Civic Earthquake Memorial Service 22 February 2019
E nga mana e nga reo e rau rangatira ma tenei te mihi kia koutou i te kaupapa o te ra tena koutou tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa
E nga manuhiri o nga hau e wha
E nga waka o nga tai e wha
Nau mai taute mai
 
Greetings and welcome to everyone gathered here today – to our visitors who have travelled from the four winds, to all who represent the four oceans, welcome to this place.  Thank you to Dr Te Maire Tau – Upoko, Ngai Tūāhuriri, for his words of greeting.
 
Hon Dr Megan Woods, Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration
HE Mr Norikazu SUZUKI - Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Members of Parliament: Hon Ruth Dyson, Hon Gerry Brownlee & Poto Williams
Mayor Winton Dalley, Hurunui District and David Ayers, Waimakariri District
Sir Bob and Lady Parker
Councillors
 
Members of the Diplomatic & Consular Corps, Representatives of the Emergency Services, the families and friends of those whose names are engraved on this memorial and everyone who has gathered today - I welcome you to this place. 
 
May I in particular acknowledge the Quake Families Trust, as I welcome you here on their behalf as well.
 
This is the place where we gather on the 22nd February to remember those whose lives were lost, to ensure that they live on, not only in the memories of those who loved and knew them well, but also in our collective memory as a city.  We also remember those who were seriously injured, and all those who were affected and who carry the scars of the trauma they have experienced.  And we remember all those who came to help us in so many ways.
 
Today’s theme is ‘caring for each other’. It seems so appropriate when the experience of the earthquake, alongside the tragic loss of life, traumatic injury and loss of homes, was this extraordinary sense of coming together - reaching out - caring for each other. 
 
Forged in tragedy the bonds that were formed that day and in the days, weeks, months and years that have followed will never be broken. 
 
And so it is that 8 years on from that fateful day we come together at this time, in this place, to remember, to share our sorrow, to record our gratitude to those who came to our aid and to care for each other once more.
 
No reira tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra tatou katoa.

​E te whare e tu nei, tena koe
E te papa ki waho tena koe
E nga mate, haere, haere, haere
E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o te motu, e nga iwi nga hau e wha
tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra tatou katoa   
           
I acknowledge and greet the house, the land, those who have gone before, the prestige of the occasion, the voices, the people of this area and the people who have come from the directions of the four winds.
 
I acknowledge the special guests who have come to support this occasion.
 
Members of Parliament Hon. Ruth Dyson, MP and Eugenie Sage, MP
 
Councillors Andrew Turner, Jimmy Chen, Yani Johanson and David East
 
Mary Richardson, the director of the office of the Chief Executive of the city council
 
Dr. Surinder  & Mrs Achna Tandon, President of the Multicultural Association
 
 
I wish to thank Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke again for their manaakitanga.  You have again made us feel very welcome and made this a special day for us all.
           
I particularly welcome the 30 candidates, representing 11 different nationalities, who leave the marae this afternoon as New Zealand Citizens.
 
I know that this is a very important milestone in your lives.  It was poignant to read some of your stories in the paper this morning. The sense of relief that refuge is available so far from the place you were once not frightened to call home and the sense of opportunity that came with finding a place in the world you could freely choose to make your home.
 
Holding a Citizenship Ceremony on the Marae on Waitangi Day has become a tradition over the years and one that I truly value.  It is both an honour and a privilege.
 
May I welcome all the family and friends who have joined us on this special day to support you.  The fact that you are here is meaningful to the candidates – thank you on their behalf for your support on this special day.
 
And now we come to the official part of the ceremony.

 
Before we hear a message from the Department of Internal Affairs, may I be the first to officially congratulate you as New Zealand citizens.
 
I hope you will always remember this occasion.
 
As I said before the fact that you are gaining citizenship on Waitangi Day makes this even more significant, as it is today that we reflect on our bi-cultural nationhood that has enabled us to celebrate the diversity of our multi-cultural society that we have become.
 
