New Year 2021 Honours: Dame Anne Salmond on why we can be optimists 30 Dec, 2020 04:00 PM 4 minutes to read Dame Anne Salmond with artifacts relating to Captain James Cook's journey to New Zealand. Photo / Sarah Ivey Distinguished Professor Dame Mary Anne Salmond, ONZ For services to New Zealand Much of the world is unravelling when Dame Anne Salmond picks up the phone at her eco-sanctuary outside Gisborne. Covid-19 is ravaging dozens of countries, including many of the world's wealthiest. Some are in their third wave of mass death and chaos this year. But the anthropologist, historian and TV host is upbeat as 2021 approaches.