To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
ASTON, Mrs Nona
For services to the community
Mrs Nona Aston has made significant contributions to the Gisborne-East Coast community through a wide range of organisations.
Mrs Aston has been an active volunteer, an advocate for Māori and youth groups, and has provided support for the elderly. She was a foundation member of the Gisborne-East Coast Cancer Society in 1990. She has held a number of positions within the Society and is currently Trust Chairperson and a member of New Zealand Cancer Society Central Districts Executive. Since 1991 she has voluntarily delivered 'Living with Cancer' workshops. She was a founding member of Taki Taha Toa Mana, a regional health group working with Tairawhiti providers of smokefree and quit smoking programmes. She has been an Executive member of the Te Whanau Aroha, a family centre for at-risk youth. She was a foundation member and Trustee of Te Kupenga Net Trust, a mental health organisation. She is currently Chair of the Tairawhiti Positive Ageing Trust. She was President of the Nurses Association, Gisborne-East Coast Branch in the 1980s, and has been a member of the District Health Board Community Health Committee. Mrs Aston was elected to the Gisborne District Council in 2004 and served as Deputy Mayor from 2007 to 2013 before retiring.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BABICH, Mr Joseph Frank (Joe)
For services to the wine industry
Mr Joe Babich has contributed services to the New Zealand wine industry for more than 50 years.
Mr Babich joined his family's wine Business Babich Wines in 1958, became General Manager in the mid-1990s, and is currently Managing Director. He has been a wine judge for more than 35 years, including at the Royal Easter Wine Show and the National Wine Competition (now known as the Air New Zealand Wine Awards), has fine-tuned the rules and judging standards and trained new judges. As a member of the New Zealand Wine Institute he has worked to improve the quality of New Zealand wines, including the testing of wines intended for export. Since the 1970s his wines have received numerous awards, including being named among the 'Top 50 World's Most Admired Wine Brands' by Drinks International magazine in 2012. He produced one of the first and highly successful chardonnays to be fermented and matured on its yeast lees in barrels. Babich Wines now supplies New Zealand and 35 other countries, with vineyards in Auckland, Marlborough and Hawke's Bay. Mr Babich also contributes to his community, assisting the Waitemata Rugby Club and the Henderson High School Foundation, which he helped to establish.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BAKER, Ms Robyn Jane
For services to education
Ms Robyn Baker has been the Director of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) since 2000.
In this role Ms Baker established collaborations across organisations and institutions that provided new insights into teaching and learning and helped to build expertise in research and practice. She also instigated national seminars to bring together researchers, practitioners and policymakers to address current educational dilemmas. She has led NZCER's thinking on future directions for education and innovative research-based products. She is a leader in science education in New Zealand, and has had key roles in the New Zealand Association of Science Educators and has been a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand's council and chair of its committee on science and technology education. She has served on numerous national committees, including assessment, qualifications and curriculum advisory groups. She was a member of the Minister of Education's review team for the New Zealand Teachers' Council and the Ministerial Cross-Sector Forum on Education. She has given keynote presentations to a range of Asia-Pacific education organisations and meeting. Ms Baker has served on the board of the Australian Council for Education Research since 2006 and is currently its Deputy Chair.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BEALE, Ms Fleur Una Maude
For services to literature
Ms Fleur Beale has been a writer for more than 25 years and has more than 50 publications spanning picture books, junior fiction, young adult fiction and adult non-fiction.
Ms Beale was the Writer in Residence at the Dunedin College of Education in 1999. One of her best known works is "I am not Esther", which was published in 1998 and was featured in the latest volume of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up", produced by UK publisher Quintessence. She has received numerous awards and shortlistings for her work. She is a mentor of new and emerging writers through the New Zealand Society of Authors. She has been a manuscript assessor for the New Zealand Association of Manuscript Assessors since 2003. Ms Beale has visited schools as part of the New Zealand Book Council's Writers in Schools Programme since 2002 and is heavily involved with the Book Council's gifted students programme Speed Date An Author.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BEGG, Mr William Leslie John (Bill)
For services to speed skating
Mr Bill Begg has contributed services to speed skating for more than 50 years.