Last year I was asked by the City Library to write what Waitangi Day meant for me so that they could share the message with the children who were learning about the Treaty of Waitangi, our founding document. 
 
It caused me to reflect on my own experience.  I said when I was a child we didn't learn anything about the Treaty at school.  As an adult I became ashamed at how little I knew.  We didn't know how to pronounce the names or even know the meaning of the places where we grew up or in my case one of the schools I went to.  Papanui (where I grew up) means a large piece of land and Waimairi (my first school) reflects listless or peaceful water by the trees – they say still waters run deep, so a good name for a school. 
 
I went on to say that I was pleased that young people today learn about our shared history with Maori, good and bad, and not just the history of the European settlors.
 
The Treaty in modern times has served as the basis for resolving grievances that arose when its principles were not honoured.  Every settlement begins with a statement of the facts (gleaned from a consideration of all the evidence by the Waitangi Tribunal) and an apology for the wrong that has been done. 
 
It is easy to explain to children the importance of people owning up and saying sorry when they have done wrong.  In this case the wrong was done by the Crown, which lives on in the form of the Executive arm of government, which is why the apology is recorded in the Act of Parliament that confirms the settlement.
 
I have been reflecting on the importance of owning up and saying sorry.  During my time in Parliament, the government acknowledged two non-Treaty historic wrongs and apologised for them.  The first was 13 years ago when the Prime Minister apologised for the poll tax and other discriminatory practices that were applied only to the Chinese migrants, many of whom originally came to mine for gold.
 
The second was to apologise for New Zealand's early administration of Samoa covering the influenza epidemic of 1918, the shooting of unarmed Mau protesters by New Zealand police in 1929 and the banishing of matai (chiefs) from their homes. The apology was delivered by the Prime Minister in Samoa on the occasion of their 40th Anniversary of independence.
 
At the end of 2013 we reflected on the life of Nelson Mandela and his gift to his nation of truth and reconciliation. 
 
It was a nation’s chance for restorative justice – the chance to speak the truth, acknowledge what had been done, own up and take responsibility for personal actions, whether directed or otherwise, and to express sorrow and regret – a genuine apology for the wrongs that have been committed against others.
 
Recording the history – laying down the truth - and apologising for wrongdoing is at the heart of our Treaty settlement process here in New Zealand.
 
It is a firm foundation for building enduring relationships and creating unity and today we commemorate 175 years since the signing of that Treaty began.
 
As I mentioned before we read of two stories in the paper this morning. Every one of you has your own story about what has brought you here.  It is the culmination of those stories that adds another chapter to our history book as a nation.
 
Each one of us or our ancestors made a journey to make Aotearoa New Zealand home - by waka, by ship or by plane - it is that journey that we all have in common and that is one of the foundation stones of our nation. Sharing the stories of our journeys that brought us here enables us to build understanding which also builds enduring relationships and creates unity.
 
That is why being here at Rapaki Marae on Waitangi day is so poignant. 
 
In Maori you will hear the expression tūrangawaewae literally ‘a place to stand’. A place where we feel especially empowered and connected - our foundation, our place in the world, our home.
 
Some of you have had to give up your citizenship of your place of birth in order to take up citizenship here.  Let me say that as new citizens none of you severs your ties with your home of birth; you bring your language, your culture and your history with you and you nurture them in your children. 
 
And we, the wider community, are all enriched by your experience and you gain another home – a place where you can stand tall and proud – as a citizen.
 
Congratulations to each of you.  I wish you well on the next stage of your journey.
 
Ngā mihi nui me te aroha nui.  Congratulations and best wishes. Kia ora, kia kaha.  Go well and be strong. No reira tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra tatou katoa.

