To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
COXON, Dr Evelyn Imelda (Eve)
For services to Pacific and tertiary education
Dr Eve Coxon has been involved in Pacific education for almost 40 years and is recognised regionally and internationally.
During her time at Auckland University, Dr Coxon has established undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Pacific education and Pacific Studies. She has supervised 45 PhD or Masters’ theses, the majority authored by Pacific students. She was founding director of the Research Unit in Pacific Education and played a key role in the development of the Rethinking Pacific Education Initiative for Pacific Peoples which has, for more than twenty years, fostered new generations of regional Pacific education leaders. She has undertaken research in a range of Pacific countries, contributed to academic programmes at Pacific universities and authored numerous books, journal articles, book chapters and research reports, mostly in collaboration with Pacific colleagues. She has been appointed to many advisory positions by governments across the region, such as Education Sector Support Advisor to the Tongan Ministry of Education, Policy Advisor to the Samoan Ministry of Education, and New Zealand Representative on the Fiji Education Commission. She has been President of the Oceania Comparative Education Society and since 2016 has held leadership positions on the World Council of Comparative Education Societies. Dr Coxon continues in an honorary position at Auckland University actively supporting students, Pacific education research and researchers.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
CULL, Mr David Charles (Dave)
Deceased. Her Majesty’s approval of this award took effect on 26 April 2021, prior to the date of decease.
For services to local government
Mr Dave Cull was a Councillor from 2007 and Mayor from 2010 of Dunedin City Council (DCC).
As Mayor until 2019, Mr Cull implemented a plan for restructuring the council-controlled organisations, improved the financial state of the city, and placed openness and transparency at the forefront of democratic process. He instigated work in heritage reuse, digital excellence and sustainable urbanism, with Dunedin being recognised for regeneration of communities without demolition. He built strong sister city relationships with Edinburgh and Shanghai and supported a number of United Nations initiatives to build international cultural links and support sustainable development. He supported Dunedin’s bid to become a UNESCO City of Literature and was an active supporter and contributor to the UN’s Creative Cities Network. He was elected President of Local Government New Zealand from 2017 to 2019. During this time he introduced training and grading schemes that achieved the benchmark and framework that was perceived as previously lacking. He has been Vice Chair of Commonwealth Local Government Forum and Co-President of United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific. Mr Cull has chaired the Southern District Health Board since 2019, overseeing planning for a new Dunedin hospital.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
FRANCIS, Mr Robert Charles (Bob), QSO, MBE, JP
For services to the community and conservation
Mr Bob Francis was Mayor of the Masterton District Council from 1989 until 2007 and has since continued to contribute to the community through various positions and organisations.
Mr Francis has been Chairman since 2006 of Pūkaha Mount Bruce, a national wildlife centre in the Tararua district, during which time he has helped drive several conservation programmes and fundraising of more than $5 million since 2008. Most recently he led the planning for the development of an education centre at Pūkaha. He co-founded the Wairarapa Development Group, a think tank charged with improving commercial opportunities within the Wairarapa. He led the successful Super Turf project to bring a $2.1 million state of the art artificial turf and floodlights to Masterton. He launched Digital Seniors Trust in 2018. He has been the Chairman of Wings over Wairarapa Community Trust since 2011 and has contributed to the development of Masterton Aerodrome. He has been Chair of the Aratoi Foundation and the Wairarapa Water User Project, a major regional irrigation scheme, the Wairarapa Homes Steering Committee, and Heartland Wairarapa. From 2006 to 2012 Mr Francis was a Commission Member of the New Zealand Fire Service and was Chairman of the Wairarapa District Health Board from 2006 to 2013.
HONOURS
Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, Queen’s Birthday 2002
Member of the Order of the British Empire, New Year 1991
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MACFARLANE, Professor Angus Hikairo
For services to education, psychology and Māori
Professor Angus Macfarlane has been a leading figure in cultural theory in education and psychology and an eminent researcher in the field of Mātauranga Māori, who has gained international recognition for the transferability of his theories.
Professor Macfarlane has developed bicultural approaches for teachers and psychologists to create safe and inclusive relationships with Māori students and clients, notably the Educultural Wheel, his most widely referred to framework for professional practice. His education theories have also proven to be effective for Pacific, disabled and gifted learners. He developed his first education theory in New Zealand, the Hikairo Rationale (now Hikairo Schema), a bicultural approach to positive behaviour, while head teacher of the Awhina special education school in 1980s and early 1990s. He has contributed to national projects, such as Resource Teachers for Learning and Behaviour and Hui Whakatika, a Māori-developed restorative justice programme in schools. His bicultural research model He Ara Whiria has been widely used by Superu (The Families Commission), MSD, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, and is the basis for research for E Tipu e Rea A Better Start National Science Challenge. Professor Macfarlane is Professor of Māori Research and was founding Director of Te Rū Rangahau (The Māori Research Laboratory) at University of Canterbury.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MARSHALL, Dr Kevin Raymond
For services to food science and technology
Dr Kevin Marshall has made a major contribution to New Zealand’s food and bio-processing industries over a 60-year career.
