Last updated:
Monday, 1 June 2020
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BARCLAY-KERR, Mr Turanga Hoturoa (Hoturoa)
For services to Māori and heritage commemoration
Mr Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr is kaitiaki of the oceangoing waka Haunui and has more than 35 years’ experience sailing the Pacific Ocean as a master voyager.
Mr Barclay-Kerr lectured at Waikato University for almost 20 years and has more recently specialised in education and leadership programmes that use waka as a platform for learning and development, including working with former youth offenders to help them transform their lives through waka education. He co-authored the book ‘Wayfinding Leadership: Ground-breaking Wisdom for Developing Leaders’. He was a director of ‘A Waka Odyssey’, the major voyaging event that opened the New Zealand Festival in 2018. He was co-Chair of the National Coordinating Committee for ‘Tuia 250 – Encounters’, the national commemoration in 2019 marking the first meetings between Māori and Pākehā during the arrival of HMS Endeavour in 1769, as well as celebrating more than 1,000 years of Pacific voyaging, migration and settlement of Aotearoa. His vision, leadership and mana were critical to the success of Tuia 250 and ensuring a comprehensive national programme, amidst controversy about the framing of the commemoration. He was instrumenal in ensuring the waka and tall ships of the voyaging flotilla reflected the dual heritage of the commemoration and those involved had the appropriate cultural capabilities. Mr Barclay-Kerr worked with all 14 communities of flotilla landing sites to resolve relationship challenges and remove roadblocks.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BUSH, Mr Michael Dennis (Mike), MNZM
For services to the New Zealand Police and the community
Mr Mike Bush has had a career with the New Zealand Police since 1978, holding numerous roles in New Zealand and overseas, and was Commissioner of Police from 2014 until April 2020.
Mr Bush has spearheaded a new framework focused on high performance standards and worked to create a more respectful and inclusive culture, incorporating empathy and diversity into the core values of the Police. He oversaw the launch of a strategy in 2015 supporting how Police work with ethnic communities and has driven work to improve female representation at all levels of Police. He began working on the Prevention First operating model as Deputy Commissioner Operations from 2011 and continued this transformation as Commissioner. Prevention First contributed to a 20 percent drop in crime between 2010 and 2014, while lifting New Zealander’s confidence in Police. He has promoted strategies to address Māori overrepresentation in the justice system, including Police’s refreshed Māori strategy Te Huringa o Te Tai. He has led the Police response to major natural disasters including the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, major fires in Canterbury and Nelson, and flooding in Edgecumbe. He led the Police response to the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, the most extensive operation in New Zealand Police’s history. Mr Bush has collaborated with other Chiefs of Police within the Pacific to share knowledge and taken the lead with Asian nations on joint trans-national crime investigations.
HONOURS
Additional Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, New Year 2006
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
CORBY, Mrs Maureen Patricia
For services to early childhood education
Mrs Maureen Corby has devoted more than 55 years of her career to early childhood education, specialising in early education for children with special needs.
Mrs Corby developed, co-ordinated and taught the National Graduate Diploma in Special Education (Early Intervention) as a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Auckland. This was the first teacher-training programme in the field, championing the needs and rights of all young children to be better understood, educated and included in community settings with their peers. A focus of the course was to enable teachers to work in partnership with families to achieve the best outcomes for their children with disabilities. She has helped train more than 300 teachers at a postgraduate level. She has worked in early childhood education since 1963 and was a Lecturer or Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland for 22 years. She co-established the Early Intervention Association Aotearoa New Zealand and was its first Chairperson. Recently, Mrs Corby has been a consultant for the Centre for Disability Studies’ University of Sydney and co-established with a New Zealand early intervention teacher a centre and home visiting Infant Toddler Programme, with a focus on moving to inclusive education, for the Down Syndrome Association Singapore.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
DUDER, Dr Tessa, OBE
For services to literature
Dr Tessa Duder is an award-winning author of more than 45 books, whose later work has included fiction for children and young adults, plays, anthologies, non-fiction and biographies.
Widely known for her four award-winning ‘Alex’ books (1987-1992), Dr Duder won the 2000 New Zealand Post Senior Fiction Award for ‘The Tiggie Tompson Show’. Her first work for adults, the short story collection ‘Is She Still Alive?’ reached number two on the New Zealand bestseller list in 2008. Her biographical works include ‘Margaret Mahy – a writer’s life’ (2005), ‘The Story of Sir Peter Blake’ (2012) and ‘First Map: How James Cook charted Aotearoa New Zealand’ (2019). She is a past President of the New Zealand Society of Authors. She is notable for her role in the establishment and promotion of what is now the Storylines Children’s Literature Foundation of New Zealand – Te Kaupapa o Te Korero. She is Awards Convenor for the Storylines Children’s Literature Foundation. She is a Trustee of the Storylines Children’s Literature Trust of New Zealand - Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki o Aotearoa and a former Trustee of the Spirit of Adventure Trust and the Operating Theatre Trust. She was co-editor until 2018 of the annual anthology of stories and poems written by teenagers, ‘Re-Draft’. Dr Duder received an Artists to Antarctica Fellowship in 2007 and a University of Waikato honorary doctorate in 2009.