​My former Parliamentary colleague and chair of FENZ, Hon Paul Swain, & CE Rhys Jones, Members of Parliament, Councillors, Assistant Area Commander, Steve Kennedy, Members of the New Brighton Volunteer FB and Wainoni Professional Fire Fighters - the ANZACS:
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Welcome everyone to the opening of the ANZAC Fire Station. I was thrilled to be invited to be part of today’s opening.

As a former Bexley resident and the MP for Christchurch East with my office in New Brighton, the volunteer fire station was a big part of my life, with the siren being sounded, and the cars soon to be heard whizzing by. 

I’ve lost count of the number of Gold Star ceremonies I have been to, and it was always a matter of particular pride to me as an MP to know that the true sign of what makes a community was a feature of this special part of Christchurch.

This station is a composite station, replacing the New Brighton Volunteer Fire Station and the Wainoni Career Temporary Fire Station, which was co-located with the volunteer brigade after the earthquakes.    
The station design has been future proofed to accommodate anticipated future response needs to the eastern suburbs of Christchurch. The location is perfect for that purpose - straight onto the state highway - the range is superb.

I did a wee bit of research for today. 

For most of its history, New Zealand’s fire services have been funded and managed locally. And it was 110 years ago, in May 1908, that the New Brighton brigade was first called together. The building cost 352pounds -6/-4. This one has cost quite a bit more, even if that sum was couched in today’s dollars.

It was the Ballantynes’ Fire of 1947, where 41 people lost their lives, which led to the passing of the New Zealand’s first fire safety legislation. 

I make this point to emphasise that Christchurch has been the catalyst for change as it so often has been. 

Today is no different. The volunteer and professional firefighters serve side by side in a station that is named for that moment in our history 100 years ago, that speaks to courage, loyalty and sacrifice, as well as the camaraderie that was once forged on a battlefield. That same courage loyalty, sacrifice and camaraderie is now forged here in this place and to wherever you are called.
​
As Mayor of Christchurch, thank you for what you do, and I hope you treasure the ANZAC spirit you represent so well a century on.

Mihi and acknowledgements.

Thank you all for being here, and thank you to all of you who have played a part in the workshops leading up to today. 

I have been given the honour of giving expression to the purpose for which we are gathered. In speaking to our journey, today is an important milestone. This is not the first time we have gathered, and it won’t be the last.

In 2021 we will host an international conference that will bring people to Christchurch so we can focus on making a global contribution to disaster risk reduction, sustainable development and climate change adaptation through the dual concepts of risk and resilience.
Our journey shows they are inextricably linked and equally vital to our future locally, nationally and globally.

There are people here who know the struggle that I have personally experienced, working alongside my constituents as the MP for Christchurch East when the earthquake sequence occurred, joining with the community in a collaborative response in the hard hit eastern suburbs, facing up to the experience of being red-zoned along with my neighbours, studying the essential elements of post disaster recovery, taking on the decision-makers when I felt they didn’t understand best practice, and constantly finding strength in all those who offered to help Christchurch and those existing and emerging community leaders who became confidantes and friends who have inspired me to carry on.

Learning the lessons from our experience and ensuring that they are embedded into nationwide planning for future disaster recoveries have been my drivers.

When we experience adversity, when we are traumatised by events outside our control, when we lose a loved one or a friend in circumstances that we know must have been avoidable, we look for meaning in the sure knowledge that our experience will prevent others going through what we have been through.

There are many reviews that have been undertaken and they show there were things we did incredibly well – in many respects we were much better prepared for recovery here in Christchurch than we realised – however there were mistakes made and we must not allow them to be repeated. 

I always say we look back, not to blame, but to understand.  And understand we must. That is our purpose.

We are here to listen to one another.  We all have valuable perspectives which we share in this spirit of understanding. 

There are significant highlights for me, when I reflect on the past few years. Bringing Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu to the table is one.  It started with Ecan – and the government of the day must be congratulated for what was a bold move.  We can now embed this in legislation, in the same way that we have done for all the regional governance structures, off the back of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011, which recognised Ngai Tahu as a strategic partner.

