New Year Honours 2025 - the locals

Queenstown's Royalburn Station owners Carlos Bagrie and Nadia Lim have been made ONZMs in the New Year Honours.

The couple, who co-founded My Food Bag before focusing on their regenerative paddock-to-plate farm, are among several locals recognised in the 2025 honours.

Wānaka's Tony Shaw has also been made a Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for his services to people with intellectual disabilities, while Queenstown's Barb Simpson has received the Kings Service Medal. Simpson, with husband Neil, founded the Wakatipu Reforestation Trust in 2013, and has also volunteered at the Branches outdoor education camp for 40 years.

Glenorchy's Al Fastier has received the New Zealand Antarctic Medal for this services to Antarctic heritage conservation.

Here's a little bit about all their achievements, followed by the full 2025 list.

To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Carlos Edward James Bagrie

For services to the food and rural industries

Carlos Bagrie is an entrepreneur and co-founder of My Food Bag, established in 2013, a New Zealand-based food kit delivery service supporting home cooking, and in 2019, he co-founded Royalburn Station, a regenerative paddock-to-plate farm that is committed to ethical and sustainable farming practices. Royalburn Station focuses on restoring the land, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring the wellbeing of animals.

Under Mr Bagrie’s leadership, Royalburn Station won a New Zealand Food Award for its premium lamb, which is supplied to restaurants across the country. Along with his wife Nadia Lim, he starred in three seasons of the television series ‘Nadia’s Farm’ (2022), showcasing the challenges and successes of rural farming on Royalburn Station. He is known for his innovative approach to minimising waste and creating value from excess produce. This includes his collaboration with Garage Project to develop ‘Swifty’, a nationwide beer made from surplus barley.

He is currently pioneering McKibbon’s of Royalburn, a retail venture that blends high-quality, ethically farmed produce with a unique supermarket experience. He received the 2024 Nuffield Farming Scholarship and spent six months travelling the world, studying innovative agricultural systems and exploring how New Zealand exporters can position themselves for success in global markets. Through his ventures, Mr Bagrie has been committed to sustainability, ethical farming practices, and creating exceptional consumer experiences.

Nadia Rui-Chi Lim

For services to the food industry

Nadia Lim won MasterChef New Zealand in 2011 and has since contributed nationally as a chef and through business. Ms Lim has published 12 cookbooks since 2012, including the best-selling ‘Nadia Lim’s Good Food Cookbook’ (2013) which was runner-up at the 2014 International Gourmand Cookbook of the Year awards and ‘Vegful’ (2019) which was runner-up for the Best Vegetarian Cookbook in the World in 2019.

In 2013 she co-founded My Food Bag, a New Zealand-based food kit delivery service supporting home cooking. Her show ‘New Zealand with Nadia Lim’, launched in 2014 and reached more than 130 million people globally. During the COVID-19 pandemic she launched ‘Nadia’s Comfort Kitchen’, which focused on cooking during the New Zealand lockdown. Subsequently, she published the show’s recipes into a cookbook of the same title, which raised more than $400,000 for Youthline and Women’s Refuge. She has been a judge of MasterChef New Zealand and My Kitchen Rules New Zealand.

She has partnered with several notable New Zealand charities, including Diabetes New Zealand, the Cancer Society, The Blind Foundation, Garden to Table, and Cambodia Charitable Trust. Ms Lim, with her husband Carlos Bagrie have starred in the television series ‘Nadia’s Farm’ (2022), showcasing the challenges and successes of food production on their farm Royalburn Station.

Anthony John (Tony) Shaw

For services to people with intellectual disabilities and the community

Tony Shaw has held a range of leadership roles within IHC since the 1980s. Mr Shaw began his legal career in 1980 in Timaru, developing advocacy, leadership and advisory skills. He joined the Committee of the IHC South Canterbury Branch in 1982 and went on to join the IHC New Zealand Inc. Board in 1998, serving as New Zealand President from 2003 to 2005.

He rejoined the National Board of IHC in 2019 and has been Chair since 2020, helping guide the organisation’s 4,000 people with intellectual disabilities and 4,000 support staff through the COVID-19 pandemic. He has held leadership roles on related boards, including the IHC Foundation Charitable Trust, Accessible Properties New Zealand, IDEA Services and the Donald Beasley Institute Trust.

In 2005, he was made a Life Member of the IHC, one of only 11 people to receive this distinction. In his local community, he has been involved in training and mentoring young legal and business professionals through the Law Society and South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. He acted as MC for the Timaru Rotary Club’s Celebrity Auction from 2001 to 2013, which raised between $20,000 and $65,000 each year. Mr Shaw received a Forsyth Barr Commendation Award at the 2022 South Canterbury Ara Business Excellence Awards.

