ran out of the buildings and were crushed in the rubble. 

We gained a lot as a country from this and subsequent disasters and WWII.  Our national disaster insurance scheme – the Earthquake Commission – our building code and our Standards Council.

But somehow the risks associated with unreinforced masonry, parapets and decorative features were not picked up. 

I remember meeting a man who had moved to Christchurch from Napier about 30 years ago.  He said he thought there was something different about Christchurch houses when he arrived – he realised it was chimneys.

So we didn’t know that we were exposed to earthquakes? We did.  Maybe like me everyone thought the big one would be Wellington.  But we had September – why weren’t we thinking about what we could do to de-risk our city? Maybe we knew to expect a one magnitude below and it hadn’t come – this was nearly 6 months later – maybe we thought a smaller magnitude earthquake couldn’t do more damage than the first one in the sequence.

I say this because it is so vital to learn the lessons of each experience and embed them into our regulatory frameworks, because people forget.

It is also very human to think that you are the only person in the world who has had to confront a particular issue or challenge. But the truth is there is much we can learn from the experience of others.  The regional co-operation that you have identified as so important is absolutely vital.

This slide shows the two recovery models – Queensland and Christchurch – both 2011.  The message from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority was communication, communication, communication – communication is vital to community engagement, understanding risk and building confidence and trust.
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It seemed to me early on that we needed to focus on building community resilience, not only with respect to a particular event, but also in case the decision-makers don’t get the recovery framework right. 

So what is resilience? I created this Tui Billboard to reflect how many local people react to being described as resilient. And that’s because well-meaning people use the word resilient, when they mean stoic or simply to reflect the scale of what we’ve been through.  I have come to know resilience in community or city terms not as a destination, but as a journey.  The definition that the 100 Resilient Cities Network uses is the ability of a system, entity, community, or person to withstand shocks while still maintaining its essential functions and to recover quickly and effectively. It’s beyond survival – it’s about the ability to adapt and to thrive in the face of acute shocks and chronic stresses.

This word cloud highlights the words Creativity, Flexibility, Diversity, Adaptation, Community, Respect, Change, Strength and Hope, Experimentation and Persistence.
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At the community level these all speak to the building of social capital.  I always say that a community is not defined by the co-location of houses – that’s a suburb – a community is defined by the relationship between people who belong to the community – be it based on place, identity or interest – and the decision-makers that can affect their community – be that local or central government or both.

So what builds that social capital?
I have used Project Lyttelton as an example – it has Welcome Bags for new community members, community gardens, farmers market, runs festivals, fruit and vege collective – the list goes on, but most importantly it has a timebank.  You don’t need a civil defence group when you have a community that already values other members contribution equally – hour for hour not based on dollars.  And here are the reasons why this builds social capital.

Timebanking is based on 5 Core Values:
1.We are all assets. We all have something to give. The real wealth of  a society is its people. Every human being can be a contributor, no  matter who they are and what their experience in life has been.

2.Redefining Work: Some work is beyond price. Work has to be redefined to value what it takes to raise healthy children, build strong families, revitalize neighbourhoods, make communities work, advance social justice, and make the planet sustainable. That kind of work needs to be honoured, recorded and rewarded.

3.Reciprocity: Helping works better as a two-way street.  The question: “How can I help you?” needs to change so we ask:  “How can we help each other build the world we both will live in?” 

4.Social Networks: We need each other. Networks are stronger than individuals. People help each other re-weave communities of support, strength and trust. Community is built upon growing roots, building trust and creating networks.

5.Respect: Every human being matters. Respect underlies everything we value.  Respect supplies the heart and soul of community. When respect is denied to anyone, we all are injured. We must respect where people are in the moment, not where we hope they will be in the future.
SLIDE

I haven’t picked up on every example of pre-existing and emergent community leaders. It’s a truly wonderful legacy.

ACTIS – as with the Lyttelton Project, ACTIS had been practising grassroots community development for a decade when the earthquakes struck.  The truth is that this community would have taken much longer to respond and recover if it had not been for this community trust that had the confidence of the community and the capacity to sit at the table with central and local government.

