Kateia - her gift to New Zealand

Kateia: Her gift to New Zealand

Tribute by His Excellency, Mr Derek Leask, High Commissioner from New Zealand to the United Kingdom, 14 January 2012.

Tena koutou

New Zealand has lost one of its leaders.

Kateia galvanized us here in London. She made things happen.

She was central to the way in which New Zealand presented itself on many important occasions in Britain and more widely in Europe.

And when she made things happen, she made sure they happened right. She was a true professional.

We all know that Kateia had high standards. She applied these to her performance. She applied these to her art. She applied these to the intellectual underpinning for everything that she did.

And just as Kateia applied these standards to herself, she had her ways of insisting that those around her applied them too.

Above all Kateia was always true to her origins. She fought hard for Maori. And I welcomed that.

She and I shared a viewpoint. We agreed that that old expression Overseas Experience still captures something that really matters for Aotearoa New Zealand.

We agreed that New Zealand was a better place if Kiwis young and not-so-young came to Britain and Europe to learn what the world was about.

And to learn what New Zealand was about; to learn about themselves, and to discover their own identities. This was an important point to Kateia.

We knew that those people who then went back to New Zealand would have the skills and ideas, the values and the leadership that our country needs.

Kateia had many ambitions, but one of those was to make sure that the Maori community here in London is a successful community.

She wanted Maori to take full advantage of this opportunity.

She did that through Manaia, through Ngati Ranana and through her extraordinary network of friends and colleagues.

I have the greatest admiration for Kateia and her contribution to the vitality of the Maori community here in London.

Kateia was not alone, but she was a force, and a force that will be greatly missed.

We owe her a debt of gratitude.

Thank you Kateia.

You were a great friend in every sense of the word to all of us.

No reira.

Arohanui.