The Honours List

Dame Margaret Bazley

THEN: Secretary for Transport, 51

A “rattler of finely balanced teacups”, the NZ Herald called Bazley when she stepped down in 2001 after 45 years of public service spanning health, transport, social welfare and governance. Almost two decades on, and now in her early 80s, she’s still the government’s go-to troubleshooter. Having previously delved into murky waters as head of a Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct, last year she led an external review into allegations of sexual misconduct at law firm Russell McVeagh, releasing a report Law Society president Kathryn Beck called an “important milestone in shining light into the dark corners of our profession”. Bazley was made a Dame in 1999.

Dame Silvia Cartwright

THEN: Chief District Court Judge, 45

The previous year, Cartwright had emerged as a household name for what has gone down in history as “the Cartwright Inquiry” into the treatment of cervical cancer at Auckland’s National Women’s Hospital. By the end of 1989, she’d been made a Dame; in 1993, she became the first female judge appointed to the High Court. New Zealand’s governor-general from 2001 to 2006, Cartwright was an international judge on the Cambodia war crimes tribunal, which tried senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge for genocide, and is currently heading a public inquiry into the Earthquake Commission (EQC) over its handling of the Christchurch earthquakes.

Ruth Chapman

THEN: President of the Post-Primary Teachers Association, 38

Tomorrow’s Schools was the new kid on the block, and Chapman was presiding over union negotiations in its shadow on behalf of her 13,000 members. Today, the PPTA and sister union NZEI retain some political muscle, with strikes this year leading to a pay deal