 

The King's Service Medal

Barbara Anne (Barb) Simpson

For services to conservation and the community

Barb Simpson has contributed to the Queenstown community and environmental restoration through a variety of roles. Mrs Simpson taught outdoor education and food technology at Wakatipu High School for 23 years until retiring in 2006. Since then, she has run education and volunteering initiatives at the school’s annual camps, involving students in the establishment and maintenance of a wetlands area at the Branches Station.

She co-founded the Whakatipu Islands Reforestation Trust with her husband in 2009, through which she has contributed to the restoration of an area badly affected by wildfires. Through the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust, which she co-established in 2013, she has helped to grow more than 10,000 native plants annually for planting on public land, and shares her knowledge with visiting school groups. She has volunteered for the Department of Conservation as a Hut Warden, for Gorse Busters to remove the invasive weed from around Ōkārito Lagoon, as a Trustee of the Wakatipu Trails Trust, and a volunteer and manager with the Queenstown Lakes Search and Rescue.

She has also been a Big Buddy for three girls, volunteered with Victim Support and continues to volunteer with the St John Shuttle Service between Queenstown and Invercargill. In 2016, Mrs Simpson and her husband were awarded the Loder Cup for their contribution to conservation. Previous awards include the Wayfare Spirit of Wakatipu Lifetime Contribution Award, Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Local Hero Award, 2014, and the Inland Otago Conservation Award, 2014.

The New Zealand Antarctic Medal

Alastair Robin (Al) Fastier

For services to Antarctic heritage conservation

Al Fastier was the Conservation Programme Manager for the Antarctic Heritage Trust (AHT) from 2006 to 2023 and a Conservation Advisor from 2023 to 2024. Launched in 2002, the Ross Sea Heritage Restoration Project (RSHRP) is an international project to secure five historic explorer bases and their artefacts, associated with Scott, Shackleton, Borchgrevink and Hillary.

Since 2006, Mr Fastier has overseen the implementation of the RSHRP on-ice programme of conservation work, developing implementation plans for each site from conservation plans prepared by heritage experts. Under his leadership, the AHT completed a major phase of work on Ross Island, including the completed conservation of four historic bases, survey work and repairs on Borchgrevink’s remote base, and conservation of more than 20,000 artefacts.

He chaired the Building Conservation Design Team for 18 years, an international multi-disciplinary team tasked with ensuring conservation work at each site meets best practice. His mentoring and leadership of more than 80 heritage experts has developed an extensive network of conservation alumni, facilitating sharing of RSHRP methodologies internationally. He has demonstrated hands-on leadership by personally undertaking challenging and unpleasant tasks and has led innovations to improve team comfort, safe working conditions and hut environmental conditions. This included designing hard-shell field accommodation, conservation labs and carpentry workshops for on-ice use, new ice melting equipment, installing snow deflectors at Terra Nova hut, and building a field-use solar-powered system.

Mr Fastier’s contributions have helped position New Zealand as a leader in cold-climate heritage conservation, with the RSHRP being an internationally recognised model for how to undertake major multi-season conservation projects in remote areas.

 

Here is the full list of all the New Year Honours recipients (RNZ)

 

To be Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

Julie Clare Chapman - For services to children and the community

Nea Ingrid Collins, MNZM - For services to Māori, business and health governance

Bogyung Ko (Lydia Ko), MNZM - For services to golf

 

To be Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

John Allan Gallagher, CNZM, KStJ - For services to business, education, philanthropy and the community

Edward Colin Manson, CNZM - For services to philanthropy, the community and business

Peter Robert Skelton, CNZM - For services to environmental law

 

To be Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

Graeme Hilton Blick - For services to geodesy

Ian Douglas Foster - For services to rugby

Esther Frances Fung, ONZM - For services to the Chinese community

Frederick John Graham, ONZM - For services to Māori art

John Bernard Hart, ONZM - For services to sports governance

Jillian Jeanette Hooks - For services to accountancy and education

Kai-Shek Luey, QSM - For services to the Chinese community

Helen Linda Pilmore - For services to nephrology and transplantation services

Suzanne Lena Prentice, OBE - For services to music and the community

Robin Scholes, OBE - For services to the screen industry

Harjinder Singh - For services to food science

Alan Richard Baillie Smythe - For services to the community and philanthropy

William Murray Thomson - For services to oral health

Kennie Tsui - For services to the environment and governance

Keith Sharman Turner - For services to the electricity industry

 

To be an Honorary Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

Laurie Ann Hilsgen - For services to family carers

 

To be Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

Denise Katherine Astill - For services to the prevention of foetal anticonvulsant syndromes

Carlos Edward James Bagrie - For services to the food and rural industries

Major General John Raymond Boswell, DSD, (Rtd.) - For services to the New Zealand Defence Force