The Avon-Otakaro Network – was established to enable the community to be directly involved in the future of what is called the Residential Red Zone – over 7000 properties were once part of the river and estuary side communities that were affected by the earthquakes.

Sam Johnson will always be associated with the emergence of the Student Volunteer Army that played such an important role in engaging students in the response effort after the earthquakes.  The spirit it engendered has become an integral part of the University of Canterbury’s curriculum.

Gap Filler – is just one of the emergent groups that give life to vacant spaces and have given meaning to the phrase the art of recovery.
The Ministry of Awesome is awesome – the introduction of new ideas and new ways of working has spearheaded innovation and creativity as part of the transition and embedded them into the future Christchurch.

CanCERN – Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Network – was a vital mechanism for bringing a range of community and residents groups together so they had a voice that could influence the decision-makers.  Their motto was “The wisdom of the community always exceeds the knowledge of the experts.” I personally think that this was a reaction to being excluded and I will come back to that in a minute.

I like this quote. Never let a serious crisis go to waste.  It’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before – that’s the real message.  And there is opportunity – as long as we are prepared to seize it.

We have seized the opportunity to develop a resilience plan with four major goals.

We are connected communities living in adaptable places
We are a community that participates in shaping our future
We are prosperous by sustaining the vitality of the natural environment, fostering innovation and attracting people.

We understand our risks to be better prepared for future challenges
There are many elements to achieving these goals but I think that you will see that all of them are about mutual actions.

Resilience is not a top down exercise, but nor is it grassroots up alone.  It has to be both. I said I would come back to the CanCERN motto – the wisdom of the community always exceeds the knowledge of the experts – I believe it should say – the wisdom of the community when combined with the knowledge of the experts always exceeds what one can offer without the other.

Each of these goals requires a clear shift in how we engage people, not as taxpayers or consumers, but as citizens with rights and responsibilities.  Focusing on community led organisations and community leaders feature throughout the plan.

For me one of the great lessons of our experience is that leaders will always emerge from communities and they must be engaged as soon as possible.  They already have the trust of their communities and trust is the one ingredient that we cannot do without if recovery is to be successful and if we truly want to build resilience. And as you’ve seen many of them are already there. They should be treated as a critical part of the resilience of the city’s social infrastructure in the same way we treat our physical infrastructure – the buildings, roads and pipes. We need to be able to rely on both after disaster strikes.

The biggest opportunity Christchurch has ahead of it, lies in the shift from Recovery to Regeneration.

Regeneration is a wonderful word – it blends the concepts of restoration and new growth. The old recovery model, with the spaghetti junction image, has been disestablished and we have a new regeneration framework, which has community engagement at its heart. And that in of itself will continue to build resilience.

The future of what is called the Residential Red Zone is one of those amazing opportunities a city could ever have to rethink an area of more than 600ha – half of it is twice the size of Hagley Park.

So thank you for choosing Christchurch for this forum.  You can see that I believe that building resilience to disasters is the path forward – and that it is the only way that we can save lives today while investing in tomorrow. We must learn the lessons of our experiences and we must be willing to learn the lessons that others have experienced. That is how we build resilience within our communities and cities and how we build resilience within our region.
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So welcome to Christchurch and welcome to one of the most important conversations we need to have. 

Ada’s election was remarkable in many ways. It was 1917 and New Zealanders were at war. Ada was uncompromising and outspoken in her condemnation of the war. But it is perhaps not the things that Ada was opposed to that saw her elected to Council, but the things she so vigorously campaigned for - votes for women, equal educational opportunities for girls and women, prison reform and improvements to the charitable aid system.Dr Megan Woods, representing women Members of Parliament, thank you for getting leave from Parliament to be with us today. Former Councillors Carole Evans, Dr Anna Crighton, Sue Wells, Sally Thompson and Claudia Reid. Present councillors, community board 
members and guests.

