Investitures - Tuesday 1 September 2009 (afternoon)

  • <span class="title">Robin Judkins</span><br/><p> Robin Judkins, of Christchurch, received the Insignia of an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sports administration.  Mr Judkins established the Alpine Ironman and the Coast to Coast race.  The Coast to Coast is a 243km endurance race that traverses the South Island of New Zealand from Kumara Beach to Sumner Beach and was first run in 1983.  The event has won many awards, including the 1990 New Zealand Tourism Award for Best Special Event and the 2006 Champion Host.  Mr Judkins is also an inspirational speaker at secondary schools in the greater Christchurch area and was involved with the SPARC workshop lobby group addressing issues facing the events industry.  He established a conservation programme in the Arthur's Pass National Park which has contributed to the survival of the endangered Blue Duck and won the Canterbury Conservation Board Award in 2007.  He has received many awards, including the Canterbury Sports Personality of the Year in 1993 and received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the New Zealand Events Industry in 1994.  </p>
  • <span class="title">Sean Trengrove</span><br/>Colonel Sean Trengrove, of Nelson, received the Distinguished Service Decoration for services to the New Zealand Defence Force.  Colonel Trengrove was deployed to Timor Leste from October 2007 to February 2008 on a short term Regular Force engagement as the Deputy Commander of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF).  His role was pivotal in ensuring effective operational interaction between the Security Forces of Timor Leste, the United Nations Police contingent, and the ISF.  He ensured that relationships between Timor Leste government officials and staffs of the United Nations mission and the ISF were strengthened.  He constantly reinforced the role and mandate of the ISF, to ensure a clear delineation of responsibility in regards to the appropriate forces and the level of force to be used to provide a stable environment. 
  • <span class="title">Simon Strombom</span><br/>Major  Simon Strombom, of Porirua, received the Distinguished Service Decoration for services to the New Zealand Defence Force.  Major Strombom joined the Territorial Forces in 2000.  He has twice been transferred to the Regular Force to undertake operational deployments; the second being when he served as a liaison officer in the Civil Military Co-operation Branch of the International Stabilisation Assistance Force Headquarters (ISAF) in Afghanistan.   He was proactive and effective in the way he established and maintained relationships with ministers of the Government of Afghanistan.  He also implemented changes to meet threat from Improvised Explosive Device, developing special utility vehicle armoured standard operating procedures, which became a bench mark of best practice at the ISAF Headquarters.  He also extended these efforts to include counter IED training for all in theatre personnel, including those attached to the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan Province. 
  • <span class="title">Robert Gillies</span><br/>Major Robert Gillies, of Upper Hutt, received the Distinguished Service Decoration for services to the New Zealand Defence Force.  Major Gillies served within the United States Joint Task Force Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell in Afghanistan from October 2007 to April 2008 as the second in command for the Counter Improvised Explosive Device Team (IED).  He was stationed at the forward operating base in Khowst Province near the border with Pakistan.  During his deployment, he recorded 250 incidents involving IED devices and 185 events when the devices were recovered throughout Khowst and neighbouring provinces.  On numerous occasions, his ground convoy was ambushed with rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire.  He travelled widely throughout Khowst conducting refresher training for coalition force members and constantly looked for ways to devise and enhance protection measures for coalition forces against a rapidly developing IED threat.  Major Gillies work contributed to the development of counter IED tactics, techniques and procedures, which has reduced casualties from IED incidents among both coalition force members and the local Afghan population.
  • <span class="title">Ernie Rouse</span><br/>The late Ernie Rouse, of Napier, received the Queen's Service Medal for services to entertainment.  The award was received by his son, Kevin Rouse.  Ernie Rouse was involved with entertaining as a jazz musician, piano player, and band leader in the Hawke's Bay region for 50 years.  He formed the Ernie Rouse Trad Jazz Band in 1958 and with the band, he staged many live performances throughout the North Island and organised and played at balls, tea dances, and community functions.  He entertained in various capacities, including at the Art Deco week in Napier.  He was instrumental in reforming the Hawke's Bay Jazz Club Big Band in 1991 and was a member of the Napier Technical Memorial Band.  He has been a member of the governing committee of St Luke's Church for 10 years, where he instituted the choir. 
  • <span class="title">Lindsay Paku</span><br/>Lindsay Paku, of Hastings, received the Queen's Service Medal for services to Māori and Māori youth.  Mr Paku negotiated with the Hastings branch of Child, Youth and Family (CYFS) to deliver social services for Māori in the region.  He established the Heretaunga Māori Executive Whanau Services and has been the coordinator of the service since 1990.  He built up many services and developed policies and cohesion between the practices and procedures of CYFS to better support those in the area.  He developed follow-up programmes for youth placed in foster care.  As a result, six foster homes were established which provide longer term care and various programmes, including home maintenance, horse-riding, hangi making, and cooking.  He has also been instrumental in encouraging youth to get involved in voluntary community work. 
  • <span class="title">Lindsay MacLeod</span><br/>Lindsay MacLeod, of New Plymouth, received the Queen's Service Medal for services to Māori.    He headed the fundraising campaign of the Whaiora Trust to establish a self-contained unit at the Taranaki Base Hospital for families to use and was also the driving force behind the fundraising for the establishment of the Te Ranui Dining Room at Parihaka.  He has mentored and encouraged young Māori in trade education and has coached rugby teams and kapahaka groups.  He has spoken to many local organisations to help people understand Māori culture and continues this role with Puke Ariki and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.  He has been involved with many marae and was the chairman of the Taranaki Catholic Māori Hui Aranga Committee.
