To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
AITKEN, Mr Denis William, JP
For services to the dairy industry and the community
Mr Denis Aitken has had a long-term involvement with the Holstein Friesian breed of dairy cattle in New Zealand.
Mr Aitken was the President of Holstein Fresian New Zealand (HFNZ) from 2004 to 2007 and chaired HFNZ’s Otago branch for three terms. He has been a member of HFNZ for the past 48 years, a Board director for HFNZ for the past 10 years, and has held a variety of other positions including Treasurer, Head Classifier, Vice President, and Inspector. He was made an Honorary Life Member of HFNZ in 2010. For the past 15 years, he has been the World Holstein Fresian Federation (WHFF) Oceania’s representative on the WHFF’s Type Harmonisation Working Group. He has significantly contributed to the development of the Traits other than Production (TOP) classification system, which provides vital data on the physical traits of cattle for the country’s dairy industry. He was the President of the New Zealand Dairy Breeds Federation from 2008 to 2010. Within the wider community, he has been a member of Taieri Rotary Club since 2000, serving a year as President and helping run the Rotary Youth Leadership Award programme, mentoring numerous young people over the past decade. Mr Aitken has also held several roles with the West Taieri Rugby Football Club since the 1970s.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
ALIPIA, Afamasaga Vaafusuaga Telesia McDonald
For services to Pacific early childhood education
Afamasaga Vaafusuaga Telesia Alipia has had a long involvement with Pacific early childhood education in New Zealand since 1991.
Afamasaga Telesia was New Zealand's national coordinator for the Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) after studying the programme at Hebrew University, Israel. There are now more than 40 HIPPY centres operating nationwide. She was then principal writer of the Pacific Islands Diploma of Early Childhood Education (PIECA). In 1994, she was appointed Head of Centre at the Auckland College of Education, leading the delivery of the PIECA Diploma in partnership with other tertiary institutions across New Zealand. In 2004, she became Director of the Pacific Centre at the Faculty of Education, delivering the Diploma of Teaching with a Pacific specialisation pathway to the Bachelor of Teaching at the University of Auckland. From 1993 to 1996 she was an advisory group member in the development of Te Whariki Early Childhood national curriculum as well as the Samoan Language Taiala curriculum. From 1992 to 2000 she held an advisory and consultancy role with the Ministry of Education about Pacific educational outcomes. She is now manager for the Rosebank early childhood centre in Avondale. Afamasaga Telesia was previously national director of preschool education in Samoa and a teacher trainer for early childhood education in the Pacific Islands.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
ALLPRESS, Mrs Lisa Joy
For services to the racing industry
Mrs Lisa Allpress is a professional jockey who, in 2013, was the first woman in New Zealand to achieve 1,000 career wins.
Mrs Allpress now has more than 1,600 wins, including around 100 international wins. She has won four national jockey premierships in 2012, 2016, and 2019/2020. She has been an ambassador for the sport of racing nationally and internationally. In 2019 she was invited to ride in the World All-Stars Jockey series in Japan. In February 2020 she was the first woman jockey to win a race in Saudi Arabia, competing in a World Jockey Series race meeting. She was named Whanganui Sportsperson of the Year twice and has received numerous Jockey of the Year awards from the Whanganui Jockey Club. She was the President of the Wanganui Jockey Club for three years, and has been a patron of the Club since 2017. Mrs Allpress often volunteers for Riding for the Disabled in Whanganui and organised a fundraising dash at the Whanganui Jockey Club’s 2019 Cup Day.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BECK, Mr Allan Ward (Alan), QSM
For services to agricultural aviation and aviation safety
Mr Alan Beck is a highly experienced agricultural and specialist lift helicopter pilot with more than 20,000 flying hours and was Chairman of the New Zealand Agricultural Aviation Association from 2013 to 2017.
Having personally been victim of a wire-strike while piloting a helicopter in the early 1990s, Mr Beck initiated in 2013 and has continued to lead the national ‘Down to the Wire’ campaign that encourages landowners to remove wires that pose a danger to agricultural pilots. He has contributed a significant amount of time and his own money in obtaining ambassadors for the campaign around New Zealand and actively engaging with farmers about the issue. He was recognised with a 2018 Director of Civil Aviation award for his work on the ‘Down to the Wire’ campaign. He assisted with leadership in the aerial control of the Port Hills and Tasman fires. He is an active and long-term volunteer member of Aviation New Zealand. Mr Beck has supported the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust personally and through his business Beck Helicopters, which has included delivering materials for walking and upper fence tracks, as well as delivering beehives for a honey project established in 2015 between the Reserve and Bees and Trees.