Thank you for gathering here today to celebrate the 100th anniversary of a significant 

milestone not only for our Council but for the women of Christchurch – the election of Ada Wells as the first woman to serve as a Councillor on the Christchurch City Council.
I would like to extend a special welcome to Bruce and Diana Carey who have joined us here today. Bruce is Ada’s grandson and we are delighted and honoured to have him here with us. I would also like to acknowledge their Son and his wife Richard and Toni Carey and their daughter who is Ada's great great granddaughter.

She was well known in Christchurch through her active leadership and participation in a number of national and community based organisations and she was tireless in her fight for women’s equality and economic independence.

Ada’s election was described in The Star on 5 May 1917 as “about the most solemn and important happening of the past week so far.” The same article also reported that “the news caused great perturbation amongst the rest of the councillors…and they were to be found gathered in little knots gloomily debating whether a lady member should be called a “councillor” or whether she would be referred to as “councilloress” or “councillorine.” Many of the “old brigade” feared that they would no longer be able to smoke in the chamber and regretted that they had offered themselves for re-election!

Since Ada’s historic election victory women have continued to serve as city councillors – some of us have even been elected to the mayoralty! Today we are also re-instating the Camellia Room in honour of all of the women who have been elected to Council. The Camellia Room at the previous Civic Offices in Tuam Street was the initiative of Dr Anna Crighton and we are delighted to see it revived. The portraits of the earliest seven female councillors have been installed in time for today’s commemoration and we will gradually to add others until we have a comprehensive gallery of the women of council once again.

Since Ada’s historic election victory women have continued to serve as city councillors – some of us have even been elected to the mayoralty! Today we are also re-instating the Camellia Room in honour of all of the women who have been elected to Council. The Camellia Room at the previous Civic Offices in Tuam Street was the initiative of Dr Anna Crighton and we are delighted to see it revived. The portraits of the earliest seven female councillors have been installed in time for today’s commemoration and we will gradually to add others until we have a comprehensive gallery of the women of council once again.

On the Kate Sheppard memorial, where Ada is depicted with other leaders of the
suffrage movement, the plaque acknowledges the “women of spirit” who campaigned for the vote. Ada was undoubtedly a woman of spirit, of courage, of compassion and commitment and we are proud to celebrate her contribution to public life in Christchurch and to be 
following in her footsteps in serving our communities.

Ada Wells died in Christchurch on 22 March 1933. So she missed the election of the first woman to Parliament by 6 months.  In her obituary it was said of her that:

​A cause might be despised, obscure, rejected, she not only helped it all the same, she helped it all the more, and in the dark and stormy days of unfounded truth she was always to the front.
A wonderful way to dedicate this Camelia room in her memory.

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​I'd like to acknowledge Alexandra Davids and all members of the Keep Christchurch Beautiful Trust. 

As Mayor I am the patron of a number of Trusts. There are very few duties associated with being a Patron, but when I am asked to say a few words, I really like to do so. I may have the honour of this role as patron, but it is you who I want to honour and pay tribute to for all that you do. 

Keeping Christchurch Beautiful has been a particular challenge over the last few years - nature did some real damage to properties and unrestrained, nature in the form of weeds does not make for a beautiful environment befitting our country's Garden City. 

Your aim is one that we should all sign up to - To encourage civic pride and the promotion of beautiful Christchurch. 

I love your beauty spot challenge. I was so inspired, when I went for a walk on Sunday, I took a rubbish bag and I cleaned up as I went. It was a great feeling. 

I remember seeing a FB post a couple of years ago that showed an overflowing bin - this was the Council's fault according to the post - no-one mentioned the mindless vandals who kept piling on the rubbish even though it was ending up on the ground. And yes I use the word vandals deliberately - they are no better than those who scratch windows and slash tyres - someone has to clean up after them and yes it costs money. 

Communities that refuse to turn a blind eye to people dumping their rubbish - who report and clean up - they will end up with a community they can be proud of. And it's not the council shirking its duty - it's the community taking back the power to define who they are. 

Thank you for what you do. It matters now more than ever that we Keep Christchurch Beautiful! 

