Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, erangi he toa takimano. He mihi tēnei ki te rangatira e te whaea e Tracy. Nāu i toha mai ō pūkenga nui, hei manaaki ai ngā whare taonga, ngā whare pukapuka o Aotearoa, ā, o te ao nei. Nāu i puta atu ngā kōrero i te karauna, hei whakanui ai ngā mahi o ēnei o ngā pātaka kōrero i hono ai ngā hāpori i Aotearoa. Nō reira, tēnā ko koe, tēnā ko koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
In March 2018, she made time to meet with LIANZA President, Louise LaHatte and President-elect, Paula Eskett. This meeting led to LIANZA being involved in two hui for the Education Conversation | Kōrero Mātauranga providing the opportunity to highlight the role of libraries.
In October 2019, she was the first government minister in nine years to open a LIANZA Conference, where she joked that ‘it is a brave government that annoys librarians’. In her opening address, Minister Martin highlighted the vital role of libraries and the very significant role librarians play in the well-being of all people from children to seniors. She explained to conference delegates that the impact of libraries were vitally important across all her portfolios – as Minister for Internal Affairs, Children, Seniors, Associate Minister of Education and joint-minister with the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, for the Child and Youth Well-being Strategy.
In May, Tracey Martin announced that Budget 2020 provided over $60 million of funding to protect library services and to protect jobs through the New Zealand Library Partnership Programme – providing central government support to, in turn, support local libraries to deliver services. In August, Tracey Martin stood with the Prime Minister to announce the first New Zealand Reading Ambassador for children and young people – a role that will advocate for and promote the importance of reading in the lives of young New Zealanders, their whānau and communities.
You can read more about Tracey Martin’s views and plans for the library sector including school libraries, access to research and the contribution of libraries to the SDGs in her responses to the questions sent to government ministers, opposition spokespeople and other political candidates and shared just ahead of election day.
LIANZA thanks her for her mahi and her support of our sector and wish her well for the future.
E te rangatira, ko koe anō te toa o tātou i mahi pono, mahi tika ai i tēnei ao. Nō reira, nāu te rourou, nā mātou te rourou, ka ora ai tātou katoa.