HONOURS
Queen's Service Medal for Public Services, New Year 1989
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BIXLEY, Mr Donovan Paul
For services to children's fiction and as an illustrator
Mr Donovan Bixley is a successful author and illustrator who has illustrated more than 100 children’s books.
Mr Bixley’s books have been published in 31 countries and as many as 18 languages. He has created best-selling international series such as the ‘Flying Furballs’ junior fiction series and co-created ‘Dinosaur Rescue’. He is the writer and illustrator of ‘Faithfully Mozart’, ‘Much Ado About Shakespeare’, ‘The Looky Book’, and ‘Monkey Boy’. He has also worked with some of New Zealand’s top authors, illustrating books such as ‘Dashing Dog’, 'Fuzzy Doodle’, and ‘Three Bears Sort Of’. He has helped promote te reo Māori through his bi-lingual Māui picture books and a ‘My First Board Book’ collection for building pre-schoolers’ bi-lingual vocabulary. He has won numerous national and international awards as a writer and illustrator. He received the New Zealand Arts Foundation’s Mallinson Rendel Laureate Award for lifetime achievement in illustration in 2017 and is a two-time recipient of the International Youth Library’s White Raven Award, which lists the top 200 children’s books in the world. Mr Bixley has given seminars for young illustrators at book festivals around the world and is a regular presenter and mentor to children and young adults in schools and community libraries throughout New Zealand.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BOSTON, Professor Jonathan George
For services to public and social policy
Professor Jonathan Boston has extensive expertise in the fields of governance and public policy, especially social policy and climate change policy, and is Professor of Public Policy in the School of Government/Te Kura Kāwanatanga at Victoria University of Wellington.
Professor Boston has been Director of both the University’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies and the former Institute of Policy Studies. He was a member of the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission in 2000/2001, and later helped to design, implement and evaluate the Performance-Based Research Fund. He has published widely across various subjects, including public management, social policy, climate change policy, tertiary education policy, and comparative government. His recent books include: ‘Child Poverty in New Zealand’; ‘Governing for the Future’; ‘Safeguarding the Future’; ‘Social Investment: A New Zealand Policy Experiment’; and ‘Transforming the Welfare State’. He assisted the Children’s Commissioner as Co-chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty in 2012/2013, applying his expertise to the formulation of policies aiming to benefit thousands of New Zealand children. He sits on the governance boards and advisory boards of several organisations, including Oxfam New Zealand and the Centre for Christian Studies. Professor Boston’s recent research projects include designing institutions to manage the challenge of climate change adaptation, reforming the welfare state, and reforming parliament.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
DAVIS, Mr Alistair Grant
For services to the motor industry, business and sustainability
Mr Alistair Davis has had a career with Toyota New Zealand for 40 years, holding national and international roles, including Chief Executive since 2008.
Mr Davis has assisted the leadership of motor industry transitions and the drive towards sustainability in vehicles and the delivery of a new industry service model. He has strongly advocated for standards in emissions, clean motoring and productivity. He played a key role in the launch of the Toyota Racing Series as a development platform for young New Zealand drivers in 2005. He has been involved in Toyota sponsoring the Sustainable Business Network and Lexus Song Quest since the mid-2000s, Emirates Team New Zealand challenging for the America’s Cup, and the Department of Conservation’s Kiwi Guardians Programme since 2016. He was President of the Motor Industry Association from 2009 to 2012, having been a founding member since 1996. He was a founding member of the Sustainable Business Council in 2012 and was Chair from 2015 to 2019. He has been a member of the Massey University Council since 2018 and chaired the University’s College of Business Advisory Board from 2010 to 2015. Mr Davis has been involved with Alpha New Zealand, the national branch of the international Christian organisation, since the 1980s and was Chair from the early 1990s until 2010.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
DONNELLY, Mr Leo Michael
For services to karate
Mr Leo Donnelly has been involved with Karate New Zealand for 46 years as a participant, coach, administrator and mentor.