Dr Marshall’s dairy career began at the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute, where he pioneered initiatives to deal with whey utilisation, helping New Zealand to become a world leader in adopting new processing technologies. He became Chief Executive of the Dairy Research Institute and Group Leader Research and Development of the New Zealand Dairy Board. He led an entity established by the Dairy Board to fund and participate in university research into milk and plant genetics. He was active in resolving complex technical issues between the New Zealand dairy industry and overseas importers and regulators and helped to elevate New Zealand’s status abroad. He became a highly respected contributor to the International Dairy Foundation. In his retirement, he has held governance or advisory roles with many entities and initiatives in the public and private sectors. These include the Primary Growth Partnership, New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre, Seafood Innovations, Foundation for Arable Research, Wool Equities, High Value Nutrition, Zespri, Synlait, Plant and Food Research, Plant Biosecurity CRC and MBIE. Dr Marshall is currently Chair of the Riddet Institute Centre of Research Excellence and of Food Industry Enabling Technologies, and a director of Bioresource Processing Alliance.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MIKAERE, Mr Harry Haerengarangi
For services to the aquaculture industry and Māori
Mr Harry Mikaere has been a pioneer of aquaculture as one of the earliest mussel farmers in the Coromandel area, and has supported other organisations in the development of their businesses over 30 years, helping the industry become world-renowned.
Mr Mikaere is a director of Pare Hauraki Fishing Trust and has been a Director of Aquaculture New Zealand since 2011. He has travelled internationally to develop relationships and capability in aquaculture throughout Asia. He established several successful businesses that have employed local people across the aquaculture and health sectors, including the first and, to this day, only rest home and private hospital in the Coromandel region. He is a director of Hauraki Māori Trust Board and chairs Pare Hauraki Assets Holdings, Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki, and Tikapa Moana Enterprise Ltd. Regionally, he is Chair of Hauraki Primary Health Organisation, Tainui Waka Alliance, and Ngāti Pūkenga ki Manaia. He has previously been on the Waikato District Health Board, chaired the Iwi Māori Council from 2007 to 2016 and was Iwi negotiator of Te Au Maaro from 2005. He was director and Chair of the Asset Holding Trust of Ngāti Kahungunu. As a committee member and Chair of Manaia Marae, Mr Mikaere has been instrumental in the redevelopment of the marae and the local kura of Manaia.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
OMBLER, Mr John Stewart, QSO
For services to the public service
Mr John Ombler has had a 43-year career in the public service and was appointed a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order in 2013 for his services to the State.
Since his retirement in 2013, Mr Ombler has returned to twice lead Public Service agencies in response to significant crises. He reprised his role as Chief Executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority from 2014 to 2016, the year CERA was disestablished. In 2020 he became All-of-Government Controller for the response to COVID-19, chairing the five-member National Response Leadership Team, made up of the Director-General of Health, Director of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, and the All-of-Government Operations and Strategy and Policy Leads. In this role, he had responsibility and oversight for coordinating the public service response at a strategic and operational level – from the National Crisis Management Centre, to cross-agency officials’ meetings, to on-the ground delivery. Meeting daily during the initial months of the pandemic outbreak, this team had a key role in advising the Prime Minister and Cabinet on the complex breadth of COVID-19 matters, and ensuring public service agencies were ready to turn executive decisions into practice. In November 2017 Mr Ombler was appointed to conduct an inquiry under the State Services Commissioner into financial irregularities at the Waikato District Health Board.
HONOURS
Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, Queen’s Birthday 2013
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
PURDY, Professor Suzanne Carolyn
For services to audiology and communication science
Professor Suzanne Purdy, current Head of the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland, has had a distinguished career in the field of Audiology and Communication Science.
Professor Purdy’s four decades of research have impacted diagnostic and treatment practices in the areas of cochlear implants; hearing, auditory processing and language disorders in children and adults; and communication disorders in autism. She has helped instigate novel approaches to stroke and aphasia rehabilitation including Māori-led community initiatives, choral and public speaking therapies for neurological conditions, and sensory training for mild cognitive impairment. Her electrophysiology research at the National Acoustic Laboratories in Australia resulted in the development and routine adoption of a new objective hearing test for infants with hearing loss throughout Australia and New Zealand. She has contributed substantially to the development of the Audiology and Speech-language professions nationally through two professional degree programmes at the University of Auckland. She has been involved with the governance and management of numerous community organisations relating to speech and hearing disorders, including the National Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Gavel Club, and the Stuttering Treatment and Research Trust. She is Deputy Co-director of the Eisdell Moore Centre for Hearing and Balance Research. Professor Purdy has chaired the International Evoked Response Audiometry Study Group since 2015.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
RICHMOND, Professor Emeritus David Eric
For services to health and education
Professor Emeritus David Richmond was inaugural Masonic Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Auckland from 1985 to 1994.
