New Year Honours 2024 list: Trevor Mallard, former Parliament ...

Former Parliament speaker and Labour stalwart Trevor Mallard is among the five new knights and dames being recognised alongside 146 others on the 2024 New Year Honours list.

Artists, sports stars, business leaders and health professionals all feature on the list, which was prepared by a committee made up of members of the outgoing Government.

Mallard, who now works as the ambassador to Ireland, said he was pleased to receive the honour because it meant the tradition of recognising speakers and other long-serving Parliamentarians had been maintained.

“It is a real privilege and it means that young people from places like Wainuiomata can have their service seen to be recognised in a way that is more common for people from more affluent parts of the country.”

He told the Herald his proudest political achievement was creating progress in understanding and valuing the importance of early childhood education during his time as Minister of Education.

“We are moving away from undervalued childminding to knowing that a solid foundation is vital if people are going to achieve their potential.”

While Mallard said there were many highlights and low points in his early political career, the members back then seemed “larger than life”.

“The terror that Sir Robert Muldoon could cause, the pure oratory skills of David Lange, the way Don McKinnon, probably the best debater in my era, could craft a speech and the sometimes savage wit of Michael Cullen are all unforgettable.”

Mallard said he was enjoying his new role in Ireland and felt the Irish were easy to get along with, however, he still misses the people in Parliament.

“My closest friends left in 2009 and 2017 and because of the forced isolation of the Speaker’s role, while I watched and admired the diverse talent from all around the House I ended up being closest to some wonderful staff members in the last few years.”

The 2024 New Year Honours list is made up of 49 new appointees to the New Zealand Order of Merit, 40 to the Queens’s Service Order, one New Zealand Antarctic Medal and two New Zealand Distinguished Service Decorations.

Sarai Bareman, one of two women named as dames companion, is being honoured for her work in football governance.

In 2015, Bareman became the only female member of Fifa’s Reform Committee, where she advocated for increasing women in leadership and prioritising women’s football.

She was instrumental in hosting the 2023 Fifia Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, the most attended women’s sporting event in history.

Bareman said she was sitting in her office in Zurich when an email about the damehood came through, but had to read the message “a few times over” to make sure it was correct.

“It was a very emotional moment for me. I’m very humbled, very honoured, very grateful just to be in a position to make such an impact that I can be recognised at that level.

“I never in my life thought I’d be receiving such an honour as this.”

She planned to celebrate by opening a few bottles of champagne with friends and family at her home in Zurich.

Newly appointed dame companion Pania Tyson-Nathan (Rongomaiwahine) is also being honoured for her services to Māori and business.

Tyson-Nathan has been dedicated to advancing Māori economic development across various domains including community, business, and government sectors for three decades.

She was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018 and was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2022.

Dr Scott Macfarlane has been made knight companion for his 45 years of work transforming the treatment of children with cancer.

Macfarlane helped establish the National Child Cancer Network in 2011 and led the organisation until 2021.

The child cancer survival rate improved from every second child not surviving 40 years ago to the five-year survival rate in New Zealand becoming more than 80 per cent as a result of his nationally coordinated approach to child cancer.

Alongside MacFarlane and Mallard, Ian Mune’s achievements in the arts are being honoured with a knighthood.

The award-winning actor, writer and director for stage and screen has told Kiwis’ stories since the 1970s.

His notable film productions include co-writing Sleeping Dogs (1977) and Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) and directing the Once Were Warriors award-winning sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted (1999). He has been a patron of The Actors Program since 2012.

Dale Mary Garratt (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri) and her husband David Garratt are also being celebrated for their contributions to Christian music production.

The pair, who have achieved 13 Gold or Platinum-selling albums, have been made companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Their songs are used in virtually every Protestant church and they are recognised nationally and internationally as pioneering worship leaders and modellers of congregational singing, particularly for their contextual application of biblical texts and current musical trends.

Former New Zealand Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson (Ngāi Tahu) received the same honour for his service to the trade union movement and workplace safety.

TVNZ Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her more than 30-year journalism career highlighting issues affecting Pacific communities.

Her reporting has exposed major fraud, drug smuggling, corruption, human trafficking and led to multiple arrests.

Fellow broadcaster and sports journalist Phil Gifford was also made an officer for his services to broadcasting and sports journalism.

Gifford was the first person to win sports journalist of the year and has received 14 New Zealand radio awards.

Football Ferns captain Ali Riley, who was the second player to earn 150 caps for Aotearoa, has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her service to the sport.

The Football Fern made her debut for the squad in 2007 and has represented New Zealand in five World Cups and four Olympic Games. In 2023, she captained the New Zealand team to its first World Cup match victory, against Norway.

Fellow Football Fern Ria Percival is also being made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

The recognition came as a shock to Percival, who said she had questioned whether she would ever play football again because of a serious injury at the start of 2022. The midfielder is New Zealand’s most-capped player, with 166 international appearances.