Mr Donnelly was Secretary-General of the National Federation from 1991 to 2000 and National President of Karate New Zealand from 2000 to 2016. In 2020 he was elected as Chair of Karate Auckland. He has been General Secretary of the Oceania Karate Federation since 1995 and was General Secretary of the Commonwealth Karate Federation from 2011 to 2018. He drafted the constitutions of Karate New Zealand, the Oceania Karate Federation, and the Commonwealth Karate Federation. He helped establish and maintain relationships with Sport New Zealand and its predecessors SPARC, the Hillary Commission and the New Zealand Sports Foundation. He also oversaw a significant Improvement in the relationship with the Australian Karate Federation, to the point where the National Team prepared for the World Championships at a Training Camp with Australia. He founded the Victoria University Goju Ryu Karate Club in 1975 and is a Life Member. He established the New Zealand Universities Karate Council in 1982 and continues to coach at club level in Auckland. Mr Donnelly has coached voluntarily for 45 consecutive years in Wellington, the Kapiti Coast and Auckland, including athletes who have competed and medalled nationally and internationally.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
ELLIOTT, Mr Peter Dennis
For services to the performing arts and baseball
Mr Peter Elliott has been active in theatre, film and television since the 1980s as an actor, presenter, writer, and advocate for industry workers.
Mr Elliott has been involved in creating more than 60 television dramas, more than a dozen documentaries, and more than 70 plays, musicals and operas throughout the country. He has appeared in ‘Shortland Street’, ‘Gloss’, and Peter Jackson’s ‘Heavenly Creatures’. He co-wrote and presented ‘Revealing Gallipoli’, which documented a variety of perspectives on the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. He also wrote and presented ‘Jungle Rain’, which details the impacts of ‘Agent Orange’ on New Zealand soldiers involved in the Vietnam War. He has been a committee member for Actors Equity, where he advocated for his colleagues on a variety of issues, including wages, working conditions, and wellbeing. He has served on the boards of Equity New Zealand and Mixit and has been a board member of Baseball New Zealand since 2012. He was a member of Central City Baseball Club in Auckland, where he was Vice President from 2010 to 2013, and contributed to the development of the Auckland Tuatara, New Zealand’s first professional baseball team. Mr Elliott’s efforts in working with city councils to allocate park land for baseball fields has been integral to the sport in New Zealand.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
FARROW, Professor Angela Rosina (Angie)
For services to the arts, particularly theatre
Professor Angie Farrow has been active in theatre, creative leadership and arts education in New Zealand since 1990.
Beginning her career in the United Kingdom, Professor Farrow has written more than 50 plays across a range of formats, which have been widely performed internationally. She scripted, produced, and directed two award-winning, full-length community plays, “Before the Birds” (2009) and “The River” (2011), and from 2008 to 2019 she was Executive Producer of the annual Manawatū Summer Shakespeare. She began lecturing with Massey University in 1995 and in 2019 became the first Professor of Theatre Studies at Massey University. She instituted the Expressive Arts programme within the University’s Bachelor of Communication. She set up a resident artist scheme in partnership with Palmerston North City Council, Massey University and Square Edge Community Arts, which has run for 14 years. She developed the Festival of New Arts, in which students from Massey University collaborated with members of the public to devise original scripts and choreograph stories, performances and multimedia presentations that were performed for the public in a festival format. Professor Farrow was Chair of the Manawatū Arts Committee from 2001 to 2018, is currently President of the Playwrights Association of New Zealand, and has been a judge of the Women’s International Playwriting Conference.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
FOLEY, Dr Christine Margaret
For services to victims of sexual assault
Dr Christine Foley is a founding member of Medical Sexual Assault Clinicians Aotearoa (MEDSAC), New Zealand’s expert body in sexual assault and sexual abuse medicine.
MEDSAC was established after a need was recognised for medical and forensic specialists that could assist sexual assault victims, combined with an increasing number of people reporting sexual assaults and abuse. Dr Foley has been a board member of MEDSAC continually since 1988. She has contributed to the provision of training and support programmes to clinicians throughout New Zealand, been a contributing author to the MEDSAC Manual, co-authored a large number of MEDSAC submissions on the provision of services to people affected by sexual assault, and served on many of the MEDSAC Committees until the present. She has been an examining doctor for forensic examinations for more than 30 years and has advocated for continued improvement to service provision across all age groups and genders. Advocacy by her and several colleagues led to the eventual establishment of dedicated services in Auckland for Adults (Pohutukawa) and Adolescents (Te Pua Pohutukawa). Dr Foley was a key contributor to MEDSACs advocacy for the establishment of a national funding system for the provision of services, working alongside ACC, New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Health, which resulted in the SAATS (Sexual Assault Assessment and Treatment Services) contract in 2008.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
IRVINE, Dr Janette Fay
For services to women and women's health
Dr Janette Irvine has been involved in Zonta New Zealand activities since 1981.
