I would, however, like to first refer to the influences of my early years growing up on a farm in Riversdale in northern Southland. Ours was not a traditional farming family with land passed down generations. My parents' first farm was a returned serviceman's settlement block, acquired after my father served in the army in World War II and after many years of working as a shearer. My father was the oldest of five siblings, and when his father died at a young age, my father, at the age of only 14 years, became the family breadwinner. This experience and the kindness shown to him and the opportunities given to him by many people in the northern Southland rural communities shaped the values of his and our lives. He carried a deep sense of fairness and looking out for others until his own relatively early death. 