Robert James William Campbell - For services to farming and governance

Marguerite Diane Christophers - For services to Para sports

Peter John Cleave - For services to Māori language education

Trisia Angela Farrelly - For services to ecology

Catherine Mary Ferguson - For services to otolaryngology

Heke-Turoa Ropine Huata - For services to Māori and education

Albert Puhirake Ihaka - For services to Māori and governance

Sudesh Kumar Jhunjhnuwala - For services to the hospitality industry and philanthropy

Prudence Elizabeth Lamerton - For services to nuclear medicine

Nadia Rui-Chi Lim - For services to the food industry

Professor Cyril Wayne McIlwraith - For services to veterinary medicine and the equine industry

Matthew Christian Metcalfe - For services to the film industry

Lee Wei-Hahn Murray - For services to literature, particularly speculative literature

Oliver Michael Newland - For services to real estate and the community

Christine Rewa Panapa, MNZM - For services to Māori

Te Taku Parai - For services to Māori, governance and the community

Rear Admiral David Colin Proctor, RNZN (Rtd.) - For services to the New Zealand Defence Force

Te Tuhi Robust - For services to Māori and education

Anthony John Shaw - For services to people with intellectual disabilities and the community

Margot Alison Skinner - For services to physiotherapy

Mervyn John Solly - For services to the transport industry and business 

Debra Mary Delores Sorensen - For services to Pacific health

Kate Elizabeth Sylvester - For services to the fashion industry

Iain Clark Taylor - For services to education

Murray William Tilyard - For services to health

Samuel Laurence Whitelock - For services to rugby and the community

Bryce Derek Wilkinson - For services to economics

 

To be an Honorary Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

Clara Elisabeth Hutchinson-de Ranitz - For services to midwifery

 

To be Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit: 

Peter Wallace Allen - For services to disabled people

Dale Cameron Bailey - For services to education

Paula Val Baker - For services to health governance and the community

Judith Anne Bell - For services to music education

Richard Marshall Lovelace Bull - For services to conservation and the community

Paul Francis Burns - For services to Search and Rescue and Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Michael John Dyer Camm - For services to wildlife conservation

Susan Jayne Clement - For services to education

Ross Anthony Cocker, JP - For services to Search and Rescue and the community

Karen Ann Colgan - For services to wildlife conservation and education

Linda Ann Cooper, JP - For services to the community

Maria Carmela Dalli - For services to education

Priyani Therese de Silva-Currie - For services to multicultural communities, netball and civil engineering

Makarena Diana Dudley - For services to people with dementia, particularly Māori

Ross James Craufurd Dunlop, JP - For services to local government

Iosefo Fa'afiu - For services to mental health, youth and the Pacific community

Anne Maria Fitisemanu - For services to business

Julian Richmond Fitter - For services to conservation 

Bronwyn Joy Groot - For services to fraud prevention awareness

Noel Graham Harris - For services to the thoroughbred racing industry

Rawinia Ruth Higgins - For services to Māori language, education and governance

David Warwick Hodder - For services to outdoor recreation and conservation

Ingrid Louise Maria Huygens - For services to education and Māori

Leonard George Frederick Irvine - For services to woodcraft and education

Marian Elizabeth Johnson - For services to technology and business

Shelley Aroha Katae - For services to Māori and Pacific communities

David John Kent - For services to the deaf and hard of hearing community

Dinesh Kumar Khadka, JP - For services to the Nepalese community

Tania Phillippa Kingi - For services to Māori and people with disabilities

Malcolm Erskine Legget (Deceased. His Majesty's approval of this award took effect on 31 October 2024, prior to the date of death.) - For services to cardiology

Nicola Maree Ataria MacDonald - For services to the environment

Deborah Claire Mackenzie - For services to victims of domestic violence

Cedric Paul Malpass - For services to health

Lachlan John Marshall - For services to water polo

Adele Marie Mason - For services to New Zealand-Asia relations

Duncan Paul Matthews - For services to rainbow communities

John Leslie McKoy - For services to fisheries science and environment management

Ross John McQueen - For services to the community

Asad Mohsin - For services to the Muslim community and education

Janice Molloy - For services to wildlife conservation

Sheryll Ann Ofner - For services to education

Louise Claire Parr-Brownlie - For services to neuroscience

Daniel Oshana Pato - For services to the hairdressing industry

Kirsten Pauline Eddy Patterson - For services to governance and women

John Kenneth Peters - For services to governance and palliative care

Ian Martyn Pickard - For services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Billie-Jean Potaka Ayton - For services to education and Māori

Tania Mateohorere-Carole Pouwhare - For services to Māori and Pacific communities, and the environment

Sarah Jane McDonald Rae - For services to choral music

Ian Dugald Reid - For services to musical theatre

Alan Kenneth Richards - For services to the New Zealand Police and education

Norefjell Jacquiline Marama Tanga Royal, JP - For services to Māori and governance