Mr Begg has been a skater, coach and official on national skating bodies and on the World Body of Sport. From 1963 to 1978 he was a member of the South Canterbury Roller Skating Club as a skater, coach, committee member, and, for a time, club chairman. He lived in Australia from 1978 to 1990 where he was a skater, official of the Australian Speed Committee and national coach. He has since coached in Timaru for many years and has played a key role in attracting overseas skaters to Timaru for training. In both countries he has provided homestay to skaters from many countries, was instrumental in getting banked tracks built for the sport and provided personal funds for many skaters to travel or purchase equipment. He has been a manager, coach or advisor for national teams of New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Germany, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Cuba, Switzerland and Colombia, taking Australia and Colombia to Number One Nation in the speed skating world championships. Mr Begg personally coached 10 skaters who won 18 world titles, and coached many others who combined won 130 world medals, including his wife and daughter.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BLACK, Mrs Annette Elizabeth
For services to legal education
Mrs Annette Black joined the New Zealand Law Society as its first director of legal education in 1983, becoming Deputy Director of the Society in 1987 and holding the Director of Legal Education concurrently until 2005, since when she has worked part-time.
Mrs Black designed the first New Zealand national continuing legal education programme based on modern adult legal education principles, with courses across all legal topics and skills. The programme is one of the most comprehensive of any law society in the world and is highly regarded internationally. She spearheaded the review of pre-admission training for law graduates that ultimately led to radical change to the provision of training in this area and the establishment in 1987 of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies. She was instrumental in introducing the Litigation Skills Course and Civil Litigation and Expert Evidence courses. More recently she has designed and led the implementation of a world-leading Continuing Professional Development Programme. She has consulted with the College of Law in Sydney and the University of the South Pacific. Mrs Black served nine years as a voluntary Trustee of the New Zealand Law Foundation.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BLANKS, Mr Ross Trevor
For services to animal welfare
Dr Ross Blanks is a veterinarian who began his voluntary work with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in the 1980s.
Dr Blanks has held Board and executive roles with SPCA Canterbury from 1995 to 2014 during which time he was instrumental in coordinating the introduction of early puppy socialisation programmes to New Zealand. Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake he made his veterinary clinic available as a 24 hour operation and in his capacity as the then current Chair of SPCA Canterbury was a leading figure in developing the Emergency Animal Welfare Response Centre. He has played a central role in ensuring veterinarians and the SPCA cooperate to improve animal welfare at a national level. He was instrumental in having micro-chipping implemented in law with the revised Dog Control Act and was largely responsible for the development and promotion of the New Zealand Companion Animal Register. Dr Blanks has held executive roles with companion animal organisations and the New Zealand Veterinary Association, and has continued to provide voluntary services to the New Zealand Companion Animal Trust and as a board member of SPCA Canterbury since his retirement from veterinary practice in 2012.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
BOULT, Mr James (Jim)
For services to tourism and the community
Mr Jim Boult was Chief Executive of Christchurch Airport from 2009 to December 2013.
He oversaw a $237 million terminal upgrade and ensured that the airport was open for emergency flights following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. He has led a number of initiatives to shape the role Christchurch airport plays in South Island tourism, and has led delegations to China to invite airlines to fly direct to Christchurch. Under his leadership the airport has won numerous awards for its innovative and sustainable practices. He was Director and Deputy Chair from 1997 to 2000 of the New Zealand Tourism Board, and Director of the New Zealand Tourism Industry Association. He was Chair of the Independent Panel of Experts for the Government Tourism Growth Partnership and was appointed to the Civil Aviation Authority and the New Zealand Customs Service Audit and Risk Committee in 2013. Mr Boult is actively involved with several charities, including as National Director and Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee of the Child Cancer Foundation, Chairperson of the Otago Southland Child Cancer Accommodation Trust since 2001, member of the Shaping Our Future Steering Group, and he helped establish Friends of Lake Hayes in 2007 to restore the lake's water quality.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
CASTLE, Ms Raelene
For services to sport and business
Ms Raelene Castle has contributed services to sport.