Dr Irvine was a general practitioner for 36 years in Rotorua before retiring in 2016. Her medical interests included obstetrics and other aspects of women’s health, quality assurance and General Practitioner assessment. She worked with the Rotorua Police to establish a service for victims of sexual assault and was involved with the national Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been a member of the Zonta Club of Rotorua since 1981 and was President from 1986 to 1987 and 2005 to 2007. She served on the District (New Zealand) Board from 2010 to 2016, including a term as District Governor. As District Governor she supported the projects and advocacy of all 28 national Zonta branches and represented New Zealand at international Zonta conferences and global meetings. She helped the 28 clubs to support and grow their membership and led the national project supporting the Sophie Elliott Foundation’s ‘Loves Me Not’ programme. In 2016 Zonta New Zealand became a partner on the New Zealand Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Committee, and she has remained a committee member. Dr Irvine has been co-president of the Friends of Rotorua Museum of Art and History since October 2017.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
LYNCH, Mr Murray Campbell
For services to theatre
Mr Murray Lynch has contributed to the dramatic arts for more than 40 years.
Mr Lynch began his professional theatre career in 1973 at Four Seasons Theatre, Whanganui. He was an Associate Director and later Artistic Director of Centrepoint Theatre, Palmerston North. He has served as Associate Director of Theatre Corporate in Auckland and Artistic Director of Maidment Arts Centre at Auckland University. He was Founding Director of Tantrum Theatre Company in Auckland. He worked as a projects administrator for QE11 Arts Council and in 1991 became Associate Director of Wellington’s Downstage Theatre, of which he later became Director in 2000. He was Head of Actor Training and Directing at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in the 1990s and helped develop the joint Toi Whakaari/Victoria University degree of Master of Theatre Arts (Directing). As Director of Playmarket since 2010, he is responsible for supporting the work of New Zealand playwrights through the agency and with seminars, development workshops, publications and play readings. As a director and teacher his theatre experience spans Shakespeare and musicals, with a special focus on New Zealand works. Mr Lynch has served on many boards, currently for Theatre Archives New Zealand and the Hannah Playhouse Trust.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MALLOY, Dr Timothy Michael (Tim)
For services to health
Dr Tim Malloy has been a rural general practitioner for more than 30 years and has been involved in practice leadership through the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network since the early 1990s.
As Chair of the Network, Dr Malloy has overseen the development of the New Zealand Locum Scheme, the PRIME (Primary Response in a Medical Emergency) scheme and the ACC Rural contract. He currently works at Wellsford Medical Centre, where he and his colleagues have developed a virtual multi-disciplinary integrated family health service to provide high-quality primary care to the local community. He has provided input and advice into several Ministry of Health working groups and was involved in the formation of the General Practice Leaders’ Forum. He was the inaugural Chair of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners’ Rural Faculty. He was President of the College from 2012 until 2018, overseeing the employment of registrars, the development of a new curriculum, and initiating minimum quality standards for GPs. He established a Memorandum of Understanding between the College and the Cook Islands Ministry of Health in relation to rural training programmes. Dr Malloy has strongly advocated for primary and rural health care, his patients and GPs throughout New Zealand and was awarded Distinguished Fellowship of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MEURK, Dr Colin Douglas
For services to ecological restoration
Dr Colin Meurk has supported native ecosystem restoration, in theory and practice, throughout New Zealand.