Professor Richmond was the inaugural director of C.M.E for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (New Zealand), inaugural Chair of the Auckland Hospital Research Ethics Committee, and a founding member of the Health Research Council’s National Ethics Committee. On retiring as HOD (Geriatric Medicine), he was appointed Assistant Dean (Academic) and awarded a personal Chair in Medicine and Medical Education. He founded the HOPE Foundation for Research in Ageing from 1994 and chaired its Board for 20 years. He formed the New Zealand Nephrology Group and established a University Diploma in Geriatric Medicine for General Practitioners. He is a fellow of two Royal colleges and Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is a Life Member of New Zealand Association of Gerontology and Fellow of the Selwyn Foundation. He was an advisor to the WHO, the Department of External Affairs and Health and an expert advisor on several coronial inquiries. He was member of the Prime Ministerial Task Force on ageing. Professor Richmond has held local and national positions in the Baptist Churches of New Zealand and served a term as Dean of Auckland Consortium of Theological Education and Honorary Dean of Theology in the University of Auckland.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
ROWLEY, Dr Robert Simon Hearn (Simon)
For services to paediatric and neonatal care
Dr Simon Rowley has been a Specialist Neonatal Paediatrician in Auckland since 1984 and has played a significant role in the development of paediatric and neonatal care in New Zealand.
Dr Rowley has been an essential part of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at National Women’s/Auckland City Hospital, including undertaking ground-breaking research. He has led the care of those affected by neonatal abstinence syndrome and neonatal HIV, leading the way on researching the effect of illicit drugs on newborns and reducing the risk that HIV is transmitted by a mother to her baby. He was involved in producing the national guidelines on the ethical issues surrounding neonatal intensive care, and he wrote the local neonatal palliative care guidelines in Auckland. He co-authored ground-breaking academic research into the causes and avoidance of cot death. He has volunteered for the Brainwave Trust for more than 15 years as a board member, scientific advisor, and educator. He volunteered weekly at Mt Roskill Plunket for more than 20 years. Dr Rowley is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and was a member of their Paediatrics and Child Health Division Education Committee for 10 years.
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SHEPHERD, Dr Maxwell Gilbert (Max), JP
For services to biotechnology and business
Dr Max Shepherd is an award-winning biotechnologist and played a leading role in the emergence and success of the New Zealand biotechnology industry.
Dr Shepherd was appointed Foundation Professor Oral Biology at Otago University from 1981 to 1994. His pioneering research in the biology and molecular genetics of human pathogen Candida albicans put New Zealand at the forefront of this research internationally, with the laboratory he established remaining an international leader. He is widely published, specialising in the medical mycology field. From the mid-1990s he was instrumental in the practical application and commercial funding of science in New Zealand, predominantly through the establishment of a variety of start-up enterprises focused on commercialisation of scientific research, such as Zentech, PharmaZen, A2 Milk, Biocell Corporation, and Blis Technologies. His commercialisation model is now widely adopted by start-ups in the industry. His inventive problem solving has contributed to products and projects benefitting diverse areas of New Zealand resources, including rabbit virus management in Central Otago and natural botrytis solutions for the wine industry. He was appointed to the government’s Biotechnology Taskforce in 2003 and was a member of the National Research Advisory Council. Dr Shepherd was a founding committee member from 2012 of the Wanaka branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand and was Chair from 2015 to 2017.
HONOURS
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal
To be a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
THATCHER, Mr John Webster Te Kapene (Jack)
For services to Māori and education
Mr Jack Thatcher is Chairman of Te Puna I Rangiriri Trust (TPIRT), which he co-founded in the early 1990s.
Through TPIRT Mr Thatcher and other staff have taught hundreds of children and young people about waka and other traditional Māori knowledge through programmes in schools, polytechnics and wānanga. He has run events and classes based on traditional Māori activities such as waka ama, mau rākau, kapa haka, and Māori sports and cultural experiences. Under the umbrella of the Trust, he established a traditional navigation school in 2015 where 30 students a year can gain recognised NZQA qualifications. He develops and leads ocean voyages for his students using traditional navigational instruments and techniques. He has led educational tours of Mount Maunganui and the Mauao historic reserve for 27 years during Matariki. He navigated the Mātaatua Waka for the 150 year commemorations of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He captained the Waka Odyssey voyage for the 2018 New Zealand Festival of the Arts and in 2019 was flotilla kaitiaki for Tuia 250 commemorations. He was chief navigator for Sir Heke Busby’s Waka Tapu project in 2012/2013. Mr Thatcher taught navigation skills for a crew of seven waka for Te Mana o te Moana, a journey from around the Pacific to join the Pacific Arts Festival in the Solomon Islands in 2012.