Ms Castle is a lawn bowls champion, has played netball and tennis at representative level, and is a leading sports administrator. She has served in marketing and business roles in organisations such as Telecom, Fuji Xerox and the Bank of New Zealand and took this experience and her sports-playing skills into Netball New Zealand, the International Netball Federation and the Chairing of the New Zealand Sports Organisations' leadership group. As Director and then Chief Executive of Netball New Zealand until 2013 she played a key role in the establishment of the trans-Tasman netball championship and in securing a naming rights sponsor for the international competition and broadcast rights in New Zealand. She has brought Fast Five Netball to New Zealand and helped to transform Netball New Zealand and the International Netball Federation into strategically focused businesses while growing the profile of netball significantly. In 2013 she became the first female Chief Executive of a national rugby league club, namely the Canterbury Bulldogs. Ms Castle is a Trustee for the youth-oriented Rising Foundation and a business mentor to young female executives.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
COOK, Mr Raymond Noel (Ray)
For services to tourism and the community
Mr Ray Cook has contributed to the community and the economic growth and development of tourism in Rotorua and nationally for more than 25 years.
Mr Cook has been Managing Director of four major and privately owned companies for which he provided the concept, design, management and development and which are linked to the tourism sector, namely R&B Consultants, Rotorua Lakeside Resort, The Wall Backpackers and Activity Centre and Rotorua International Airport Company. His R&B Consultancy was responsible for the development of several large hotels across New Zealand and for the construction and development of the first Ronald McDonald Retreat in Rotorua. As Board member of the Rotorua Tourism Advisory Board he provided Rotorua District Council with strategic advice for the operation of Tourism Rotorua and successfully marketing Rotorua as a major tourism destination. As former independent director for BikeNZ, he helped reconstruct the organisation which is responsible for New Zealand's BMX, mountain biking and track and road cycling. He was instrumental in introducing regular trans-Tasman flights between Rotorua and Sydney. Mr Cook is actively involved in fundraising for charities such as the Ronald McDonald Family Retreat, Cure Kids and Bay of Plenty Burns Support Group.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
EVANS, Mrs Elizabeth Mary (Liz), JP
For services to rural women
Mrs Liz Evans was the National President of Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) from May 2011 to November 2013, and is a National Life Member.
Mrs Evans was elected to the RWNZ national governance council in 2005 as the representative of the Top of the South region. While promoting the interests of rural women in that region, she chaired the RWNZ national land use committee. She was elected the organisation's vice president in 2009. She initiated changes to RWNZ's publications and media, contributed to a re-branding initiative and set up the successful Enterprising Rural Women Award – a national award for rural based women with their own small businesses. She led two RWNZ delegations to the Associated Countrywomen of the World conferences in Tonga and India. She currently represents RWNZ on the Access Homehealth Ltd Board and the New Zealand Landcare Trust, and also served three years on the New Zealand Rural Communities Trust. In 2014 she led a sub-committee to update the organisation's constitution. Mrs Evans was for 10 years the provincial secretary of Marlborough RWNZ, and administrator for the Marlborough Provincial Federated Farmers from 2003 to 2011.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
HARROW, Ms Lisa
For services to the dramatic arts
Ms Lisa Harrow has contributed to the dramatic arts for 50 years.
Ms Harrow began her acting career in Auckland in the 1960s. In 1965 she was awarded an Arts Council Bursary to study acting in England, and following her graduation from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 1968, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as a leading actress. Since then, she has been the leading lady in more than 40 stage productions in the United Kingdom and the United States, has starred in a dozen films, played leading roles in television shows that have been viewed worldwide, and has worked in New Zealand, Australia, France, Poland, Japan, Iceland, Italy, Austria, Ireland and Spain. She has taught acting at American Universities and in New Zealand, and was a founding director of 'Actors from the London Stage', which teaches drama and English students methods for handling classical dramatic texts. In 2013 she took up directing with a production of 'King Lear' for Auckland University. Ms Harrow has published the environmental handbook 'What Can I Do?' and helped create 'SeaChange: Reversing the Tide', a performance piece promoting sustainable living.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
HERMANSSON, Professor Emeritus Gary Leroy
For services to the field of sport psychology
Professor Emeritus Gary Hermansson has contributed to the field of sport psychology as both an academic and a practitioner.
Over the period 1998 to 2014, Professor Hermansson has been the New Zealand Team Psychologist for nine consecutive Olympic and Commonwealth Games. He has also been the Team Psychologist to the New Zealand Equestrian Team and the New Zealand Blackcaps Cricket Team, as well as providing psychological services to the New Zealand School of Dance and numerous other athletes and performing artists. He has been an advisor in his field over many years to the New Zealand Olympic Committee and High Performance Sport New Zealand, as well as being a mentor to several other professionals working in his field. He has been a longstanding media spokesperson on matters of performance psychology and he has researched and written extensively on the topic. Recently Professor Hermansson was approached to contribute to a soon to be published sport psychology book, on the basis of being regarded as one of the 12 most notable sport psychologists in the world.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
HUNN, Mr John Murray
For services to business and philanthropy
Mr John Hunn has contributed to the community for more than 50 years.