From 1985 to 2015 Dr Meurk worked as a landscape ecologist for what is now Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. During this time, he helped design, plan and implement ‘Greening Waipara’ integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services into a wine-growing cultural landscape. He also co-developed the landscape model that drives many catchment scale restoration plans by New Zealand cities and districts. He was an instrumental partner from the late 1980s in obtaining reserve status for Travis Wetland in Christchurch, the largest urban wetland in New Zealand, and has been President of Travis Wetland Trust since 1999. He is founding Chair of iNaturalist New Zealand, Mātaki Taiao, the largest citizen bioscience platform in the country. For the past decade he has been a member of all environmentally-based Ōtākaro (Avon river) and Ōpāwaho (Heathcote river) committees. He conceived, and with support from Forest and Bird, implemented the first Urban Great Walk, the Christchurch 360 Trail. He serves on the Otamahua-Quail island Restoration Trust, Canterbury WEA Council, Environment Canterbury Biosecurity Advisory Group, and been advisor to Kaiapoi Pa, Te Ara Kākāriki, Orakei Marae restoration projects, and many others. Dr Meurk founded the Centre for Creative Transitions to Sustainable Futures.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
PIKAAHU, The Right Reverend Te Kītohi Wiremu
For services to the Anglican Church and Māori
The Right Reverend Te Kītohi Pikaahu is Bishop of Te Tai Tokerau and faith leader to Mihingare (Māori Anglicans) in Northland and Auckland.
When consecrated a bishop in 2002, Bishop Pikaahu was recognised by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the youngest bishop in the global Anglican Communion at age 37. As one of the highest ranking and longest serving indigenous bishops in the global Anglican community, he has advocated for the wellbeing of Māori and indigenous communities. He has led the promotion of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for religious leadership within the Anglican Communion. He has chaired the worldwide Anglican Communion’s Anglican Indigenous Network since 2015. He chaired the Common Life Liturgical Commission of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia from 2010 to 2016. He has been a member of the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation since 2007 and is Chair of Te Runanga Whakawhanaunga i nga Hahi (the Māori Ecumenical Council of Churches). He has been chaplain and occasional kaumatua of the Māori Women’s Welfare League since 2007. He is foundation Chair of kaupapa Māori-based provider Te Whare Ruruhau o Meri, which provides crisis support services for victims of abuse. Bishop Pikaahu has been a member of the Police Commissioner’s Māori Focus Forum since 2014.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
PILOTT, Ms Brenda
For services to social and public service sectors
Ms Brenda Pilott advocated at the national level for pay equity for women and social services sector workers, recognition of domestic violence, and better resourcing for public services.
Ms Pilott’s initial career in the 1980s focused on domestic violence and she became National Coordinator of the National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges, followed by various public service roles in family violence, community and social services policy. She was National Secretary of the Public Service Association from 2004 to 2014 and has been National Manager of Social Service Providers Aotearoa (SSPA) since 2016. With SSPA she has overseen an increased level of engagement and collaboration with government funding agencies and other key players, ensured the 200 SSPA member organisations have access to helpful resources, facilitated professional development opportunities across the sector, and convened SSPA’s annual conference. She led a process to provide feedback on the nationwide requirement to change NGO contracts to provide individual client level data to government, including engaging the Privacy Commissioner. She commissioned a 2019 report to highlight the need for better resourcing for community social services. She has been a member of numerous advisory boards and committees. Ms Pilott contributed advice on increasing professionalism of the sector, supporting the Social Workers Registration Bill 2019.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
PRICE, Superintendent John Richard, OStJ
For services to the New Zealand Police and the community
Superintendent John Price has been the New Zealand Police District Commander for the Canterbury region since 2015 and has played a leading role in coordinating the New Zealand Police’s response to some of the country’s most significant emergencies.
Superintendent Price was previously Canterbury Operations Commander during the Christchurch earthquakes, the National Manager for Training at the Royal New Zealand Police College, and Area Commander for the Kapiti-Mana area. As National Manager of Training he has had a positive and lasting effect on New Zealand Police culture. He led the response to the 2016 North Canterbury and Kaikoura earthquake and the 2017 Port Hill fires. He was the Forward Commander following the 15 March 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, coordinating the response during the immediate aftermath of the event. Beginning in 2018, he has served on the University of Canterbury’s Board of Criminal Justice Studies and on the Australian Institute of Policing Management’s Board of Studies. Superintendent Price established New Zealand’s first ‘community justice panel’ in Christchurch as an alternative method for Police to prosecute some lower-level offenders, utilising the help of iwi, social services, and cross-agency partners to achieve positive outcomes for offenders. This panel was the forerunner to Te Pae Oranga: Iwi Community Panels, a programme that is expanding throughout the country.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
RANDERSON, Ms Joanna Ruth (Jo)
For services to the performing arts
Ms Jo Randerson has had an award-winning career in theatre and has pioneered the field of participatory performance arts projects and interactive community works.