HONOURS
Officer of the Order of the British Empire, New Year 1994
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
ELLIS, Mr David Charles
For services to the thoroughbred industry
Mr David Ellis is Principal of Te Akau Stud and Racing Stables in New Zealand and Singapore and has been a significant leader in the New Zealand horse racing industry.
Mr Ellis has purchased and trained horses that have won 35 Champion titles, succeeding at the most elite level of thoroughbred racing nationally and internationally. He has been the leading buyer at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale for the past 15 years consecutively. He has aimed to ensure that the best quality horses are bought and trained in New Zealand to strengthen the national industry. He has been involved with the Waikato Racing Club since 1983, including five years as Chairman. Under his leadership the Club’s facilities and track underwent a significant upgrade. He has been Chairman and Director of the Waikato District Committee for six years, Northern Director on the Board of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing from 1997 to 2005, and a member of the Board of New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing. He has served at the national level on various boards, committees and working groups, as well as regional and local committees all on a voluntary basis. He has financially supported numerous local and national clubs, charities and organisations, and is a significant sponsor of the racing industry, including sponsorship of the New Zealand Racing Annual for 10 years. Mr Ellis is Patron of Riding for the Disabled Hamilton Group.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
KNOX, Ms Elizabeth Fiona, ONZM
For services to literature
Ms Elizabeth Knox was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002 for her services to literature.
Ms Knox has continued to write critically acclaimed books, winning both national and international awards for her novels and literary collections. Since 2002 she has written several novels, including her first young adult series, ‘The Dreamhunter Duet’. The first book in the series, ‘Dreamhunter’, won the 2006 Esther Glen Award and the 2007 ALA Best Books for Young Adults award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and was awarded a ‘White Raven’ by the International Youth Library in 2006. The sequel ‘Dreamquake’ (2007) was a Michael L Printz Honour book and was named an ALA, a CCBC, Booklist, and New York Library best book in 2008. Her collection of personal essays titled ‘The Love School’ won the biography section of the New Zealand Book Awards in 2009. Her 2013 book ‘Mortal Fire’ won the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Award for Young Adult Fiction and was a finalist in the Los Angeles Times Book Awards. Most recently in 2019 she published ‘The Absolute Book’ and was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement. Ms Knox currently teaches a World Building workshop for fiction at Victoria University of Wellington.
HONOURS
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Queen’s Birthday 2002
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MAISTER, Mr Barry John, ONZM
For services to sport and the community
Mr Barry Maister has represented New Zealand on many commissions and organisations as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2010 to 2019, and as Sport New Zealand International ambassador from 2011 to 2018.
Mr Maister has been a member of Evaluation and/or Coordination commissions for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games in 2018, and the Beijing Olympic Winter Games 2022. He chaired the IOC Education Commission from 2016 to 2019 and has been a member of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) education committee since 2015. He was Vice President Oceania Olympic Committee from 2008 to 2018 and an Executive Member of the World Association of National Olympic committees during the same period. He was a Board member Auckland 2017 World Masters Games and a member of the MBIE New Zealand major events investment panel from 2017 to 2018. Within the wider community he was Chair of Picton’s Kaipupu Wildlife sanctuary from 2013 to 2016 and Patron from 2018. He chaired Picton ‘Smart and Connected’ community group and was Director of ‘Destination Marlborough’. He was a member of Tuia 250 Totaranui Trust from 2016 to 2017 and Patron from 2019. Mr Maister chaired the Christchurch Multi Purpose Arena Trust from 2017 to 2019.
HONOURS
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, New Year 2012
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MCKENZIE, Mr James Bruce (Bruce)
For services to the cattle industry
Mr Bruce McKenzie is a cattle farmer who runs the 113-year old Maungahina Hereford Stud in Masterton with his son.
Mr McKenzie has been at the forefront of genetic development in the primary sector in New Zealand over the last 50 years, embracing technological advancements in the industry. He pioneered the importation of different livestock breeds, as well as material such as frozen embryos and semen, with the aim of improving herd quality in New Zealand. He refined the Charolais breed, creating the Red Charolais. In the last decade he has been responsible for introducing a new cattle breed, Speckle Park, into New Zealand, which has proved valuable in terms of quality and yield increase. The effects of the Maungahina Stud genetics over New Zealand meat production continues to contribute to millions of dollars of value both in meat production and the value of female genetics. He was also involved in importing fallow deer genetics from Europe in the early 1980s. Internationally he has been a leading cattle judge at most major events in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He was recently the first non-Angus breeder to be asked to judge at Australia’s National Angus Sale. Mr McKenzie has been involved in many coaching schools organised by the Royal Agriculture Society of New Zealand.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
NACEY, Professor John Norman
For services to health and education
Professor John Nacey was appointed to the New Zealand Medical Council in 2010 and was elected Chair of the Education Committee.