Leaving aside the incredible contribution to the response effort and the recovery, a highlight for me was Ngai Tahu’s partnership with Ara and Hawkins that enabled rangitahi to take up apprenticeships during the rebuild.

Recover Canterbury was a public private partnership between the public sector and the business community led by CDC and the CECC. The employee subsidy was gold and enabled businesses to sort things out without worrying about paying their staff for a short while.

Gapfiller – literally created life in vacant spaces and still does today.
CanCERN the network that self mobilised to represent the collective voices of affected communities.

Project Lyttelton which reminds us you don’t need a civil defence group when you have a timebank.

And all the creative people who have written books, made films, produced art telling our story in ways that touch our souls.
All of these will contribute to the symposium.

I was pretty well prepared for this morning earlier in the week, when an interview on an unrelated topic led me to a speech I had given back in 2012.  I was referring to something I had picked up from an early recovery seminar that had been held just over three weeks after the first earthquake.  I went looking for the presentation.  I’ve popped the agenda up on the screen, along with a couple of pages, and highlighted the contributing agencies.

Look at the collaboration that went into bringing together such a comprehensive seminar in such a short space of time. 

Look at the messages – recovery is complex. It is not linear, it is not uniform, it has multiple perspectives, and it always occurs in a dynamic environment.

I picked up a lot of messages from this presentation.

Balance deliberation & speed through leadership & collaboration.

Recovery is an opportunity for reconciliation, restoration & renewal; it is NOT just a rebuilding project

We need to involve local people in joint learning and public decision making, we need to capitalise on local culture and knowledge. We must mobilise local capacity to rebuild, and enable local communities to make choices that build safer and more sustainable communities.

And it is the last that is my trigger for what I wanted to say.  Secure the things that are good for the community, and discard those things that hold us back.

This was what I had been reminded of in my speech – always look for the missing story.  We know the story of the storm or the earthquake or the mine explosion or even the finance company failures – which was why I was looking for the speech.  And we know what happened afterwards – people died, homes were lost, buildings destroyed, and, in the case of the financial markets, lifesavings were gone.

But what was going on before the crisis occurred – here we see identified patterns of physical development, public risk, community resilience & sustainability.  It could be low appreciation of risk or high risk taking or a lack of independently monitored regulatory measures to secure high risk environments, (buildings, mines and financial markets). We are told that if we ignore this story in the recovery process we can re-entrench pre-event vulnerabilities. 

If there is one thing that disaster offers us it is the opportunity to put things right, something we might never have been able to do otherwise.

So the questions I want you to have in your mind as we listen to the presentations and discuss the ideas that are generated, is, how have we addressed our pre-event vulnerabilities? Have we fully understood the world of possibility this post disaster environment offers? What opportunities have we taken to ensure that not only Greater Christchurch, but the whole of New Zealand, is more resilient to the challenges we will continue to face?

The first of the images is a pre-event map of what was expected by way of liquefaction prior to the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence. You will struggle to see any difference in the map next to it (the map showing the experience of the Sept 2010 earthquake).  These two images show how accurate knowledge was about the pre-existing vulnerabilities to the damage that occurred. February was a little outside the box but not surprising given the extent of the peak ground accelerations. But it happened in the same places we knew it would.

And I have put these three slides below to show a typical house in Bexley’s Pacific Park Subdivision – before and after the quake. In the middle, are photographs I took.  On the left, this photo is inside the house – and you'll see the same amount of silt outside the house – the middle is the bathroom where like the rest of the house, the silt forced its way through unreinforced concrete slab foundations. I will never understand why any (let alone so many) houses were allowed to be built alongside a wetlands in this manner.

I have put the other image there just to prove that silver beet survives anything – which probably explains why it’s so good for you. I used that joke in the US and no one laughed – because they call it chard.