Mr Hunn has held senior executive roles in a range of significant New Zealand companies and is a Distinguished Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Directors. He has been President and Chairman of Cricket Wellington, Chairman of Wellington Cricket Trustees, and member of the Wellington Regional Stadium Trust. His support to charitable organisations has included a seven year stint as Chairman of the Samaritans Wellington Management Committee and Chairmanship of New Zealand Lottery Board Aged Welfare Grants Board. He has lent financial and moral support to emerging artists, including through the New Zealand Opera and the Dame Malvina Major Foundations. In 2012 he established the charitable John and Margaret Hunn Education Trust to support and encourage New Zealand's tertiary students and graduates with grants to enable completion of post graduate courses and leadership development. Mr Hunn has been Chairman of Wellington Regional Enterprise Board and the New Zealand Committee of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, and has served on the New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust, the New Zealand Tourism council, and Enterprise Trust New Zealand.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
JACKSON, Inspector Anne-Frances Mary (Anna)
For services to the New Zealand Police and the community
Inspector Anna Jackson was the first female police officer to be promoted to the rank of Senior Sergeant in Rotorua, having served with the Police since 1984
As a Senior Sergeant Inspector Jackson headed Rotorua's Road Policing Unit and represented Police on community safety committees. She has been involved with equal opportunity issues and professional standards since 2005 and was tested in the latter as a witness testifying against an errant senior officer in a high profile historic case. She is a long term member of the District Equity and Diversity Committee, represents the Bay of Plenty on Police women matters and is a Police harassment support officer. She was praised for her work on a United-States funded deployment to Baguio City in the Philippines to train Police Officers in community policing, ethics and human rights. As Inspector in charge of Professional Standards since 2009, she has led the District in ethics training and advocates for it nationally. Inspector Jackson has volunteered for Kaharoa School, Kaharoa Community Association and Hall Committee, the Combined Adolescent Challenge Training Unit and Support course at Western Heights High School, the annual 'Top Parish' youth gathering, the St Francis Whanau Aroha early Childhood Centre and is a church warden in St Luke's Anglican parish.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
JOHNSON, Mr Bryan Ewart
For services to business and philanthropy
Mr Bryan Johnson has made significant contributions to corporate New Zealand since the 1960s and has made contributions to the community.
Between the 1970s and 1990s as senior partner in Jarden and Co. Mr Johnson helped develop the depth and responsiveness of the capital market and led capital raisings, mergers, and acquisitions for internationally ambitious companies such as Fletcher Challenge, Goodman Group, Carter Holt, and Brierley Investments. He was responsible for bringing a number of new companies to market. In the early 1990s he became the Chairman of CS First Boston New Zealand, which became First New Zealand Capital, and was appointed Founder President in 2010. He was Chair of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme from 1997 to 2003 and remained a Trustee until 2010. He has been Chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award Foundation since 2004. As Deputy Chair of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research from 1998 he directly facilitated funds to support the Institute's vaccine trials against melanoma and brain cancer. Mr Johnson has contributed to Life Education Trust, the building of Westpac Stadium in Wellington, Cathedral Building Appeal, Bowen Hospital, Rongotai College, Victoria University, and Nikau Foundation, a community foundation for Wellington.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
LUCAS, Mr Richard John
For services to agriculture
Mr Richard Lucas has contributed to agriculture for more than 40 years.
Mr Lucas was a Senior Lecturer in the Plant Science Department of Lincoln University from 1974 to 2004. He created courses in tropical agronomy and ethno botany to meet the academic needs of overseas students. He served on a wide range of university administrative committees including the University Art Committee of which he was a founding member in 1974 and of which he was Chairperson for 10 years after his retirement until 2014. He has advocated the use of different clovers to improve the nutrition of sheep and beef cattle and as a sustainable method of introducing nitrogen to hill and high country areas of New Zealand. He has presented this information, largely on a voluntary basis, through field days, meetings with individual farmers, discussion groups and the agribusiness community. He co-authored the New Zealand Pasture Profile for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Programme and papers for the New Zealand Grassland Association. Mr Lucas has mentored many young farmers on improving sustainability and flock performance and his advice has frequently led to the continued viability of farms in regions of climatic risk and variability.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MANSON, Mr Edward Colin (Ted)
For services to urban redevelopment
Mr Ted Manson has contributed to environmental sustainability, urban redevelopment, and the Auckland community for more than 40 years.
