To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BANG, Ms Elizabeth Margaret, MNZM, JP
For services to health, women and the community
Ms Elizabeth Bang was CEO of Hospice Waikato from 2002 to 2012 and led the fundraising team to purchase and develop a specialised hospice facility in Hamilton.
As CEO Ms Bang oversaw a nationally significant operation and the increased availability of greatly improved services and facilities for people with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses throughout the Waikato region. This included the Rainbow Place facility for the care of children and their families while undergoing treatment in Hamilton. She was President of the National Council of Women New Zealand from 2008 to 2012, having previously been a Board member and Vice President. She was made a Life Member of NCWNZ in 2014. She was appointed to the Waikato Institute of Technology Ethics Committee in 2016 and later became Chairperson. She has been Fundraising Ambassador for the Waikato Medical Research Foundation since 2013. She has been a committee member of the Awatere Club for a number of years and was Chair from 2014 to 2015. She has been a Trustee of Waikato/Taranaki Diocesan Board from 2010 and Chair from 2013. She was a member of the Waikato/Taranaki Diocese Strategic Plan and Review Group in 2013. Ms Bang has been a Justice of the Peace since 2005.
HONOURS
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, New Year 2003
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BARTLETT, Ms Kristine Robyn
For services to equal pay advocacy
Ms Kristine Bartlett has more than 20 years’ experience in the aged-care industry and has been an advocate for working women across the care and support sector.
Ms Bartlett and the Service and Food Workers Union (now E Tū) lodged a claim with the Employment Relations Authority in 2012 alleging that her employer, TerraNova Homes and Care Ltd, was in breach of the Equal Pay Act 1972. The claim was based on the argument that her hourly wage was less than would be paid to men with the same or substantially similar skills. What started out as a test case claim grew into a five-year process through the Employment Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, and into negotiations facilitated by the Government. As a direct outcome the Government established the Joint Working Group on Pay Equity Principles in June 2016. In April 2017 the Government announced a landmark settlement in the Equal Pay Case. During this time Ms Bartlett faced public scrutiny as the front-facing lead plaintiff of the case. Through three court cases, two appeals and innumerable meetings Ms Bartlett has played a significant role in bringing about changes in New Zealand’s legal landscape and paving the way for women in many industries to query wage rates to ensure equity.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
GRIFFIN, Mr Richard Andrew
For services to broadcasting and the media industry
Mr Richard Griffin was appointed to the Board of Radio New Zealand (RNZ) in 2010 and was Chair from 2011 to 2018.
During his time as Chair Mr Griffin has overseen a transformation of the national broadcaster into an efficient and effective multimedia company with greater reach and relevancy to New Zealand society. As a result RNZ’s web services have seen a significant leap in traffic since 2010. He has also overseen development of The Wireless, RNZ’s online service for youth. He has overseen RNZ’s high performance against its Charter objectives and was instrumental in increasing baseline Crown funding for RNZ in Budget 2017. As a past Radio New Zealand Political Editor and a Life Member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, he was Chief Press Secretary and Media Advisor to Prime Minister Jim Bolger from 1993 to 1998. He was Manager of Policy Development, Government Relations and Communications for Television New Zealand from 2000 to 2007. He represented TVNZ on the New Zealand Television Broadcasters Council from 2003 to 2007. Mr Griffin was a Director of the public relations consultancy Fraser Griffin Wood Ltd from 2007 to 2013.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
HAMPTON, Mr Kenneth Nigel (Nigel), OBE, QC
For services to the law
Mr Nigel Hampton is an internationally recognised criminal lawyer and was previously appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1988.
In 1989 Mr Hampton was appointed Queen’s Counsel. He became the first Disciplinary Commissioner of Counsel before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2007. In 2014 he was elected as an alternate member of the Disciplinary Appeals Board for ICC Counsel. Having served two terms on the New Zealand Law Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, he chaired that Tribunal from 2002 until 2005. He currently chairs the Law Society’s National Standards Committee. As one of New Zealand’s leading defence lawyers he has been involved with a large number of the country’s most high profile and controversial criminal cases. More recently, he has played a leading role as counsel in relation to the Pike River Royal Commission and related litigation, and various inquiries into the collapse of the CTV building. He was Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Tonga from 1995 until 1997. He is a judicial officer for World Rugby, SANZAAR (South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby), and New Zealand Rugby. Mr Hampton is the Chair of the Okains Bay Māori and Colonial Museum Trust, a Board member of KidsCan, and patron of the Howard League.
