Christine Fletcher
Profile
Christine Fletcher is a New Zealand politician and a dedicated environmental campaigner. As a politician, Christine has served in both central and local government roles, including being a Member of Parliament, Mayor of Auckland City and an Auckland Councillor. A previous Minister for Women’s Affairs, Christine’s advocacy for women’s rights and equity has been a constant theme of her political life. Christine’s commitment to the environment spans both her political and community involvement, including the Motutapu Restoration Trust, a conservation body restoring native wildlife in partnership with Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki in the Hauraki Gulf of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
In 2002, Christine received a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for public services.
Insight
Inherent to equality is the concept of diversity, and central to Christine’s words is the idea of diversity as a uniting rather than a dividing element. Seeing diversity as an asset, as something to celebrate, and a way to foster new knowledge and creativity. Our differences can either be divisive or cohesive. One is a stuck place, an echo chamber of polarising sameness. The other is a place of hope, a route to a more optimistic future.
Drawing a thread between social cohesion and the natural environment, ‘our immense good fortune to live in a place of magnificent natural beauty’, Christine is also reminding us that nature provides the perfect template for thriving on diversity. For nature, diversity is the very sustenance of life.
Te Reo Glossary
Te Reo Glossary
ākonga
student, pupil
alofa
love, affection (Cook Islands Māori language)
Aotearoa
New Zealand
aroha
love, affection
haere rā
goodbye, farewell
hapū
subtribe, part of a kinship group
ira tangata
term used for intersex in a Māori context
irawhiti
term used for transgender in a Māori context
Itāria
Italy
iwi
extended kinship group descended from a common ancestor and associated with a distinct territory in Aotearoa
kairangahau
researcher
kaitiaki
guardian
kaitiakitanga
guardianship, stewardship
kia kaha ngā wāhine toa
be strong woman warriors
kia ora
hello, greetings
kia orana
hello, greetings (Cook Islands Māori language)
kōrero
conversation, discussion
kuia
female elder
mahi
work
māmā
mother, mum
mana
status, prestige, authority,
Māngere
a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand
Māori
Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand
mauri
life force, life principle
moana
ocean, sea
Ōtautahi
Christchurch, city in South Island, New Zealand
Ōtepoti
Dunedin, city in South Island, New Zealand
pākeha
New Zealander of European/foreign descent
peka
branch (of a tree, river, organisation)
Pōneke
Wellington, Capital of New Zealand
rangatahi
youth, young people
takatāpui
queer, gay, rainbow community
Tāmaki Makaurau
Auckland, city in North Island, New Zealand
tapu
sacred, prohibited
tautoko
to support, advocate
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata
Human Rights Commission, New Zealand
Te Kaunihera Wahine o Aotearoa
National Council of Women of New Zealand
Te Kotahitanga
Autonomous Māori Parliament from 1892 to 1902
Te Moana-Nui-ā-Kiwa
the Pacific Ocean
te reo
the Māori language
Te Ropu Wahine Maori Toko i te Ora
Māori Women’s Welfare League
Te Wāhi Wāhine o Tāmaki Makaurau
Auckland Women’s Centre
tikanga
protocol, correct procedure
wāhine
woman, women
wāhine kaha
strong woman/women
waiata
song, chant
waiata taitoko
song of support usually sung after a speech
wairua
spirit, soul
whakapapa
genealogy, lineage
whānau
family, extended family group
whare
house, building