I would like to begin by acknowledging Hon Nicky Wagner,
Local MP Hon Ruth Dyson, List MP Nuk Korako, Deputy Mayor –Andrew Turner and my fellow councillors – Raf Manji, Phil Clearwater, Tim Scandrett, Deon Swiggs.
Banks Peninsula Community Board chair – Christine Wilson and deputy, Pam Richardson.
Chair of the CCHL board Jeremy Smith and Lyttelton Port Company chair Trevor Burt.
A special welcome also, to Tony Petrie, Cruise NZ.
 
This is a very exciting day for our city. I'm going to cut to the chase...today I am very happy to announce a new $56 million cruise ship berth at Lyttelton.

This is great news for the city, the region and the country.

The cruise industry looks at the total package that is Destination New Zealand and there has been a glaring gap in the Destination South component of that and that is Lyttelton.

In saying that I want to pay tribute to Akaroa. This special part of the Peninsula that came into Christchurch's boundaries just over a decade ago, has carried a huge load so that we were not lost to the cruise industry and that tourists could still experience the magic of this special part of the world.

The pressure on Akaroa has been tremendous and, although I think it will always be a destination for the boutique cruise ships, today's announcement will come as an enormous relief.

The new berth here at Lyttelton will be the first custom built cruise ship facility for Christchurch and will be able to accommodate some of the largest cruise liners from around the world, including the  MS Oasis of the Seas which is 362 metres long, weighs 225,282 tonnes and carries around 5,400 people.

The development we are announcing here today will be even better than what we had before the earthquakes when cruise ships would berth at Cashin Quay 2.

In the year before the earthquakes, the 2009-10 season, 50 cruise ships visited Lyttelton - in the past year the number can be counted on one hand.

We have had to watch the rest of the country enjoy a tourism boom over the last 6 years. And although the valiant efforts of our Airport Company and CCT have really helped us keep our heads above water, we won't regain our share of that boom as of right.  This is an investment in our future.

This decision not only brings 150000 cruise passengers back into the city per year, it also puts our city back on the map in brochures and cruise publications as a must-see city - a destination in our own right.

Finally I would like to acknowledge the tremendous amount of work that has gone into both the cruise ship berth and the wider Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan. Thank you to the working party which was set up to investigate options for hosting cruise ships in Lyttelton.

As part of the process a business case was carried out to determine the value of the cruise ship industry to the city and the region. And as a result of that work the decision was made to fund the project through the Lyttelton Port Company.

The cruise ship berth represents a massive investment in the future of Christchurch and the wider region. Cruise ships bring both vibrancy and economic activity into the city so it is great that Christchurch will have a dedicated facility.

Bringing cruise ships back is another step forward to revitalise Christchurch and also Lyttelton. Once again, we have been able to improve facilities to future proof the city rather than just replacing what was there before.
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I've been repeating this quote. Never let a serious crisis go to waste - it's an opportunity to do things you didn't think you could do before. Out of every disaster comes opportunity and this is one hell of an opportunity.
 

​It is an honour and a privilege to address you this morning.
Your theme of UN+Represented invites a discussion about groups in society who struggle for a voice in government – let alone an equal voice – and what that means for women. 
I note on your Facebook page that you also raise the issue of the freedom of the media. I am very interested in that question, because the important role of the ‘fourth estate’ is in my view constantly undermined by the commercial imperatives that now seem to control what the public get to see and hear.  In addition, the role of social media as a disruption to the fundamental protections of ‘fairness, accuracy and balance’, and the lack of moderation over even the identity of contributors to the public discourse, create a challenging environment for any government.
But I will stick to my brief.
Coming together as a Model United Nations enables you to consider issues from a range of perspectives that will help prepare you for what will be an increasingly complex and challenging world, where future events are unpredictable. 
It is vital that we all understand why it is so important that all perspectives have a voice when it comes to confronting these challenges.
And this must not be viewed as a skillset required solely for the decisions taken by the United Nations. Understanding the importance of diversity at the decision-making table, is vital for taking on these challenges at the national, city, business and community level as well.
Let me focus on the importance of having women at the table, and why I have used the expression ‘Women hold up half of the sky’ as the name of this presentation.