Mr Manson is a leading New Zealand-based property developer who pioneered the country's development of environmentally sustainable Green Star rated buildings. He was responsible for the first two buildings in Auckland to be certified by the New Zealand Green Building Council and has developed and constructed more certified Green Star buildings than any other private or publically-listed developer. In Auckland he has led more than $2 billion worth of property developments – most of which have been self-funded, and which have provided substantial employment over the past 40 years. His developments have resulted in the conversion of many derelict commercial and industrial sites into new office and apartment buildings, and retaining important heritage features whenever present. He pioneered the inner city apartment market by converting obsolete inner-city office buildings into more than 600 apartments. He has voluntarily paid more than $6 million to ensure any defects or leak claims were addressed on his buildings. Mr Manson has consistently supported a number of charities for health, children and sports, and in 2014 established the Ted Manson Charitable Foundation with an initial commitment of $5 million.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MONK, Mr Gary Bevan, JP
For services to the seafood industry and the community
Mr Gary Monk is the founder, sole proprietor and director of the seafood export business Intersea Limited.
Intersea was the first New Zealand company to send shipments of live greenshell mussels to the United States, and Mr Monk has also helped to establish other global markets for New Zealand seafood. He held leadership positions in both the New Zealand Fish Exporters Association and the New Zealand Fishing Industry Association. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the New Zealand China Trade Association, and has helped grow other New Zealand companies, including as Chairman of Timaru's New Zealand Light Leathers Limited and as past non-executive Chairman of Auckland-based trading company Mathias International Limited. He is a member of the Board of Governors of Radio New Zealand and Regional Chair of Bank of New Zealand, Auckland-North. He is the Chair of the YES Disability Centre in Albany, which works to ensure people with disabilities are represented in governance, planning and staffing. Mr Monk is a Trustee of the North Harbour Charitable Trust and North Harbour Club, a foundation member of the Bruce Mason Centre, a sponsor of the North Shore Hospice Trust and a Trustee of the St Patrick's Day Golf Classic Charitable Trust.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
MORAN, Dr Kevin
For services to water safety
Dr Kevin Moran has had a lifelong commitment to safe aquatic participation and the prevention of drowning as a researcher, educator and as a volunteer.
Dr Moran is a Principal Lecturer in Health and Physical Education at the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of Auckland. He has been a surf lifeguard for more than 50 years, has received a number of surf lifesaving awards, and continues to patrol Muriwai beach. He is a member of the International Lifesaving Federation Research and Information Committee, Co-Chair of the International Taskforce on Open Water Drowning Prevention, a foundation member of the New Zealand Drowning Prevention Council, and was Chairman of Watersafe Auckland Inc from 1993 to 2012. He has published extensively on water safety education including books, journal articles, commissioned reports and conference presentations. He has critiqued, written and revised various national water safety and swimming programmes such as Swim Safe, Surf Sense, Surf Safety and Surf Survival. His work on the International Open Water Drowning Prevention Guidelines was included in the New Zealand Water Safety Code. In 2013 Dr Moran was appointed to the World Health Organisation's Advisory Committee for the development of the Global Drowning Report.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
PATERSON, Mrs Susan Marie
For services to corporate governance
Mrs Susan Paterson has been involved in corporate and private leadership since the mid-1990s.
She has served, and continues to serve on numerous boards and is currently Chair of the Airways Corporation, is a non-executive Director of Abano Healthcare Group, a Director of Housing New Zealand, on the board of the Electricity Authority, a Director of Les Mills, Chair of Theta Systems and a Director of Goodman New Zealand. She is a former Director of Ports of Auckland, Ngawha Generation, Auckland Regional Holdings, Transpower New Zealand, the America's Cup Village, Tower Health and Life, and has held a variety of executive positions in Fletcher Challenge Limited. She is a member of the Auckland Committee of the Institute of Directors and is a Director of International Accreditation New Zealand. Mrs Paterson chairs the Avantidrome (Home of Cycling) and is the past Chair of Auckland Hockey and the New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
PUGSLEY, Dr Christopher John
For services as a military historian
Dr Christopher Pugsley recently retired from his position as Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, England and has made a major contribution to the recording of New Zealand's military history.