Ms Randerson co-founded the theatre group 'Trouble', whose show ‘Bleach’ was part of the 1998 New Zealand Fringe Festival and toured to the Edinburgh Festival and the Tramway Festival. She received the Bruce Mason Award for her first play ‘Fold’. She founded her own theatre company, Barbarian Productions, whose award-winning shows have played in Melbourne, Prague, Edinburgh, Adelaide, Norway and Brisbane, as well as nationally. Through Barbarian Productions she has supported projects benefiting communities and creating dialogue opportunities. Such projects have included ‘Kids Election’, run alongside Te Papa’s Suffrage 125 exhibition and allowing children to have a ‘hands-on’ look at democracy, the music theatre project ‘Sing It To My Face’, a cross-generational choir performance exchanging inter-generational viewpoints, and ‘Political Cutz’, a pop-up hair salon offering free haircuts in exchange for political conversations. She received the Robert Burns Fellowship, the Creative New Zealand/Department of Conservation Wild Creations Residency at Cape Kidnappers, and was a Winston Churchill Fellow. In 2008 Ms Randerson was recognised with the Arts Foundation New Generation Award and she has been involved with a community re-purposing a former bowling club as a creative space in Vogelmorn.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
RICE, Dr Geoffrey Wayne
For services to historical research and tertiary education
Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Rice is one of New Zealand’s most experienced historians.
Dr Rice is New Zealand’s preeminent authority on the impact of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic on New Zealand. His book ‘Black November: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Zealand’ (2nd Edition 2005) was the first publication on New Zealand’s experience of this historic event. The Ministry of Health acknowledged that this text was invaluable to its development of the 2017 New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Plan. He published the related work ‘Black Flu 1918’ in 2017 and has written books on the history of Christchurch and Lyttleton. He was general editor of the ‘Oxford History of New Zealand: Second Edition’. He is an Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Canterbury, teaching there for 39 years. He was the University’s Head of the School of History from 2006 to 2011. He was the Founding Secretary of the New Zealand Historical Association and he was Secretary of the Canterbury Historical Association from 1982 to 2007. Dr Rice has been Secretary of the Canterbury History Foundation since 2012 and organises the J.M. Sherrard Award in New Zealand Local and Regional History.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
RODGER, Mr Victor John
For services to theatre and Pacific arts
Mr Victor Rodger is an award-winning playwright whose works deal with race, racism and identity including issues confronting Pacific peoples and voicing issues for the gay community.
Mr Rodger’s first play 'Sons' premiered in 1995, which he later rewrote and had performed in 1998 at Wellington’s Downstage Theatre, winning four Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. His 2013 multi-award winning play 'Black Faggot' was performed at the Auckland and Melbourne Fringe Festivals, as well as in Hawaii and the United Kingdom. His other plays include ‘Ranterstantrum’, part of the 2002 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, ‘My Name is Gary Cooper’ (2007), ‘At the Wake’ (2012), and ‘Uma Lava’ (2019). In 2015 he founded FCC, which has presented works on stage in New Zealand and in January 2020 he produced ‘Wild Dogs Under My Skirt’ at the SoHo Playhouse in New York. He has worked with Pacific secondary school students through Tautai Arts Trust Fresh Horizons workshops. Within the screen industry he has worked variously as a writer and actor on New Zealand television shows ‘Shortland Street’, ‘Mercy Peak’, and the Māori television series ‘This is Piki’. He was awarded the Creative New Zealand Contemporary Pacific Arts Award in 2013. Mr Rodger has been awarded several writers residencies, including the Robert Burns Fellowship in 2016.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SALMON, Mr Guy Winston
For services to the environment
Mr Guy Salmon has spent more than 40 years working to the benefit of New Zealand’s environment, as the leader of the Ecologic Foundation and its predecessors.
Mr Salmon co-founded the Native Forest Action Council in 1975 and led the movement to protect native forests over several campaigns. This advocacy led to the disestablishment of the New Zealand Forest Service and the creation of the Department of Conservation in 1987. He has held a variety of appointed positions as a policy advisor to successive governments and the boards of Crown entities. He was a member of the Advisory Group on Green Growth and the Land and Water Forum. He has previously served on the Boards of Landcare Research Ltd and the Energy and Conservation Authority, and as a Trustee of the Cawthron Institute. He is a Trustee of the New Zealand Landcare Trust and a member of the Environmental NGOs Leadership Forum. He has advised local governments on urban issues and has helped businesses in New Zealand and Australia to develop environmental strategies in a variety of sectors. He has championed a collaborative approach to tackling complex environmental issues. Mr Salmon is a Distinguished Life Member of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.