The buildings on this slide are representative of the tragedy that occurred in February. We knew about Unreinforced Masonry Buildings – the first people who died in the Hawkes Bay earthquake 80 years before had been killed by falling masonry as they ran out of buildings. And the CTV Building – it had been found wanting in an inspection years before the earthquakes, and it hadn’t been properly assessed after the September earthquake.

The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission of Inquiry began only 2 months after the February 2011 earthquake and was concluded just over 18 months later. 

Changes have been made, good changes that will make a difference, however there remains unfinished business in the regulatory framework for buildings after an earthquake has compromised them or the land they sit on.

The issue that worries me still is this.

Our law distinguishes between dangerous buildings and earthquake prone buildings.  The distinction between the two relates to whether or not a potential collapse is dependent on an earthquake.  We had a major earthquake in September 2010. 

By February 22, 2011 no legal obligation had been created by any regulatory or statutory authority that required anyone, unless they were specifically directed to do so, to undertake a detailed engineering evaluation of buildings that were occupied or insufficiently cordoned on that day.  185 People died – 115 people died in one building. Hundreds more were injured. Of the remaining people, over half were killed by falling unreinforced masonry. Why all these years later, do we not say that someone has to be responsible for ensuring buildings are safe to occupy before we allow people to return. Every local authority and every government department has a threshold for checking.  If it’s important for public buildings, then why not privately owned buildings?
We owe it to those who lost their lives or were severely injured, as well as all their families, that we get this right.  There is a Bill before Parliament right now that could do that with a simple amendment.

The question I ask, looking at the missing story, is have we really addressed the vulnerabilities that were exposed – both in terms of land use and the built environment – and therefore have we learned the lessons from our experience.

I think in both cases, we have come a long way, but still have some way to go. The Resource Management Act continues to prioritise existing use rights even where there is a marked increased vulnerability to natural hazards, and with the built environment we still don’t have a mechanism for ensuring buildings are safe to occupy after an event.

This paper was produced in May 2011, by the PM’s Chief Science Adviser. It covered the psychosocial consequences of the Canterbury earthquakes, incorporating information that had been put together after the September earthquake by the Public Health unit of the Canterbury DHB.  I found it a year later. It’s not that it was hidden – it just wasn’t proactively sent out to all the local MPs and other community leaders to assist us to understand the challenges we were having to confront in the community on a daily basis.  And given that this was known, why wasn’t it incorporated into the recovery from the outset?

It talks about the four phases: (1) the initial heroic phase (2) A honeymoon phase (3) The ‘disillusionment phase’ in which people realize how long recovery will take and become angry and frustrated.  (4) And then finally people return to a new equilibrium, but he cautioned that this is a long term process with no clear endpoint.

And maybe in this is the answer to my question. The fear of the disillusionment phase would be strong for a decision-maker under pressure to deliver. It’s worth exploring, but more importantly, we cannot let it happen again.

The key issue for recovery, we were told in this report, is a psychological sense of empowerment. The earthquake was a disempowering event – an event that individuals had no control over. The need to regain some sense of some control over one’s life is central to the recovery process. Disempowerment essentially reinforces the initial trauma.

A feeling of self-efficacy and community efficacy assists the population in reactivating their coping mechanisms.

Local governance, empowerment and ownership have been shown to facilitate recovery.

The inevitable tensions and conflicts in achieving this are obvious and cannot be avoided – therefore, they have to be openly handled with sensitivity. It follows that, from the psychosocial perspective, those involved in directing the recovery should create governance structures that understand and actively include community participation, and enhance individual and community resilience. Such approaches will be most likely to be effective in re-establishing coping and functioning communities.

I have to say that when I read this a year down the track, I asked myself why we hadn’t embraced the community in this way.
The good thing is that it’s never too late.

Resilience begins and ends with connected communities.  I have put up the cynical voices from Christchurch and New Orleans.  That’s the response to the well-meant but not well received congratulations we receive for being so resilient when they mean stoic.