Hilary Dawn Sangster - For services to governance

Rachel Simon-Kumar - For services to women's studies, health research and to ethnic communities

Roy Martin Sloan - For services to conservation and game hunting

Hilary Anne Smith - For services to linguistics and the community

Helen Julia Snell - For services to nursing and diabetes care

Sharon Carol Stevens-Cottle - For services to dance and theatre

Michael Leslie Burton Styles - For services to people with dyslexia and education

Linda Naumai Te Aho - For services to Māori and legal education

Gary Raymond Trail - For services to martial arts, particularly Jiu Jitsu

Keith Winton Trembath - For services to the community, agriculture and education

Kateryna Turska - For services to the Ukrainian community

Anita Gay Varga - For services to women and the construction industry

Melissa Amy Vining - For services to charitable fundraising and the community

Belinda Henderson Walker - For services to the community

 

To be Companions of the King's Service Order:

Rūpene Paul Amato - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Jocelyn Anne Armstrong - For services to interfaith communities

Barry Joseph de Geest - For services to disabled people

James William Goodwin - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Tristram Richard Ingham, ONZM - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Leoni Frances McInroe - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Paora Crawford Moyle - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Moeapulu Frances Eileen Tagaloa - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Keith Vernon Wiffin - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Gary Michael Williams, MNZM - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Paul Andrew Zentveld - For services to survivors of abuse in care

 

The King's Service Medal

Alister David Argyle - For services to the community

Victoria Elizabeth Barnard - For services to the RNZSPCA

Cynthia Jane Brooks - For services to local government and historical research

Michael Russell Buick - For services to the performing arts, particularly musical theatre

Colin Terence Campbell - For services to horse racing and governance

Ian Peter Carter - For services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community

Leslie Edward Clarke - For services to the New Zealand Police and the community

Kathleen Patricia Coster - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Shannel Peter Courtney - For services to conservation and choral music

Sandra Lois May Curd, JP - For services to the community

Sally Elizabeth Davies - For services to hockey and nursing

Vaine Puapii Elia - For services to the Cook Islands community

Rouruina Emile-Brown - For services to the Cook Islands community

Patricia Mary Anne Eyles, JP - For services to the community

Hans-Josef Erwin Freller - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Neta Bernadette Gilbert (Neta Kerepeti) - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Marie Eleanor Gilpin - For services to the community

Thomas Michael Gray - For services to local government and the community

Bryan Robert Guy - For services to the community

Peter Colin Hensman - For services to cricket and the community

Toni Lee James Jarvis - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Jeremy Wiremu Alexander Johnson - For services to the Anglican Church and the LGBTQI+ community

Hans Allen Key - For services to health and safety and Pacific communities

Paul Hendrick Lampe - For services to youth

Michael Joseph Ledingham - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Peter Fala Aperila Leilua - For services to the community, particularly youth and Pacific peoples

Tiliilagi Leilua - For services to the community, particularly youth and Pacific peoples

Valerie Joan Lissette - For services to dance

Moira Catherine Lockington - For services to the community

Pamela Anne Logan - For services to theatre

Patricia Annette Macaulay - For services to the community

Carolyn Mayes - For services to conservation

Ronald James Moles - For services to education and the community

Fiona Mary Murdoch - For services to dance

Delza Reay Neben - For services to print media and the community

John William Oliver - For services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community

Jyoti Parashar, JP - For services to the community

Graeme Victor Pearce - For services to heritage preservation and the community

Marie Teresa Pearce - For services to the community and local government

Neville Gordon Phillips - For services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and ice sports

Peter Herehere Priest - For services to Māori and conservation

Susan Lyall Priest - For services to Māori and conservation

David John Ramsay - For services to the community

Rangimahora Mokomoko Reddy - For services to Māori health

David Malcolm James Richmond - For services to sport, particularly athletics and cricket

Eugene Shane Te Awamate Ryder - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Barbara Anne Simpson - For services to conservation and the community

Anne Acton Sinclair - For services to the community

Darryl William Smith - For services to survivors of abuse in care

Richard Antony Dougal Steele, JP - For services to the rural community

Peter David Swain - For services to the community

Teremoana Terepai - For services to the Pacific community and seniors

Margaret Ann Vickers - For services to the community

Grahame Roy Perry Webber - For services to local government and farming governance

Phyllis Rosemary Weir - For services to cricket and horticulture

Craig John Wells - For services to business and the community 

Jennifer Gai Wotten - For services to the community and squash

 

The New Zealand Antarctic Medal

Alastair Robin Fastier - For services to Antarctic heritage conservation

Colin Chalmers Monteath, QSM - For services to Antarctic field support, archival preservation, literature and photography

 

The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration

Squadron Leader Paul Leslie Stockley - For services to the New Zealand Defence Force