HONOURS
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal
Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Queen’s Birthday 1988
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
JOHNSON, Mr William Bryce (Bryce)
For services to conservation and the environment
Mr Bryce Johnson was appointed in 1980 as the first director of the National Executive of New Zealand Acclimatisation Societies, later re-designated as CEO of the New Zealand Fish and Game Council, a role he held until December 2017.
Mr Johnson was instrumental in the establishment of the New Zealand Landcare Trust and remained on the Trust Board since its inception in 1996. He was the architect of the Conservation Law Reform Act 1990, with the creation of separate Sports Fish and Game Councils to replace Acclimatisation Societies. He contributed to the Resource Management Act 1991, to retain the provision of Water Conservation Orders from the Water and Soil Conservation Act and the inclusion of the protection of wetlands and the habitats of trout and salmon. In 2003 he led Fish and Game New Zealand’s ‘Dirty Dairying’ campaign to raise public awareness of worsening water quality issues as a result of dairy industry development. He was appointed to the Walking Access Consultation Panel from 2005 to 2007, which led to the establishment of the Walking Access Commission. Mr Johnson ensured Fish and Game support for the Land and Water Forum’s trial of a collaborative governance process looking at improvements to land and water management in 2009 and 2010.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
OAKLEY, Dr Amanda Margaret Meredith
For services to dermatology
Dr Amanda Oakley is a dermatologist who founded DermNet NZ in 1995, now the world’s most popular online resource for skin health, where she continues as Editor in Chief.
DermNet NZ is Health-on-the-Net certified, receives visits from 2 million people globally a month, and was registered as a charitable trust in 2013. Dr Oakley has practiced as a dermatologist in the Waikato region since 1986. She was Clinical Director of the Department of Dermatology of Waikato District Health Board for 12 years and since 2002 has taught as an Honorary and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Auckland’s Waikato Clinical Campus. Academically her research has centred on teledermatology, dermoscopy and other methods for early diagnosis of melanoma. She has published an extensive range of research papers in these fields and is the author of ‘The Textbook of Teledermatology’ and the general practitioners’ textbook ‘Dermatology Made Easy’, both of which are used internationally. Dr Oakley is a past President of the Australian and New Zealand Vulvovaginal Society and of the New Zealand Dermatological Society, and was President of Waikato Postgraduate Medicine.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SUMNER, Mrs Faye Patricia
For services to the medical technology sector
Mrs Faye Sumner has been Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Technology Association of New Zealand (MTANZ) since 2000 and has contributed to medical industry development in New Zealand for 30 years.
Mrs Sumner has developed the relationships between MTANZ and stakeholder groups from government agencies and research agencies to physicians, surgeons and innovation hubs. She played a key role in the development and embedding of the Code of Practice for the medical technology industry, established in 2005. She has provided governance through a range of board appointments in the medical and research fields, particularly in guiding the direction of the New Zealand Heart Foundation and the New Zealand Artificial Limb Service. She has been an advocate and promoter of local start-up companies in the New Zealand MedTech sector. She has helped grow the annual Medical Technology Conference from a small focussed meeting for suppliers and procurement managers to what is now the HealthTech Week. She is recognised as an authority internationally on medical device ethics and code of conduct. Mrs Sumner is a member of the APEC Code of Business Ethics for Medical Devices Working Group and has contributed to international organisations such as the Medical Technology Association of Australia and AdvaMed in the United States.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
THOMAS, Mr Barry Charles
For services to tourism and business
Mr Barry Thomas has been the founder of a number of successful and well-known New Zealand businesses.
A chartered accountant by trade, one of his most notable contributions has been to one of New Zealand’s most successful tourism businesses, Skyline Enterprises. He was appointed to the Board in 1975 and soon after became Chairman for 33 years. Under his leadership Skyline has grown to a market capitalisation of $780 million, employing more than 1,000 full time employees. He oversaw Skyline’s diversification of its portfolios of operating companies and it now has businesses throughout New Zealand as well as operations in Singapore, Canada, and South Korea. He was a leader behind the development of the Skyline Luge and has helped expand the Luge concept offshore. He established Mountain Scene, a tourist publication to promote the Southern lakes region, which became one of New Zealand’s most awarded independent newspapers. He was instrumental in establishing the Queenstown and Christchurch Casinos and their charitable trusts, which have distributed more than $4 million to community groups over the years. He has been involved with the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand and the New Zealand Tourism Board. Mr Thomas has been a Board member of Christchurch International Airport, Queenstown Airport Corporation, and the New Zealand Rugby Union Board.