I put up the word cloud to remind us that resilience doesn’t mean strong – look at the words – flexibility, adaptation, creativity, diversity, community, respect, change, cooperation. It’s all there. 

The capacity to adapt and to thrive in a co-created new normal.  That requires trust – both ways – and it requires communities to actively seek to take back responsibility for their futures. All the evidence says that’s the case.

I found this on the last page of the September 2010 recovery best-practice seminar – it was adopted by the Canterbury Community Earthquake Recovery Network -CanCERN – as their motto: “The wisdom of the community always exceeds the knowledge of the experts.”

I said at the governance workshop, that on reflection, I would personally say that the wisdom of the community when combined with the knowledge of the experts always exceeds what one can offer without the other.
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And that’s what this symposium is all about.

May I acknowledge all our special guests here today, Your Excellencies, Minister, Members of Parliament, Councillors Members of the Nurses memorial Trust & friends of the chapel.

May I especially welcome your Excellencies back to Christchurch.

Thank you both for returning so soon after the first South Island Investiture Ceremony to be held here for many years.

And thank you also for the opportunity to show you around Turanga
before coming here to reopen the Nurses’ Memorial Chapel.

These two places have enabled us to showcase the very best of the old and the new to you today - regeneration both as restoration and new growth.

The Nurses’ Memorial Chapel has truly survived against the odds. Proposals by previous hospital boards to demolish it in the 1970s and the 1980s, were successfully opposed, and the damage inflicted by the major earthquakes of 2010-2011 have led to the outstanding restoration we see before us today. 

The project team tell me that restoring the chapel has been a challenging and meticulous process and although time does not allow a detailed summary of the work they have done, consider the fact that the original roof wasn’t tied in to the rest of the building, and bricks were layered on top of each other and not interlocked. 

The original panelling, parquet flooring and other interior fittings were able to be reinstated true to form - the parquet floor was numbered so each block could be put back in its original place. New roof slates were cut to match the existing ones. And the exterior red brick lintels were produced locally to replace the existing damaged ones.

But the outstanding feature of the chapel the beautiful stained glass windows which commemorate pioneering nurses. We are going to look at them and reflect on this memorial chapel’s unique place in the world, as I read to you the names of the people who helped to restore it to its former glory. 
 
• Richard Bullett, Insight Unlimited
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• Heritage Architect and Consultant Tony Ussher

• George Sinclair and Paul Houthuyzen, Beca

• John Radburn and Brigitte Mackey, also from Insight Unlimited

• Richard Weirsma, Michael Pepper and Cameron O’Keefe, main contractor Max Projects

• Quentin Cassidy, QC Stonemasons

• Graham Stewart – repair and reinstatement of the stained glass windows and completion of the new Hester Maclean stained glass window.

• James Herdman, Slate Roofing

• The Nurses’ Memorial Trust and the Friends of the Chapel

• Fiona Wykes and Brendan Smyth, Council’s Urban Regeneration, Urban Design and Heritage team

• George Schwass, Canterbury District Health Board Senior Operations Manager, for his collaboration between the Council and CDHB

• Richie Moyle, Council Heritage Programme Manager
This was a much loved venue for special events including the Royal NZ Nursing Corps annual ANZAC service, and it will be again, thanks to your efforts.
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Could I invite you all to join with me and thank each and every one of them and their teams for their commitment to this project, which restores to us an important part of our history as we commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War, and the Influenza pandemic that followed, and the tribute this building represents to the nurses who sacrificed their lives in the service of others. 
 
No reira tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra tatou katoa 

I remember when I was first asked to officially open a World Buskers Festival when I became Mayor, I accepted with a mixture of delight and trepidation. 
 
Trepidation because this was never an ordinary event - you never quite know what’s going to happen next when there are buskers around. I was worried that it could involve someone with a blindfold throwing knives at me as I held out a ribbon while strapped to a wobbly unicycle. 
 
But it was not to be. 
 
