When Andrew Needs was at Spotswood College, he had his sights set on being a P.E. teacher, but the careers adviser told him he wasn’t bright enough.
In April this year, the former Taranaki man became the newly appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia.
“To be fair to him (the adviser), I was one of those kids who was innately pretty smart, but I didn’t work that hard at school. I was a bit of a late bloomer,” Needs acknowledges.
Andrew gained his University Entrance in the sixth form (Year 12), admits he didn’t study in the seventh form at New Plymouth’s only co-ed high school, and then took a year off.
In 1981, he went to Massey University, where he proved, without a doubt, he had the smarts to be a P.E. teacher – and much more.
“Then I really knuckled down and worked. I realised that with a modicum of ability and a bit of hard work, I could actually do pretty well. My grades got better and better the harder I worked.
Andrew gained a BA in Social Sciences and went on to earn a Master of Arts (first-class honours). He was on the verge of starting a PhD when his graduate work led him to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Thirty-six years on, Andrew is still in the diplomatic service.
Andrew got his first full diplomatic post in the Cook Islands, where he was the Deputy High Commissioner from 1991 to 1993, and he held the same position in Canada from 2004 to 2008. That time, his move to the capital, Ottawa, was with wife Bronwyn and their sons Matthew (now 30) and Oliver (now 26).
Then he took the top role.
From January 2010 to October 2012, Andrew was the NZ High Commissioner to Canada. During that tenure, he was also New Zealand’s non-resident representative to Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Jamaica, so regularly visited the Caribbean.
He has also served as senior foreign policy adviser to NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters in the Labour-led Government of Helen Clark and then to Murray McCully in the National-led Government of John Key.
He has twice before served in Canberra and at the Pacific Forum Secretariat in Fiji and had a series of short-term diplomatic assignments.
Through his work, Andrew has visited 52 countries.
“A lot of those things I’ve done have involved going to some variously interesting or challenging places, very often in concert and supported by our military, who I have huge respect for.”
Interestingly, Andrew says his old careers adviser tried to steer him towards the army.
Just before Anzac Day this year, he took up the prestigious role in Canberra, where staff delivered a mihi whakatau (official welcome), and he was gifted a kākahu (traditional Māori cloak).
“That was a very very special moment. I said to the team, this was worth the 36-year wait of a career to be part of that.”
Bronwyn played a big role in his taking the job to become the most senior New Zealand official in Australia. When considering the role of High Commissioner, Andrew initially dismissed the opportunity because of close-to-home commitments. Their son Matthew has non-verbal autism, which Andrew says does not fully define his son.
“The challenges of his disability have become more complex. Therefore, I have spent the last 11 years in Wellington. We weren’t going to go overseas again because it just wasn’t practical, but this assignment came up and it really is career defining…”
Bronwyn, who also hails from Taranaki (Inglewood), talked to her husband about the importance of not living with regrets, so encouraged him to give it more thought.
Together, they decided she would stay back to support Matthew, who lives in his own house around the corner from their home on the Kapiti Coast. Matthew has a team that assists him.
Andrew will head back to New Zealand every five weeks or so for long weekends and Bronwyn will visit him regularly. “Being Australia, we can do that.”
Bronwyn and Oliver spent the first five days of Andrew’s tenure with him in Canberra.
“It was Anzac Day week and Bronwyn came to the dawn service with me and we went to the church service. Oliver accompanied me to the War Memorial, which is a magnificent building at the top of Anzac Parade here and he and I laid a wreath together for the Last Post. I was very proud of him, and he was proud of his Dad.”
The New Zealand High Commissioner works long hours, often beginning with a breakfast meeting and finishing with an official dinner or function, and other meetings in between.
“I haven’t had a day off in the month I’ve been here… there’s always something going on,” he says.
When chatting to him on May 21, Andrew says that through the demanding roles in his diplomatic career, he has found ways to improve his resilience,
Step one is belief and enthusiasm.
“I’m passionate about what I consider to be serving New Zealand’s interests. I’m a public servant and my job is to pursue the interests of New Zealand and if we can do that with close friends like Australia and have common cause… that’s really what I’m driving for.”
Step two is to stay physically fit.
“I never have a day when I don’t exercise. I’ve got a busy day today, so I went to the gym at 6am.
“We’re centrally located just down the hill from Parliament and most of the Government departments and embassies are close by, so if it’s less than 2km, I will probably walk to my meetings. It’s both good exercise, getting some sunshine and overall good for your mental health,” he says.
“It’s a recipe I try and encourage the rest of my team to consider. I’m still a frustrated P.E. teacher.”
Step three is to switch off.
“Work is at times all-consuming, but my family is very important, so that’s a big focus for me. And having friends around and not always talking about work.”
There’s always sport.
Andrew has already attended two Super Rugby matches between the ACT Brumbies and New Zealand teams at Canberra’s GIO Stadium, doing the coin toss and an on-field interview before the Crusaders game. The Brumbies won the toss and then the game 31-24. The home team also beat the Hurricanes.
