| His Excellency The Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand GNZM QSO |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 23 August 2006 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
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| Prime Minister | Helen Clark John Key |
| Preceded by | Silvia Cartwright |
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| Born | 22 July 1944 Auckland, New Zealand |
| Spouse(s) | Susan Sharpe |
| Alma mater | University of Auckland |
| Profession | Lawyer Judge Ombudsman |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism[1] |
Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO[2] (born 22 July 1944) is the 19th and current Governor-General of New Zealand. He previously worked as a lawyer, judge and ombudsman.
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Satyanand was born and raised in Auckland to an Indo-Fijian and Anglo-Indian family. His grandparents arrived in Fiji from India in 1911, and were married on Nukulau Island. His father, Mutyala Satyanand, a medical doctor, was born in Sigatoka in 1913 and arrived in New Zealand in 1927 to attend high school.[3] His mother Tara Tillak was a nurse from Suva. She married his father after moving to New Zealand.
Satyanand attended Sacred Heart College in Auckland and then moved to Dunedin to take a medical intermediate course at the University of Otago.[4] He was not successful in gaining entry to the medical school and later said "...in reality I did not do well enough ... (but)... Looking back over that year, I remembered that one of the things I had really enjoyed was the debating and forum meetings involving students."[5] So instead he took up law, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Auckland in 1970. He worked as a lawyer for the next 12 years, initially for Greig, Bourke and Kettelwell. Later he worked as a barrister for the Crown Law Office. He served on the Council of the Auckland District Law Society from 1979 until his appointment as a judge of the District Court of New Zealand in 1982.
During the 1975 general election Satyanand and his wife helped David Lange in his first, unsuccessful attempt at election. Later, when Satyanand was a law student, he helped Clive Edwards (later Tongan deputy prime minister) when he stood in Auckland Central for National.[6]
In 1995 he was appointed an ombudsman and he served two five-year terms. Between 2005 and his appointment as Governor-General he chaired the Confidential Forum for Former In-Patients of Psychiatric Hospitals.
Satyanand married Susan Sharpe in Auckland in 1970. She was born in Sydney, Australia in 1947 and moved to New Zealand with her family in 1955. He and his wife have three adult children. [7] In 2002, Satyanand and his wife were involved in a serious car accident in Dome Valley north of Warkworth, Northland. An oncoming car crossed the centre line and crashed head-on into their car. The accident resulted in serious spinal injury to Satyanand, he broke his C2 and C3 vertebrae. He had to wear a halo traction to keep his head straight.[8]
As well as English, Satyanand also speaks Fijian, Hindi and Māori.
Satyanand was appointed by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand,[9] on the advice of Prime Minister Helen Clark. He replaced Dame Silvia Cartwright as Governor-General of New Zealand on 23 August 2006. His appointment was welcomed by every Parliamentary party leader.[10] He is the first Governor-General of Indian descent and the first Roman Catholic Governor-General.[1]
Satyanand is the first Governor-General not to hold a knighthood before entering office (Colonel Thomas Gore Browne, Governor of New Zealand 1855-1861, was knighted in office). He was knighted two years later, in 2009. On assuming the role of Governor-General he received the style The Honourable for life.[11]
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Grand Prior of the Order of St John, received Satyanand as Governor-General designate on 7 July 2006 and invested him as a Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. [12]
In May 2007 changes were made to the Queen's Service Order. Under the previous Royal Warrant, the Governor-General was ex-officio Principal Companion of the Order but was not a member of the Order. The Royal Warrant now provides for the appointment of the Governor-General as a Companion of the Order in his or her own right.[13]
The first bill to which he granted Royal Assent was the Coroners Bill.
Starting on New Year's Day 2009, Satyanand issued a "New Year's Message" intended to "to bring to attention a number of issues New Zealanders might consider as they looked to the future".[14]
Following the changes to the honours system announced by Prime Minister John Key on 8 March 2009,[15] the Queen approved Satyanand's redesignation from a PCNZM (Principal Companion) to a GNZM (Knight Grand Companion) on 27 March 2009.[16]
The New Zealand Government pays for the costs associated with the Queen's representative, the Governor-General, in their exercising of the powers of the Crown on behalf of the Queen, including travel, security, residences, offices, ceremonial occasions. In the 2009 Budget, the total cost of supporting the Governor-General was $3.6 million on support services and maintenance of residences, a total of $15.150 million on capital investment in Government House, Wellington, principally used for its conservation, and a total of just over $1.200 million for payments for the salary, the personal allowance and travel expenses of the Governor-General, a total of $19.95 million.
On 30 November 2006 Satyanand hosted a meeting between the Prime Minister of Fiji Laisenia Qarase and Fiji's military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama at Government House in Wellington in an attempt to resolve the escalating crisis in Fiji. Although he hosted the meeting, he did not take part in the discussions, which were chaired by New Zealand's Foreign Minister, Winston Peters.[17] This was the last serious effort by the international community to avert a military coup, which followed on 5 December.
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by Silvia Cartwright |
Governor-General of New Zealand 2006–present |
Incumbent |
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   | Buckingham Palace press release - Welcome to the official website of the British Monarchy |
| | PM welcomes Anand Satyanand as next Governor-General - Beehive - PM welcomes Anand Satyanand as next Governor-General |
| | The Governor-General with the big heart - Pansy Wong MP - Welcome to Pansy Wong MP |
| | Queen approves Catholic for new Kiwi GG - Queen approves Catholic for new Kiwi GG |
| | Talks on Fiji situation constructive, says Peters - Auckland Fiji Community |
| | Source - A natural in the Big House - Royalty - NZ Herald News |
| | New Governor General, Anand Satyanand, is a former ADLS council member - Error: Page Not Found (404) - Auckland District Law Society |
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