It's fair to say that, for much of my lifetime, New Zealand certainly was a property-owning democracy and working people, ordinary people, had assets.

Marine protected areas, and particularly no-take zones, are very effective in allowing regeneration of fish stocks.

In terms of protecting ourselves, the main issues are around how do we protect our borders [from illegal migrants and livestock and plant diseases], how do we protect our fisheries?

I only take on roles that I'm passionate about. Life is too short to do things that you're not happy with.

Any serious shift towards more sustainable societies has to include gender equality.

I think that generally New Zealand is respected for the positions it takes because it thinks them through.

I've been round Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and China in the last few months and the message that I've been taking is that New Zealand is building an up market dynamic into a connected economy. And that we are not the old-fashioned, ship mutton kind of product the people associate their export in work.