Today is indeed an historic occasion when as a first chair-in-office woman I hand over to another woman chair in office, your Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, in the presence of a woman head of the Commonwealth, Her Royal Highness, Her Majesty the Queen of England.

As a woman, my style defines my leadership. It's a gentler, more compassionate approach. I consult, I listen and I compromise where it's in the best interest of the citizens.

We need to rekindle those values, those strengths as a nation and as a people... And we must do so as one people with one goal.

One of my officers said to me that Trinidad and Tobago is seen like an ATM card... you come in with the card and you come back out with cash. It cannot happen anymore. It just cannot happen.