Tauranga teen wins NZ Race Relations speech

Aquinas College student Kimberly D'Mello as she gives her award winning speech on race relations. Photo/Tom Mackintosh

A Tauranga teen who appealed to the Kiwi DIY, Number 8 wire mentality has won this year's national Race Unity Speech Competition.

Aquinas College student Kimberly D'Mello spoke about race relations as a DIY job in the speech on Saturday night in Auckland.

"We're all responsible for the kind of country and community we live in,'' she said.

Kimberly, a Year 12 student, previously won the Bay of Plenty regional competition and impressed judges with her "Do It Yourself" approach to race relations. More than 170 secondary students nationwide competed in this year's competition open to year 11-13 students.

Kimberly told those gathered:

"Don't wait for someone else. Do it yourself. Don't get someone else to fix the problem. Do it yourself and Don't rely on the Aussies!

"Wouldn't it be cool if we built bridges between cultures rather than building bridges to contain our differences? We are aiming at building those bridges of race unity. So are we gonna get some bloke in? Come on Mate Do it yourself!

"Big change starts with me. Big change starts with you. We have 2 per cent of separation for our 50 shades of different colours, we need to be a country with all colours as one family. So come on New Zealand: Do it Yourself. DIY It's in Our DNA!"

The speech awards were initiated by the Bahai community and the principal sponsor is New Zealand Police with additional support and sponsorship from the Human Rights Commission, Office of Ethnic Communities, UNESCO and the New Zealand Federation of Multicultural Councils.

This year's judges included Dame Susan Devoy, AUT Professor of Diversity Edwina Pio, Office of Ethnic Affairs chief executive Berlinda China, Barbara Morgan from the Speech Communications Association and Superintendent Wallace Haumaha from NZ Police.

Read about the Race Unity speech awards here.