Dr Pugsley published his first book "Gallipoli: The New Zealand Story' in 1984. He has published a number of other books primarily dealing with New Zealand's involvement with the First World War but also including 'From Emergency to Confrontation: The New Zealand Armed Forces in Malaya and Borneo 1949-1966' (2003) and 'A Bloody Road Home: World War Two and New Zealand's Heroic Second Division' (2014). He has co-edited a number of works including 'Scars on the Heart: Two Centuries of New Zealand at War' (1996) and 'Sandhurst: A Tradition of Leadership' (2005). Dr Pugsley is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury, a Distinguished Alumni of Waikato University and Vice President of the Western Front Association.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
SOUTAR, Dr Monty Glyn
For services to Māori and historical research
Dr Monty Soutar is the foremost Māori scholar with respect to the study of warfare and Māori involvement in the World Wars.
Dr Soutar led a team of tribal researchers to track down and interview the remaining veterans of C Company of the 28th Māori Battalion and their wives and families, and collected the stories of the 900 men who served in C Company, resulting in 'Nga Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship'. He is currently the World War One Historian in Residence at Auckland War Memorial Museum, and is contracted to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage to write about Māori in World War One to form part of a ten volume series. In 2012 he was appointed to the First World War Centenary Panel. He helped establish Te Pouhere Korereo (Māori Historians Association) in 1993 and has been the coordinator of the award-winning 28th Māori Battalion website since 2011. He has held a number of ministerial appointments to boards and committees relating to Māori affairs and history, particularly the First World War. Dr Soutar has been involved with his Iwi's affairs at a local level and from 2009 to 2011 he was the Chief Executive Officer during Ngati Porou's treaty settlement negotiations with the Crown.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
STOWELL, Associate Professor Kathryn Mary
For services to biomedical science
Associate Professor Dr Kathryn Stowell and her research team at Massey University's Institute of Molecular BioSciences, collaborating with Dr Neil Pollock, have discovered the genetic basis for Malignant Hypothermia susceptibility and pioneered the development of DNA-based molecular diagnosis tests to replace the traditional muscle biopsy that results in severe patient discomfort and trauma.
The Malignant Hypothermia (MH) syndrome results in susceptibility to commonly used anaesthetics leading to potentially fatal consequences. She adapted her DNA-based molecular test to identify known and novel mutations responsible for MH. Mutations in the receptor gene responsible for MH were also shown by her research team to be linked to unexpected death in children. As a founding member of MH Australia and New Zealand she has brought her research to the attention of clinicians and has lectured to community groups. She has established collaborations on this research in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. She has improved diagnostic methodology and had a significant impact on anaesthesiology. Dr Stowell has also served in administrative roles on the Palmerston North Medical Research Foundation, the New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
TIRIKATENE, Mr Kukupa
For services to Māori and education
Mr Kukupa Tirikatene has contributed to education and Māoridom for nearly 40 years.
Mr Tirikatene is a passionate teacher of Te Reo, Māori history and tikanga. He became the first Māori language teacher at Rosehill College in Papakura from 1976 to 1991, supporting Māori parents as well as students. He is a composer of whakatauki and waiata. From 2006 to 2009 he was Kaumātua for Ngāi Tahu Whānui at Te Papa Museum, during which time the Ngāi Tahu, Mō Tātou exhibition was held and he acted as cultural advisor for staff and visitors to the museum. Since 2009 he has been the Kaiākau for Manukau Institute of Technology, responsible for Māori input as part of the Institute's leadership team. He is Kaumātua for COMET Auckland, a Charitable Trust established by Manukau City to further the education of Māori students in the South Auckland area. He is a Senior Kaumātua of Ngāi Tahu ki Waipounamu, a founding member and Kaumātua for Ngāi Tahu Whānui ki Tamaki Makaurau, cultural advisor to the governors of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and a spokesman for the tribe at high level national events. Mr Tirikatene was a player, coach, mentor and President of the Papakura Tennis and Squash Club.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
TRAPPITT, Superintendent David Edward (Dave)
For services to the New Zealand Police and the community
Superintendent Dave Trappitt has made significant contributions to New Zealand Police's planning, performance and policy development.