​There couldn't be a better place than Christchurch to explore this theme – the home of Kate Sheppard – the leader of the Women's Suffrage movement, who won New Zealand the status of the first country to grant women the right to vote.

Every year her memory is honoured by the Kate Sheppard Memorial Trust awarding a scholarship to a young woman determined to make a difference. Determination is a characteristic of a great leader who never gives up – it was the third petition that won the day. 
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I’ve highlighted a couple of quotes: “all that separates, whether of race, class, creed, or sex, is inhuman, and must be overcome” which is about human rights, and “The question for me is whether we can keep Earth a safe, pleasant place for humankind and the ecosystems we rely on”, which is a reference to the importance of the future of our planet, something that is even more important today than it was in 1893.

Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right.
Since then, the Organisation has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

Today a central organising principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.
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That is an incredibly powerful statement when you think about it. Without the full participation of women, we will not find enduring solutions to the challenges we face.

Only one woman sat at the table when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was crafted in 1948 and that was Eleanor Roosevelt. There are many of her quotes that will be familiar to you – “A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water” and “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”.  But it is this one that asks the question that you have asked me to address : “Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them, that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression”
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What is the ‘special value women have to offer’?  In my view it is our experience of the world – our world view - that makes our contribution invaluable.
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I attended the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai in March 2015 –20 years after I attended the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing.
If there is one thing that was reinforced both times, it was the need for women to be at the table when decisions are made.
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UN resolution 1325 specifically identifies the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction and stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.

The challenges we face are greater today than they have ever been – disasters – caused by natural events or man-made - climate change and extreme weather events from storms to droughts, extreme violence, terrorism, income inequality.

If women don't sit at the table when the decisions are made about how to combat all of these, they are condemned to continue to be their greatest victims.

That was the message in 1995 and it was exactly the same message in 2015.

There is a slogan that has been developed within the disabilities movement – nothing about us without us.
If we don’t engage women in initiatives designed to address peace and security, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable development, then I fear for the future of our planet.  President Obama spoke about climate change as an imperative not to leave to our children and children’s children a planet beyond their capacity to repair. We will do that if women remain absent from the decision-making tables of the world.

The reasons why can be seen when we think of different leadership styles and what they bring to the table.

I remember going to a forum a few years ago where young people were asked to describe leadership and the usual words were offered: (Click) strong, decisive, authoritative, inspiring, responsible. But my experience is that this is the heroic model of leadership.

In the emergency response period following a disaster, people often look for this form of leadership – it's the command and control model and it can be comforting, someone else taking charge, knowing what to do.

But there is another way to define leadership and this definition ties in with my experience once the immediate crisis is over and we begin the process of recovery.

Wisdom, courage, faith, moderation and justice describe a kind of leadership that is (Click) respectful, engaging, empathetic, inclusive and intuitive.

Why do I think of women when I hear those words and yet we don't necessarily think of women when we look for leaders? Have we had the image of the heroic leader drummed into us to the extent that we don't see that these are the qualities that build trust and empowers others to step up?
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Or have we forgotten something else Eleanor Roosevelt said: (Click) “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”

So where is the tangible evidence that we truly believe women hold up half of the sky?

And why do people stand in the way of programmes that are designed to improve women’s participation?

There is a difference between equality and equity as this simple graphic highlights.
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Equality is sameness – giving everyone the same thing. It only works if everyone starts from the same place. Equity or Justice encapsulates the notion of fairness.  Giving people the same opportunity.

​And I’m sure you would have seen this cartoon before. For a fair selection, everybody has to face the same exam: Please climb that tree.

Helen Clark made a statement on International Women’s Day, which has been devoted to Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030.

“Globalization and technology change are driving that change. It’s important that women are able to succeed in this new world of work. 
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As it is, a global wage gap persists, with women earning on average 24 per cent less than men. Women are only half as likely as men to have full-time waged jobs with an employer. Women are over-represented in vulnerable and informal work, often without social protection, and are under-represented in management in the corporate sector, holding only 22 per cent of senior business leadership positions.