In fact I managed to find a busker joke on the internet and so I tell it every year. So even though this is new I’d like to welcome Strut & Fret to Christchurch, with the only busker gag I know.
 
How do you kill a busker - go for the juggler.
 
And this is why, Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m not in the entertainment business. 
 
I am delighted that Strut & Fret are bringing their 20 years plus experience to breathe new life into our beloved Festival as Bread & Circus, World Buskers Festival, a festival of world-class performances in the heart of the city.
 
The team at Strut & Fret have promised me that Bread & Circus World Buskers Festival will integrate the old and the new, with elements that everyone knows and loves, and will bring a new range of phenomenal features to elevate the festival to a whole new level. 
 
I’ve got my favourites and I’m pretty sure they’re coming back.
 
This time the Festival will run for a whole month and there will be something for everyone - popping up here, there and everywhere. Even the Spiegeltent will be back.
 
This evening we’re seeing the unveiling of a breath-taking programme of entertainment that combines Christchurch’s unique culture, with a programme championing local talent alongside international stars. Expect the unexpected!
 
And on that note, I would now like to declare our first glimpse of Bread & Circus – World Buskers Festival 2019 officially open for view. Take it away!

Today we celebrate 125 years of women’s suffrage, the first country in the world to do so, and it all started here in Christchurch.
 
We honour the courage and tenacity of the women etched into the memorial and the more than 30,000 women who signed the final petition.
 
When I think of the challenges Kate Sheppard and those suffragists faced – no electronic media, no give-a-little page, no means to communicate other than through cycling and pounding the pavements, street by street, collecting signatures and never giving up.  The first two petitions did not succeed, but the third one did and the rest is history.
 
And then for over 80% of the female population to both register and vote in the election just a matter of weeks later is an extraordinary story.
 
Today we ask all women to feel inspired by the courage and tenacity that represented.
 
And to reflect upon the importance those women placed on the right to right once it had been won. We must never ever take it for granted.
 
It took 25 years for women to get the right to stand for Parliament and another 15 years after that for the first woman to be elected to Parliament – and she was from Christchurch too – Elizabeth McCombs representing the set of Lyttleton. And another 14 years for the first woman to be appointed as a Cabinet Minister – also from Christchurch, the Hon Mabel Howard.
 
In my role as Mayor of the city, Kate Sheppard and the suffrage movement is very much a part of the Christchurch story – they are an important part of our identity – of who we are. 
 

Today marks a milestone year in Christchurch’s rich history.  We are celebrating 125 years of women receiving the right to vote here in New Zealand, making us the first self-governing country in the world to do so.  And it all started here in Christchurch.
 
Kate Sheppard, who lived here at this very house, was the leading light of the New Zealand women’s suffrage movement.
 
Thank you Julia for allowing the Foundation to use your home for today’s event, which not only celebrates the special place Christchurch holds in New Zealand and world history, but also allows us to announce that the Christchurch Foundation is today recognising this legacy by launching the Christchurch Foundation Women’s Fund. 
 
We are launching the Fund to support girls and women in our city who are actively leading change in their community -

• Change that is focused on positive outcomes for our city and its residents
• Change that is driven by people coming together to offer grassroots support for our communities

 
This is very much in keeping with the spirit of the suffragists.  I reflected at the Women’s Suffrage National memorial earlier today, what courage and tenacity they represented.
 
They had no electronic media, no give-a-little page, no means to communicate other than through cycling and pounding the pavements, street by street, collecting signatures and never giving up.  The first two petitions did not succeed, but the third one did and the rest is history.
 
And then for over 60% of the female population to both register and vote in the election just a matter of weeks later is an extraordinary story.
 
It took 25 years for women to get the right to stand for Parliament and another 15 years after that for the first woman to be elected to Parliament – and she was from Christchurch too – Elizabeth McCombs representing the set of Lyttleton. And another 14 years for the first woman to be appointed as a Cabinet Minister – also from Christchurch, the Hon Mabel Howard.
 
