From Murchison to dame
New Zealand’s latest dame has been appointed at an all-women ceremony celebrating suffrage.
Labour politician Dame Annette King, the longestserving woman parliamentarian, was one of 16 to receive an honour from Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy yesterday.
The all-women ceremony was held in dedication of Suffrage125, the 125-year anniversary of giving women the vote, at Government House.
It was the third day of New Year’s Honours being awarded to recipients.
King said it was a celebration of a diverse group of women’s achievements.
‘‘It shows women deserve to be honoured for the work that they do in New Zealand, and it’s a very good year to be doing that honouring.
‘‘I look forward to Queen’s Birthday when the next lot of honours are announced. We must be getting to the point where there will be as many women as men, or maybe, there’s more women than men.’’
King was minister of health, police, transport and justice for the fifth Labour government, during a time when honorific titles were removed.
She said it would have been ‘‘churlish’’ to decline the Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit title.
‘‘The honours, I think, are here to stay . . . so I decided yes, I would accept it.
‘‘It was a surprise, I never dreamt that I would be a dame, a little girl from Murchison in the South Island.’’
Reddy said the women present had enriched the social and cultural fabric of Aotearoa. ‘‘I feel Kate Sheppard would be delighted to see how far we’ve come.’’
Also receiving accolades were Porirua community stalwart Raewyn Fox, for her work in budgeting services, and
Ngāruawā hia’s Maxine Moana-Tuwhangai, for her work in Māori governance.
Fox was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, and Moana-Tuwhangai a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
In a morning ceremony, former Court of Appeal judge Sir Douglas White was knighted for services to the judiciary.
White was a High Court and Court of Appeal judge from 2009 to 2015, and now heads the Law Commission.
Also receiving a gong was former-Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler, awarded a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Wheeler has worked in various finance roles, including at the OECD, World Bank and New Zealand Treasury. He was joined by veteran broadcaster Lloyd Scott, founder of Pic’s peanut butter Bruce Picot and newsreader Philip Sherry. All were made Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Among Tuesday’s awardees was former parliamentarian Peter Dunne, who became a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.