HONOURS
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SHIPLEY, Mr Burton Ross
For services to basketball
Mr Burton Shipley has been involved in basketball administration nationally and internationally on a largely voluntary basis since the 1990s.
Mr Shipley chaired the New Zealand National Basketball League from 1999 to 2004 and the New Zealand Breakers from 2005 to 2010. He was a Board member of Basketball New Zealand from 2003 to 2005, including time as Deputy Chair, and was a Board member again from 2011 to 2013. He joined the Oceania Basketball Board as an advisor in 2010 and was elected President in 2013, recently being re-elected in 2019. He led the development of the Oceania basketball strategy to raise the profile and build the capacity and capability of basketball in 22 Pacific nations. This has included a leadership initiative supporting women in 10 Pacific nations, basketball programmes for approximately 300,000 youth addressing public health issues and youth leadership, and a competition system allowing more opportunities for Pacific players to compete internationally. He is the only New Zealander to sit on the International Basketball Federation’s (FIBA) Executive Committee. He has been Vice Chair of the International Basketball Foundation, which uses basketball as a vehicle for social change around the world. Mr Shipley chaired the 2019 Basketball World Cup tournament hosted by China, and was subsequently appointed Vice President of FIBA.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
STEELE, Mr Roger Wilson
For services to the publishing industry and the arts
Mr Roger Steele, as publishing director of Steele Roberts Aotearoa in Wellington, has supported hundreds of authors and poets, providing a platform for emerging writers through the production of around 600 books since its first publication in 1996.
Steele Roberts has published around 30 to 40 books annually, prioritising a platform for those who may not have a huge market but add to New Zealand’s cultural landscape and history. Steele Roberts publishes primarily in the genres of history, culture and politics; autobiography, biography and memoir; poetry, art and music; and social issues and civil liberties. Mr Steele has facilitated biographies and memoirs that have brought many New Zealand lives and aspects of New Zealand history to public attention, from national figures to those lesser known, such as from within the Rainbow community. He has also been a significant supporter of the development of New Zealand poetry. A number of authors published by Steele Roberts have won Montana New Zealand Book awards, including Glenn Colquhoun, J.C. Sturm and Hone Tūwhare. Mr Steele was also a Trustee of the Wellington Sculpture Trust for five years and provided the Trust with free office space for a further 12 years.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
TIPA, Dr Gail Tewaru
For services to Māori and environmental management
Dr Gail Tipa has worked in the environmental sector for nearly 30 years, focused on delivering ecocultural outcomes, advocating for Māori, the environment, and the intrinsic connection between the two.
Dr Tipa started her career with the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand and since then has contributed to retaining the character and biodiversity in the Waitaki and other catchments. She has been part of working groups to develop and implement customary fisheries mechanisms, to develop restoration projects and works with a variety of resource users. She has managed her own consultancy for 25 years, focusing specifically on environmental research and management. She is recognised internationally as a leading expert on improving the interface between indigenous cultures and environmental decision-making. She has published widely in this field and has worked on developing new methodologies and tools, such as the Cultural Health Index and the Cultural Flow Assessment method, to enhance indigenous participation in freshwater management. She was a whanau member who worked on the Ngāi Tahu claim and settlement in the 1990s and has held several governance roles within Ngāi Tahu organisations. Dr Tipa was a member of the inaugural Bioheritage National Science Challenge Governance Group.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
TULLY, Adjunct Associate Professor James Alan (Jim)
For services to journalism and education
Adjunct Associate Professor Jim Tully has contributed to journalism in New Zealand across 18 years as a journalist and 32 years as an educator.
