One of New Zealand's leading trade unionists has been remembered as a tenacious fighter for workers' rights across the entire Pacific region.
Helen Kelly died two weeks ago, aged 52. Photo: RNZ/Rebekah Parsons-King
Helen Kelly, who until last year was the president of the Council of Trade Unions, died a fortnight ago of lung cancer at the age of 52.
A memorial service for Ms Kelly was held on Friday in Wellington, where the Australian union leader, Ged Kearney, recalled a trip to Fiji with Ms Kelly a few years ago.
The pair had been warned by the Fijian Government they would not be welcome there - but as Ms Kearney recalls, Helen Kelly wasn't easily deterred.
"The [Fiji] Attorney General got wind that Helen and I were coming and he put out a press release saying 'don't come, you're not welcome.' And Helen looked at me dead in the eye - she happened to be in Australia at the time - and she said, 'what do you reckon?,' recalled Ms Kearney to bouts of laughter in a packed auditorium. "I knew we had to go."
"I can say by the end of the four or five hours that we were detained by the Fijian authorities, I was so sorry for the Fijian authorities."
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney at Helen Kelly's memorial service. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King