In this position Professor Nacey led the development and implementation of significant changes to prevocational medical training in New Zealand and chaired seven separate Accreditation Committees to assist the New Zealand District Health Boards reach new standards. He was appointed Chair of the New Zealand Task Force on Prostate Cancer in 2012 and subsequently became Chair of the Prostate Cancer Awareness and Quality Improvement Programme to implement the recommendations of the Task Force. During his time as a lecturer at the University of Otago, he chaired the Faculty Curriculum Committee and oversaw the committee’s implementation of structural changes to the oversight and delivery of medical education and the modernisation of the curriculum in the late 1990s. He was Dean of the Wellington School of Medicine for 10 years and supervised a major building programme to improve the school’s teaching and research facilities. In 2001 he oversaw the opening of the School of Radiation Therapy on the University of Otago Wellington Campus. He has been one of the leaders of the Wellington Prostate Brachytherapy Group since 2001. Professor Nacey chaired reviews of the New Zealand Cancer Registry in 2010 and 2013.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
NGAEI, Mr George, ONZM
For services to health and the Pacific community
Mr George Ngaei been involved in improving Māori and Pacific health as a practicing general surgeon (Endoscopic and Gastrointestinal) in Invercargill, as well as providing his expertise to work and consult on a wide range of medical issues for those living in the Cook Islands.
Mr Ngaei has returned to Rarotonga at least on an annual basis, at his own cost, to support the medical profession in areas where skills are either not available or are in short supply. He has performed surgeries at the local hospital, often bringing his own team from New Zealand to assist. He has been Chair of the South Island Pacific Providers Collective since 2014 and is a committee member of the Auckland-based Cook Islands Health Network Association. In 2002 he established a Pacific Island Specialist Nursing Service in collaboration with the Pacific Island Advisory and Cultural Trust (PIACT) and has been Chairman of PIACT since 2007. He was a representative for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) on the Southland Medical Foundation from the 1990s until 2018. Mr Ngaei was previously elected to the New Zealand Committee of the RACS and is a member of the Board of the Auckland-based Cook Islands Development Agency New Zealand.
HONOURS
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Queen’s Birthday 2015
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
NOONAN, Ms Rosslyn Joy
For services to human rights
Ms Rosslyn Noonan has contributed to the advancement of human rights across several areas, both nationally and internationally, for more than 45 years.
Ms Noonan was the Chief Commissioner of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission (HRC) from 2001 to 2011. In this role, she led the transformation of the HRC from an anti-discrimination body to an internationally acclaimed human rights institution that protected human rights on a broader scale, and initiated the first New Zealand Action Plan for Human Rights. She has been a Patron of the Intersex Trust of Aotearoa New Zealand for the past six years, was Patron of the Auckland Refugee Council for six years, and for the past seven years, Vice Chairperson and now Chairperson of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand. For five years she was Director of the New Zealand Centre for Human Rights Law, Policy and Practice at the University of Auckland’s Law School. She recently chaired the Review into New Zealand’s Family Justice Services. She has previously represented New Zealand workers at the International Labour Conference. On the nomination of the Asia Pacific region, she was Chairperson of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights for two years. Ms Noonan continues to support national human rights institutions across Asia and in the Pacific.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SMYTH, Ms Justine Gay Bronwyn
For services to governance and women
Ms Justine Smyth has been Chair of the Breast Cancer Foundation since 2010 and has championed diversity on the boards and leadership teams of some of New Zealand’s biggest companies.
Ms Smyth joined the Breast Cancer Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 1996, helping it to educate the public and promote early detection and screening. Under her leadership the Foundation set the aspirational vison of ‘zero deaths from breast cancer’ and expanded its programmes to become New Zealand’s biggest non-governmental funder of breast cancer research with $18 million of funding made available to New Zealand researchers and to the National Breast Cancer Register. She championed the Pink Caravan project, a mobile clinic that takes breast care nurses to small towns around New Zealand, and technology led innovations to support patients nationwide. During her involvement with the Foundation, New Zealand’s breast cancer death rate has decreased by more than 30 percent. She has served in corporate governance roles for 15 years. She is currently Chair of Spark NZ Ltd. and Director of Auckland International Airport Ltd. In these roles she has been instrumental in the setting and achievement of gender diversity targets for their boards and leadership teams. Ms Smyth has helped numerous women achieve their first commercial board appointment and is an active mentor to aspiring directors and senior leaders.