A disproportionate load of unpaid work is a constraint on women in the workforce. Women are estimated to do as much as three times as much unpaid work as men do – from caring for children, the ill, and the elderly to growing and preparing food.

In communities lacking ready access to basic services, investments in water and sustainable energy would save women the time they currently spend gathering water and fuel. Changing gender stereotypes so that both men and women contribute to care work is also important in achieving gender equality. 

Access to new technologies is important for women in all societies – for access to information and to services, including for banking. Girls should be encouraged to study science, technology, engineering and maths, subjects which open up many opportunities, and more corporate effort is needed to promote women’s participation and advancement in the technology sectors.     

In the 173 economies covered in the World Bank’s 2016 report on Women, Business and the Law, 155 have at least one law which discriminates against women. There are still countries where women do not have the right to divorce, inherit property, own or rent land, or access credit. This is a huge constraint on women’s economic empowerment. 

The time is now to resolve to clear away the barriers to gender equality in the world of work and all other spheres. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development urges that no one be left behind. That means leaving no woman behind – anywhere.”

​And there is nothing but good that come from ensuring diversity at the table.  This is Canadian research, but it is repeated wherever it is analysed. Having women at the decision-making table improves every aspect of the business: 
•Strong financial performance
•Ability to attract & retain top talent
•Heightened innovation
•Enhanced client insight
•Strong performance on non-financial indicators
•Improved board effectiveness

I often quote JK Rowling's speech that she gave at Harvard University's Commencement back in 2008. If you haven’t seen it, you must. She talked about the benefits of imagination, not as the pathway to her successful writing career as would be an obvious assumption. 

She talked about her time at Amnesty International and meeting asylum seekers, whose stories haunted her at nights.  Imagining the horrors they and their families experienced created empathy – one of those characteristics of leadership.

She said:
“Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners.
Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers, to save people they do not know, and will never meet.

My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.”

She spoke of the privilege and the burden of being Harvard graduates and the influence they would have not only on their country but on the world:
“If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change.

We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”
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It really is worth watching the whole address http://ed.ted.com/lessons/j-k-rowling-speaks-at-harvard-commencement

It’s sometimes hard at your age to think about these issues in the context of what you would do.

Malala was born on 12 July 1997 in Mingora, a town in the Swat District of north-west Pakistan. Her father, who ran a school in Swat, was known as an advocate for education in Pakistan, which has the second highest number of out of school children in the world. He had become an outspoken opponent of Taliban efforts to restrict education and stop girls from going to school.

Malala shared her father’s passion for learning and loved going to school. In 2009, as the Taliban’s military hold on Swat intensified, Malala began writing a blog about the importance of education for girls under a pseudonym. Her identity was later revealed and when, in 2011, she received Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize and was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize, she became a target for the Taliban.

On 9 October 2012, as Malala and her friends were travelling home from school, a masked gunman entered their school bus and asked for Malala by name. She was shot with a single bullet which went through her head, neck and shoulder.

Malala survived to become a global advocate for the millions of girls being denied a formal education because of social, economic, legal and political factors, co-founding the Malala Fund with her father.  She became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 December, 2014, contributing her entire prize money of more than $500,000 to financing the creation of a secondary school for girls in Pakistan. https://www.malala.org/

Conclusion
Malala was 12 years old when she wrote her blog, putting her life at risk and was 15 years old when she was shot. What would anyone of us have done?

I am ending with this inspirational youth leader as I believe she portrays a depth of courage that belies her age. In her early teens, Malala was aware of the social and economic impact of girls' education and was willing to risk her life to empower girls to raise their voices, to unlock their potential and to demand change.

I fear that those of us in the developed world, who joke about our first world problems, have lost the sense of purpose that drives someone like Malala.
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If women are to hold up half the sky then we need women of purpose to stand up and be counted in every sphere of life and we need men, good, strong men, who understand why they need these women at their side.