A new entry in NZ's top 20

Long serving political figure Don McKinnon has been appointed to the Order of New Zealand, stepping into the place vacated by Maori Queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu, who died last year.
The Order of New Zealand is the country's highest and most exclusive honour, with only 20 living members permitted at any one time.
Mr McKinnon spoke about the appointment while holidaying in northern Tuscany.
"It's a great honour to be ranked alongside so many extraordinary fellow New Zealanders," Mr McKinnon told The Dominion Post.
Dame Te Ata was "a wonderful lady", he said.
"I had a lot to do with her during my time as a minister, both in and out of New Zealand, so that makes it very, very special."
Mr McKinnon tops a New Year honours list that includes opera star Dame Malvina Major, former MP Marilyn Waring, entertainers David McPhail, Johnny Devlin and Ray Woolf, and former All Whites coach Kevin Fallon.

Dame Malvina, who becomes a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, said: "When I was made a dame, I thought that was it. I did not feel anything would follow a dame.

"It certainly came as a complete surprise. It's lovely, really great."

Mr McKinnon described the past year as one of the toughest in his career because of the "dramas" in Fiji and heightening tension in Pakistan.

He is in his second term as Commonwealth secretary-general, a post he has held since retiring from Parliament in 1999 after 21 years as a National Party MP. He ends his tenure in April. He and his wife, Clare de Lore, plan to return to New Zealand and build a house on Manukau Harbour. "I need fresh, clean New Zealand air and sunshine," he said.

High Court judge Edward Durie has been made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, as has human rights advocate Margaret Shields, of Pukerua Bay.

Former National Party MP Professor Waring has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. The arts are represented by actor McPhail, who has been made an officer of the order, rock 'n' roller Johnny Devlin and musician Ray Woolf.

Expatriate businessman Owen Glenn, who in 2005 gave the Labour Party $300,000, becomes an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

MATT CALMAN and BEN FAWKES - The Dominion Post | Monday, 31 December 2007