Last updated:
Monday, 6 June 2022
To be an Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand:
CARTWRIGHT, The Honourable Dame Silvia Rose, PCNZM, DBE, QSO, DStJ
For services to New Zealand
The Honourable Dame Silvia Cartwright has dedicated more than 40 years to the law and became the first woman in New Zealand appointed to the High Court in 1993.
Between 1987 and 1988, Dame Silvia chaired the Commission of Inquiry into the Treatment of Cervical Cancer and Other Related Matters at National Women’s Hospital, dubbed the Cartwright Inquiry. She served as New Zealand’s 18th Governor-General from 2001 to 2006, the second woman to hold the office. After completing her tenure as Governor-General, she was appointed from 2007 to 2014 as one of two international trial judges on the Cambodian War Crimes Tribunal investigating the Khmer Rouge period. She was a member of the United Nations committee monitoring compliance with the United Nations Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). She played a key role in the drafting of the CEDAW’s Optional Protocol. From 2015 to 2016 she took part in a United Nations investigation of alleged war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and currently chairs the Executive Board of the International Commission of Jurists investigating international law breaches by North Korea. Dame Silvia led the Public Inquiry into the Earthquake Commission in 2019.
HONOURS
Additional Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, 2006
Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, 2001
Dame of Justice of the Order of St John, 2001
New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal, 1993
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Queen’s Birthday 1989
View the biographical notes of other Members of the Order of New Zealand.
To be an Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand:
O'REGAN, Sir Stephen Gerard (Tipene)
For services to New Zealand
Sir Tipene O’Regan has worked tirelessly throughout his life to improve the economic, cultural and social standing of Māori communities.
Sir Tipene was pivotal in bringing about the 1997 Ngāi Tahu Deed of Settlement and the subsequent Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998. This laid the foundations for a tribal asset portfolio that currently stands in excess of $1.8 billion and set a number of benchmarks for the historical Treaty claims process. He helped negotiate and shape legislative responses to Māori interests in fisheries, both commercial and non-commercial, and was the founding Chair of Te Ohu Kaimoana (Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission). He established the Ngāi Tahu Archive in 1978. Since 2012 he has chaired Te Pae Kōrako, a standing committee of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu that oversees the Ngāi Tahu Archive Strategy together with its publishing and other initiatives. He was appointed Upoko of Te Runaka o Awarua in 1999 and has overseen growth of Te Rau Aroha Marae, notably the development and opening of its whare-tipuna, Tahupōtiki in 2003. He chaired Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence at the University of Auckland from 2006 to 2018. He was the founding Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Māori) at the University of Canterbury until 2011. Sir Tipene was Deputy Chair of Transit New Zealand from 2000 to 2006, and a member of the New Zealand Geographic Board from 1985 to 2013, making a significant contribution to its bi-cultural evolution and publications.
HONOURS
Knight Bachelor, Queen’s Birthday 1994
View the biographical notes of other Members of the Order of New Zealand.