“I’m zero for two at the moment,” he laughs. “I’m the good luck charm for the Brumbies right now, which is something I’m not very pleased about.”
In 1979, Andrew played rugby for the 1st XV at Spotswood College. He was fullback or wing, because he was fast – that year he was the senior boys 400m champion.
He only played rugby for the one season, because the year before he was in the 1st XI soccer team.
“Then I decided playing in the 1st XV got you more airtime. I made the team and played all the games, but I was potentially a liability. I knew how to play, (but) I was a little bit out of my depth at times.”
Not so in the diplomatic service.
In Australia, he’s part of a sizeable team. There are 32 in his Canberra office, which includes customs, immigration, police and defence. With 45 staff members, Sydney is home to many New Zealand agencies, including the Consulate-General, Internal Affairs (passports), NZ Trade & Enterprise, plus Tourism NZ. There is also a consulate in Melbourne and an honorary consul in Perth.
“This is such a multi-faceted relationship; there’s almost nothing in New Zealand that doesn’t have an Australian piece to it,” he says.
Early on in his tenure Andrew called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and then Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
“We talked about what’s going on in Gaza at the moment, we talked about Russia-Ukraine, we talked about regional geopolitics, and we talked about the Pacific and about climate change… which is an environmental issue, but also deeply economic and political issue as well.”
Oh, the people he has met, the places he has been, the wonders he has seen.
“A career highlight came during my assignment to Canada with an eight-day tour of the high Arctic, travelling across the top of Canada, including well into the Arctic circle,” he says.
“While the Antarctic, where we have Scott Base, is a massive continent, the Arctic has no major land mass. As global warming impacts the polar regions, the arctic will be increasingly navigable by shipping and exploitable, particularly with regards to seabed mining.”
In 2009, while travelling widely with Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, Andrew remembers an amazing three-day visit to Afghanistan. In that Central Asian nation, they got to fly through the lofty Hindu Kush mountains, an 800km range with peaks up to three times higher than Taranaki Maunga.
“We were flying below the level of the mountains and the pilot was having to fly the plane around the mountain peaks to deny line of sight to the Taliban,” he said in story for the Spotswood College reunion booklet.
The pilot of that plane knew if they flew in a straight line, they would be sitting ducks from the Taliban’s surface to air missiles.
They arrived safely at the New Zealand Army base at Bamyan, where the Kiwi contingent rose at 4am to take part in Anzac Day dawn commemorations.
“That was a pretty moving combination – the sheer natural beauty, astounding history and being in a war zone.”
With the Foreign Affairs Minister, he has met many high-flying international people, including US politicians Hilary Clinton and John McCain, but for Andrew, the most special leaders hail from Aotearoa.
“I have got to meet every New Zealand Prime Minister since (Sir) Rob Muldoon. And not just to shake their hand, but actual conversations. That’s partly because we are quite small, but also, we are a flourishing democracy. The chance to meet our leaders, who our people chose, is something I really cherish.”
Another special moment was meeting Sir Edmund Hillary, who, in 1953, with Sherpa Tensing Norgay, became the first to reach the summit of Mt Everest (Chomolungma).
“He’s got to be our most famous New Zealander,” says Andrew of the “down-to-earth” man who was NZ High Commissioner to India from 1985-1988.
Like his hero, Andrew has always loved tramping and nature, as has his brother Rob, a well-known mountain guide in Taranaki.
Andrew enjoys visiting his hometown, striding out along the Coastal Walkway beside the wild Tasman Sea and catching up with friends and family. He’ll be back August this year to celebrate the 90th birthday of his Mum, Mary Needs.
In a career crammed with magical moments, there are also high points of pride, especially helping New Zealanders in need overseas. “When Covid happened, getting people out of Wuhan… I was leading the Crisis Centre for a while,” he says.
“I was involved in the response to the Bali bombing over 20 years ago, various cyclones in the Pacific… At the moment, we are trying to get New Zealanders out of New Caledonia. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make those things happen,” he says.
On his diplomatic service journey, Andrew has always focused on doing the right thing for his country.
“I have to be conscious I’m representing New Zealand and New Zealanders every step of the way.”
Andrew plans to fulfil the High Commissioner role for four years, which is a standard posting for a diplomat.
And then, he just may get physical.
Before taking the Australian posting, Andrew had considered finishing up his diplomatic career and studying to be a personal trainer. “I still haven’t given that away.”
Talking to many people, he believes there’s a genuine need for trainers who are a bit older and understand the demands on an ageing body. “If you’re 50 or 65, you don’t necessarily want to be trained by a 25-year-old. They can’t possibly relate to what’s going on in your life, both emotionally and physically.”
So, when he’s finished his High Commissioner calling, Andrew may go full circle and fulfil that high school dream to become a P.E. teacher. Of sorts.