E ngā reo, e ngā mana, e ngā hau e whā.

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Good evening and warm greetings to you all.

It is great to see so many people here this evening to celebrate the skills and talents that New Zealand women - in particular Maori women - possess.

I would like to acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues, the Maori woman directors and the other distinguished guests. I would also like to thank the partners at Chapman Tripp for providing this wonderful venue.

It is a privilege to be here this evening to support He Wahine Pumanawa - because recognising the skills and talents of women is something that I am very passionate about as Minister of Women's Affairs.

I honestly believe that New Zealand cannot be fully competitive as a nation unless we utilise the skills of all our people - including the 51 percent who are women.

Last month, our Prime Minister, Honourable John Key, launched the Women on Boards business case - a joint venture between the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Business New Zealand and the Institute of Directors to promote the many benefits of having greater women representation in Kiwi boardrooms.

The launch of the business case is significant because it is a case of government and business working together to ensure that companies gain the competitive edge by utilising the skills and talents of women.

It is also significant because it brings together the main international evidence on the positive connection between women on boards and company performance.

And it does it in a way that is relevant and useful to business decision-makers in New Zealand.

There is a wealth of information in the publication, but the main message is simply that it is in business's interests to make better use of women's skills and talents in the boardroom.

Currently, less than nine percent of directors on our top 100 listed companies are women and I am committed to putting this abysmal record behind us.

We live in a global economy and for New Zealand to succeed we must make full use of the talents of all our people, something we have not always done.

The National-led Government is committed to ensuring that this is no longer the case. In particular, we want to see more Maori women in New Zealand boardrooms.

While we don't have any figures to say how many Maori women are currently serving on boards in the private sector, it is fair to say that it is very low, given that there are only 45 women in total who hold directorships on our top 100 companies.

However, there is some pretty compelling research that should highlight the need for greater representation of Maori women on boards and it is research that I hope businesses will sit up and listen to.

For example, there is the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor which found that Maori were among the most entrepreneurial people in the world and it also found that Maori women were setting up new businesses at an even faster rate than Maori men.

The research revealled some very telling statistics about Maori women on the international stage; showing that female entrepreneurs account for 13 percent of the general Maori population compared to 8.7 percent among non-Maori New Zealanders and 6.4 percent of women worldwide.

Therefore, it makes good business sense to have more talented wāhine coming through into leadership - not just in Māori-owned businesses, but across the economy.

I hope that tonight we can take a giant step forward in making this happen, because by utilising the vast skills and knowledge of our Maori women New Zealand businesses can continue to thrive.

In closing, I would like to encourage you all to take a copy of the Women on Boards business case and to spread the word about the many benefits of having more women in the boardroom.

By having women and men standing shoulder to shoulder in the boardroom, we can help pull New Zealand out of this recession.

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā rā tātou katoa.