Adjunct Associate Professor Tully began his career as a reporter in 1969 before holding senior editorial roles at the Opotiki News, Auckland Star and 8 O’Clock News. In 1987 he was appointed Head of Journalism at the University of Canterbury, has since held other Head of School positions, and was Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Arts). Since 2013 he has been a Researcher in Residence and Senior Tutor at Massey University. As an educator he has trained more than 600 journalists, many of whom have gone on to hold influential posts in print and broadcast media nationally and internationally. He organised and judged the New Zealand Secondary Schools Newspaper of the Year competition from 1989 to 2004. In the 1990s he was a UNESCO consultant on journalism in the South Pacific. He has contributed to industry standards, research and accreditation, with a particular focus on the reporting of mental health, suicide and trauma. In 2004, he chaired a process between the Ministry of Health and the Commonwealth Press Union Media Freedom Committee to negotiate protocols for the reporting of suicide in New Zealand. Associate Professor Tully is a voluntary member of the Suicide and Media Expert Panel.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
UPTON, Ms Colleen Mary
For services to the plumbing and gasfitting industry and women
Ms Colleen Upton has been involved in the plumbing and gasfitting industry since the early 1990s and has been an advocate for female representation in the trades.
Ms Upton joined the Hutt Valley Wairarapa Master Plumbers Association in the early 1990s, later joining the Executive Committee in 2006 and serving as President of the Association from 2010 to 2014. In 2015 she became the first female Board member on the New Zealand Master Plumbers Board, where she was instrumental in initiating the development of a Diversity Policy. She has mentored and overseen the training programmes of more than 50 apprentices since 1992. She has sought to change behaviours to increase the number of women in the industry. She supported and employed her first female plumbing apprentice in 2000 and her own business now employs three of only 44 female plumbers and gasfitters currently active in New Zealand. She established a group at the New Zealand Plumbers conference to work on increasing women’s presence at secondary school career events and the hiring of female apprentices. Ms Upton is on the Board of the National Association of Women in Construction, Weltec Advisory Group and Interim Skills Leadership group, and previously served on the Masterlink Ltd Board, Plumbers Journal Board and the Skills NZ working group reviewing New Zealand plumbing qualifications.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
WALLACE, Mr William Raymond (Ray), JP
For services to local government and the community
Mr Ray Wallace has had a 30-year career in public and community service, most recently as Mayor of Hutt City Council from 2010 to 2019.
As a Councillor, Mr Wallace led the establishment of the Hutt Youth Council in 1998 and championed youth initiatives, including fundraising for the establishment of a skateboard park. He helped establish the Wainuiomata Community Patrol Group. As Deputy Mayor, he joined the Board of the Hutt Rape Crisis Centre and drove fundraising to help keep the Centre open. As Mayor he oversaw a major rejuvenation programme for Hutt City, with several new community facilities built. He was a key driver of the Wainuiomata Hill shared cycle/pathway, completed in 2019. He organised fundraising for the Wainuiomata Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded the Wainuiomata Youth Awards and co-founded the Wainuiomata Budget Service. He chaired his local community trust for more than 10 years, overseeing school holiday programmes and a work initiative for long-term unemployed people. He was Secretary of the local foodbank for seven years and organised many community wide food collections. He is Vice President of Sister Cities New Zealand and initiated Hutt City exchanges with Japan, China and the United States. Mr Wallace chaired the Local Democracy Coalition from 2013 to 2016, which aims to retain local democracy and decision making within regions.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
WRIGHT, Mrs Chloe Angela Carol
For services to philanthropy, education and health
Mrs Chloe Wright and her husband co-established the Wright Family Foundation in 2014, which she leads as CEO without remuneration.
The Foundation provides funds and assistance to improve the educational, emotional and psychological wellbeing of New Zealanders, with 2020’s annual distributions projected to total $7,000,000. The Foundation currently supports more than 25 innovative projects and organisations in a multitude of areas, including birthing and postnatal care for women, early childhood development, child health and education initiatives, improving literacy, environmental programmes with a youth/mentoring focus, and family mentoring. In 2014 she founded Birthing Centre and is currently Director, overseeing centres established in Tauranga, Lower Hutt, Palmerston North and Mangere that offer extensive postnatal support. In 1996 she co-founded BestStart Educare, which now operates under the Wright Family Foundation and is New Zealand’s largest early learning education organisation with 270 centres and around 20,000 children attending as of March 2020. BestStart is involved in a University of Otago research project on self-regulation in four-year-olds and has built a wellbeing initiative with Jumping Beans to review the food and drink policies of centres and increase focus on physical activity. Mrs Wright is Patron of SuperGrans Aotearoa, WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust, Kids’ Lit Quiz, and the New Zealand Spelling Bee.