NZNO elections

NZNO members have spoken. The results of the 2019 NZNO Board Election are in. 

The new Board represents the biggest change for our elected leadership since the positions were opened up to all-member ballots through the NZNO Constitution.

There are six new Board members on our eleven-member Board. They will take office at the NZNO AGM next Tuesday. 

I thank all of the candidates who put themselves forward. People who stand for election, with all of the scrutiny, stress and personal sacrifice this entails, do a great service to NZNO. They enable us to debate – and provide us with choices about – the future of our organisation. 

I congratulate the successful incoming and re-elected Board members – Anne Daniels, Katrina Hopkinson, Sela Ikavuka, Margaret Hand, Simon Auty, Andrew Cunningham and Anamaria Watene.

With this line-up, I am confident that NZNO has a governance team who can take the organisation forward. Together we can strengthen our organisation to work for the benefit of NZNO members and for the health of Aotearoa New Zealand. 

I look forward to welcoming all the newcomers to the Board, alongside Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku, at our first scheduled face-to-face meeting in October. 

This afternoon’s announcement by NZNO Chief Executive Memo Musa that I have been re-elected unopposed for a second term as President came as a great surprise. A fuller and more considered statement on the election results (see below) must wait, but I offer some initial comments.

The 2018 leadership elections came at a time of adversity both in the health sector and in our organisation. Over the next three years, I aim to ensure that the momentum driven by members and harnessed above all by the #HealthNeedsNursing campaign also flows into the renewal of NZNO as an organisation which is open and responsive to members.

With courage we can journey past adversity to secure renewal and change. This goal is expressed in the statement (no longer needed, but available here) which I submitted for Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand and the candidate profile booklet.

It is regrettable that the lack of an election has deprived future NZNO leaders of the opportunity to campaign and make themselves known to the wider membership. However, it is my great hope that many will consider putting themselves forward in the next elections for the NZNO Board of Directors.

First and foremost I thank every member who over my first term has shared their aspirations for our organisation with me. Let us work on those now together.

I also wish to thank my campaign team who generously gave me their belief and support.

I thank outgoing Vice-President Rosemary Minto, who did not stand for re-election, for her contribution to NZNO over these three years. Rosemary’s broad experience in governance roles has enriched Board discussion and strengthened our decision-making.

I greatly look forward to working more closely with Cheryl Hanham, who will take office at the NZNO AGM in September. NZNO has a Vice-President Elect of unsurpassed dedication to members and to the nursing profession.

I relish the opportunity to continue working with Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku, Tumu Whakarae Titihuia Pakeho and Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa NZNO to strengthen bicultural relationships right across our organisation.

And for myself, I am proud to serve for three more years.

 

Tēnā koutou katoa.

To each and every one of you who voted, and who supported me in a myriad of other ways, I say thank you, thank you, thank you all.

As the election results show, my bid to become your choice and your voice as President of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation has succeeded. But the famous whakataukī has never been truer: “Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini”. Mine is not a solo success, but a success of the many.

Together, we have taken a step towards change for NZNO.

I have pledged to be accessible to members, and to make your issues visible. And now, after a short break with my family, I will start fulfilling my election promise to be available to you, in person in your locality or via email and social media, so that we can continue to work together.

In particular, I look forward to talking with those who supported other candidates or who didn’t vote. I would like to hear about your issues and aspirations for NZNO, so we can advance them together over my term as President. Together our members’ diversity can be a strength.

It is also a truism of the union movement that if you want to make change, then voting once every three years is not enough on its own. This is the case inside NZNO, just as it is on the national and local political stage.

But we have shown that when NZNO members act collectively, we can make change. In the course of my election campaign, for instance, I highlighted how thousands of us working together delivered 200 extra places for new graduate nurses, and how DHB Sector members were able to secure an improved offer from their employers. 

As your next NZNO President, I will support members whenever you join together for health. We need to do that in many ways.

NZNO is a member-run organisation. Those members who actively participate in our organisation do a bit here and a bit there after long hours at work or study, and often after caring for family members as well. But added all together, this collective activity is what can drive the change that members have voted for. 

Whether it is the workplace delegates, who feed into the NZNO Regional Councils and Health Sector National Committees, or the members who participate in NZNO Colleges and Sections, or those who belong to Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa NZNO or the National Student Unit, I look forward to taking the next step with you all.

Together, we are strong enough to keep making change for our members, for our profession and for the health of New Zealand.

Stop. Pause what you’re doing just for a moment, and think.

What is the one thing you would like to be different about your job, about the heath system?

Keep thinking about that.

Maybe there’s more than one thing? That should be different! It’s just so wrong.

Can you change it?

Of course not, otherwise it would already be different, right?

But what if thousands of nurses, HCAs, midwives, caregivers and students were working together to change it? And if they were backed by policy experts, lawyers and advisors? Allied with hundreds of thousands of other union members. Maybe… then?

Who will lead that team, which could make the one thing different? 

That is your choice.

And if you could speak up for health, without worrying about what it meant for your job, what would you say? How loud would you speak?

Who can be that loud voice? Someone who represents you, and who doesn’t have to worry about their job. Right?

Someone who can make it ok for you to speak up, because they’ve said what you wanted to say, and you’re just quoting them. Someone who can empower you.

That is your voice.

The NZNO election is about who will be your choice, your voice. It’s about you.

This is why you should open that email from elections@electionz.com, or that envelope, or pick up the phone and dial 0508 666 003 and ask for a new one, before noon on 7 August.

This is why you should vote.

Click on the image to download a pdf version of this flyer, for easy local printing.