Prime Minister, John Key, announced our new Governor-General will be Dame Patsy Reddy. She will take up her position in September for a five-year term. The present Governor-General, Sir Jerry Mateparae, finishes his term of office on August 24th.
Dame Patsy is a well known supporter of the arts. She is chair of the NZ Film Commission, on the Board of the NZ Opera, and has played a major role in supporting the NZ Symphony Orchestra, the Adam Art Gallery, the NZ Arts Festival, and the Wellington Jazz Festival.
She is a lawyer and has been a chief Crown negotiator for the Treaty of Waitangi. She is also a business woman. She has served on the Board of Telecom, Sky City Entertainment, NZ Post and Air NZ. Recently she worked with Sir Michael Cullen on a review of the NZ spy agency.
Listen to March 8 2011 for more about the role of the Governor-General.
Vocabulary
• a term – a length of time
• term of office – idiom, meaning: the length of his time as governor-general
• play a major role – idiom, meaning: she has been an important part
• chief – number one
• negotiator – a person who tries to get an agreement between two different sides
• the Crown – the Queen; here it means the government
• a review – to see what changes need to be made
• the role – job, function, duties