  • <span class="title">Mary Busch</span><br/>Mary Busch, of Wellington, received the Queen's Service Medal for services to education and the community.  She was an ESOL teacher at The Correspondence School where she has developed materials, assessment systems and professional development programmes.  She has volunteered with and chaired the Wellington ESOL Home Tutor Service for more than 10 years, an organisation that also supports the resettlement of refugees and migrants.  She has been instrumental in setting up the Multicultural Services Centre in Wellington, establishing job mentoring services and a recreation programme for refugee and migrant women, and educating the public about refugees and migrants.  She was also involved with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to establish standards for English as a second language and has been involved with the National Association of ESOL Home Tutors.
  • <span class="title">Farib Sos</span><br/>Farib Sos, of Wellington, received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to international relations.  Mr Sos has contributed to New Zealand's greater understanding of Asia for more than 30 years.  He is chair and principal convenor of the Asia Forum for discussion and analysis of New Zealand's political, economic and defence relations with Asia.  He is an executive committee member of the Cambodian Trust-New Zealand which campaigns against land mines and supports the rehabilitation of land mine victims in Cambodia.  He is chair of Volunteer Service Abroad and a trustee of the Asia Pacific Research Institute. 
  • <span class="title">Brian Mooney</span><br/>Brian Mooney, of Urenui, received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the dairy industry.  He was elected as the director of the local Waitoitoi Co-operative Dairy Company in 1958 and was the youngest chairman at the time.  He was instrumental in the amalgamation of the Waitoitoi, Okau Valley, Uruti, North Taranaki, Tikorangi, and Waitara Road companies into the Clifton Co-operative Dairy Company and was the first chairman.  He then became director of the Taranaki Producers Freezing Works and president of the Taranaki Federation of Factories.  He was a Director of the New Zealand Dairy Board and a representative on the New Zealand Meat Board for 12 years.  Mr Mooney is also a member of the local St Paul's Anglican Church and a longstanding member of the Urenui and Districts Lions Club.
  • <span class="title">Hone Kouka</span><br/><p> Hone Kouka, of Paekakariki, received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to contemporary Māori theatre.  He has written 13 plays and his plays have been produced all over the world, including in Canada and South Africa.  In 1996, he was commissioned to write Waiora Te U Kai Po (The Homeland) for the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts which toured nationally and internationally and has become one of New Zealand's best selling plays.  He followed this with the sequel Home Fires, and, in 2004 he completed the trilogy with The Prophet.  Other plays he has written include the popular Ngā Tangata Toa (The Warrior People), Whakakotahi, He Waka, and Five Angels.  He co-wrote the screen play for the television feature Ngā Tohu: Signatures in 2000.  </p>
  • <span class="title">Ronald Harries</span><br/><p> Ronald Harries, of Wellington, received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to soccer.  Mr Harries has been involved with soccer as a player, referee, and administrator at a national and regional level for some 50 years.  As an administrator, he is a past president of both the New Zealand and Wellington Referees Associations and has served on a number of other soccer-related committees.  He was an international referee, chairman of the New Zealand Referees Committee for a number of years, and was the director of coaching for some 15 years.  Mr Harries is a member of the New Zealand Eagles Golfing Society and is the captain of his local club, where he is involved with running a junior golfing academy. </p>
  • <span class="title">Leslie Galler</span><br/><p> <br /> Dr Leslie Galler, of Wellington, received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medicine.  Dr Galler has been an intensive care doctor for more than 35 years.  He worked for 24 years at the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Auckland City Hospital.  He is notable for providing an exceptional standard of service, saving countless lives, and displaying high levels of diplomacy in the most difficult situations.  He is also an examiner for the Australasian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine. </p>
  • <span class="title">Graham Sharpe</span><br/><p> Dr Graham Sharpe, of Wellington, received the Insignia of an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to anaethesia.  Dr Sharpe has been a leader in anaesthesia, in particular obstetric and paediatric anaesthesia for more than 20 years.  He has been a consultant anaesthetist at Wellington Hospital since 1990 and was the chair of the Wellington Hospital Division of Surgery and Wellington Hospital Obstetric Anaesthesia Service.  He is notable for his services to medical research, public comment, and his long standing membership and contribution to many professional medical organisations.  He is a member of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists, where he has convened a number of conferences and significant international scientific meetings; most recently the Combined Scientific Congress in Wellington.  </p>
  • <span class="title">Simon Murdoch</span><br/>Simon Murdoch, of Wellington, receives the Insignia of a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for public services, lately as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  He held a number of roles with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including as political counsellor at the New Zealand Embassy in the United States of America and as head of the Australia Division.  He was the New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia from 1999 to 2002 and was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2002 to 2009.  He was first seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as a foreign policy advisor in 1979, was the director of the department from 1988 to 1991, and served as its chief executive from 1992 to 1999.  Mr Murdoch has also been a visiting professor of Public Policy and Management at Victoria University.

The Governor-General, Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, and Lady Satyanand, hosted an investiture ceremony at Premier House in Thorndon in the afternoon of 1 September 2009.