Superintendent Trappitt began his Police career in 1975. In 1997, some years ahead of many other agencies, he initiated outcome alignment within output classes in the Departmental Forecast Report, later amending the output classes to reflect a community safety cycle approach to policing. His leadership of planning and coordination have been key to the successful development of training and implementation of the Māori Wardens Project, the first Police Statement of Intent, development of monitoring frameworks around the Police Strategic Plan and enhancement of governance arrangements for evaluating Police projects, improvement of the Communications Service Centre through restructuring of the ICT business unit and delivery of the technology required for the Policing Excellence Programme, the merger of the Sydney and Canberra overseas liaison posts and enhancement of coordination with Australian Federal Police. He has been involved in the management of Police legislation and policy development, and Police collaboration with a comprehensive research project on youth offending. Superintendent Trappitt was second-in-charge of the Police operational response to the 2014 visit of Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
URLICH, Mrs Colleen Elizabeth, JP
For services to Māori art
Mrs Colleen Urlich is a founding member and coordinator for the Māori contemporary clay artists' movement begun in the 1980s, a unique collective of clay artists called Nga Kaihanga Uku, creating a form of art based on cultural ties to the land.
Mrs Urlich has driven the movement to international status while mentoring younger artists, many of whom now exhibit internationally and whose works are in major collections in New Zealand and overseas. She is a founder and coordinator for the Māori Artists Collective of Te Tai Tokerau and a long standing member of Te Atinga visual arts committee of Toi Māori Aotearoa. She is the founding curator of Toi Ngapuhi, now the largest exhibition of Ngapuhi and Māori arts in New Zealand and the flagship of the biennial Ngapuhi Festival in Kaikohe, which exhibits around 70 leading Māori artists, attracting more than 45,000 visitors in 2014. She established a number of school art departments and held the position of Head of Art for many years. She has taken many young Māori artists to exhibit at the National Māori Art Market held biennially in Wellington. Mrs Urlich has been the main organiser of several international indigenous artists' gatherings and associated exhibitions.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
WILLS, Mrs Janette Lawrence
For services to the beef industry
Mrs Janette Wills has contributed to the beef industry.
Mrs Wills was involved with her local Herefords breeders club before being elected to the Council of the New Zealand Hereford Association in 1992, the first woman to be elected to the council of a beef breed society. As President of the Association's Council from 1992 to 1994, she led and developed the young breeders' Youth Programme, promoted the breed including through the breed magazine she edited, helped to drive the award-winning Hereford Prime quality beef programme and spearheaded a Hereford semen marketing programme into the dairy industry. She was Director and then Chair from 2003 to 2004 of Performance Beef Breeders. She became first woman Secretary-General of the World Hereford Council in 2004, serving four terms until 2012. She was involved in contracting science groups internationally to carry out across-country Breeding Value estimations and in developing a world genomic selection project. She ensured, through her ability to get New Zealand farmers and scientists to work together, that New Zealand was the first country to adopt and use both of these programmes. Mrs Wills has been Director of Hereford Prime Beef New Zealand Ltd since 1994.
To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:
WONG, Dr Sai Woh
For services to mental health and the Chinese community
Dr Sai Wong has contributed mental health services in Auckland for 19 years.
Dr Wong has, since 1996, rallied mental health professionals to provide the first Chinese Mental Health Consultation Services in New Zealand, serving the Chinese population in Auckland and providing consultation to the needy in other parts of the country. In 2005 he expanded the service, forming a Trust to raise funds to provide free services for those in need, including counselling to prevent family abuse and violence, support for carers of family members with mental illness, a hotline service and website access for patients outside Auckland. He drafted the proposal for the Auckland District Health Board Asian Mental Health service and was involved in the strengthening of the Waitemata Asian Mental Health Cultural Support Coordination Service. He has provided nationwide training and up-skilling for mental health practitioners, interpreters, raised awareness among medical students about culture and mental health, held workshops in major centres on culture and mental health and developed a guide called 'Talking Therapies for Asians'. Dr Wong has established Chinese Life Line Telephone Counselling Services and was a founding member of the Chinese Positive Ageing Charitable Trust that provides Day Care Centres for Chinese elderly.