In my role as Mayor of the city, Kate Sheppard and the suffrage movement is very much a part of the Christchurch story – they are an important part of our identity – of who we are. 
 
Which is why I am proud that the first endowment fund the Christchurch Foundation is launching is this women’s fund, so that the spirit of 125 years ago lives on. 
 
And we can ensure that the next generation of women and girls can continue to make a difference.
 
The grants will not come with complicated accountability requirements. 
Those that accept the awards will simply be asked to share their story with The Christchurch Foundation and allow us to publicise their progress.  That way a small contribution can spark a major inspiration.
 
These grants will create stories that we can then share showing women and girls making change happen – stories that we need to hear more of.
 
Our first awards will be issued in 2019 and will occur annually.  Our ability to give will ultimately be determined by the level of donations that we get into the fund.
 
Why Women and Girls? We know that women and girls are only getting between 5 – 10% of the charitable dollar in countries like Australia and America. That proportion is likely to be similar here.
 
Few grant-making organisations have a specific criterion of supporting gender equality and are not even aware of what proportion of their funding supports women. Although we have come a long way, in New Zealand:

• Women are still very much the face of poverty;
• 85% of single parent families are led by women
• Women earn 9% less than men on average, a figure which has improved considerably over the years - but for our Maori women this figure is 24%, and for Pasifika women it is 31%
• There is a gender bias to the domestic violence statistics that remain alarmingly high

 
Who can get involved?  Anyone can join, participate and contribute at a level that suits their budget.  We imagine that there will be many women that want to give. However, sons, fathers and brothers care about the world their mothers, daughters and sisters live in, and will want to contribute too.
 
Organisations can also join the Women’s Fund as part of their drive to create change.
 
A group of donors to the fund will be co-opted to drive the awards process at the beginning, along with one of the Christchurch Foundation’s Trustees, and they will put in place a framework for the future, as well as select the first recipients.
 
We welcome your donations and hope you will help us to spread the word about the Fund.
 
I believe it is truly a wonderful way to honour those courageous women who we recognise on the Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, as well as our place in the world, where it all began 125 years ago, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Westpac Champion Canterbury Business Awards.
Minister, Members of Parliament, fellow mayors, councillors and distinguished guests

It is an honour and a privilege to be here tonight to announce this year’s recipient of the Special Commendation Award.

Before I do that, I want to reflect on the significance of the 19th September as a milestone in our history as a city and as a nation.  Today is the 125th anniversary of the passing of legislation that gave women the right to vote – the first country in the world to do so.  And it all started here in Christchurch. 

It is not insignificant that the only woman appearing on any of our banknotes, apart from Her Majesty the Queen, is Kate Sheppard.

She was an indomitable force. It took courage and determination to achieve what she did all those years ago.The suffragists won the vote on the 19th September 1893 after a massive petition – the third attempt – was tabled in parliament. No electronic mail, no social media, no give-a-little pages – no means of communication except cycling and pounding the pavements – street by street.

Even more extraordinary is that over 80% of women registered and voted in the General Election on the 28 November just 10 weeks later.
This is our story and we should be proud.

Today, the Christchurch Foundation Women’s Fund has been launched and you are all invited to contribute to the fund that will be used to support girls and women who are actively leading change in their community. Your support will make a real difference.

We know that most charitable dollars do not find their way to the hands of women who seek to be the change they want to see in the world.  And all we will ask in return is that they give us their stories so others can be inspired to reach for the stars.

What a fitting way to recall the courage and tenacity that is our suffrage story - our story as a city and a nation.

And this leads me onto the Special Commendation Award, which on every level, but especially today, is so well deserved.  You’ve already heard me use two words - courage and tenacity - to describe an incredible and inspirational leader. How fitting they are.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my absolute privilege to announce this year’s special commendation award recipient –Dame Adrienne Stewart.