As a member of Global Women and as Mayor of Christchurch it is a pleasure to be here for the launch of the 2015 Hays Gender Diversity Report.  May I thank Hays New Zealand General Manager, Jason Walker – and Kathy Kostryko(Hays Canberra Director, Public Sector) for holding this event, which enables us to think about an important issue like gender diversity and women in leadership.
 
The first thing I want to say is that it is important.  I remember looking at a Press feature on the recovery before I was Mayor and there was not one woman who had been invited to contribute to the article.  Not one woman was in a leadership position – the Minister, the Mayor, the relevant Chief Executives – despite the many women leaders in the community

Since becoming Mayor two years ago I have welcomed delegations from many places around China; from Sichuan, Wuhan and Hubei, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to name just some.  This is the first from Jiangsu Province.
 
May I also acknowledge our hosts, the New Zealand-China International Training Centre (NZCITC). Dr Kaiwan Gan and Mrs Angela Yu have been real assets to this city not only in terms of the high quality of their programmes, but also in terms of furthering and enhancing relations between Christchurch and China.