A few years ago Owen and I spent six months working closely together on a joint fundraiser for his Centre for Resource Management Studies and the NZCPR. We were breaking new ground with the venture, but one couldn’t have asked for a better ‘partner’. He was fun to work with, and with his huge network of acquaintances, made the project a great success.
Owen was intensely passionate about his work and the causes he was advocating. He was extremely knowledgeable about the issues and his depth of understanding and wisdom set him apart. On top of that he was a true gentleman with an extraordinarily wide range of interests and a remarkable depth of expertise in them all! He continually surprised me when during conversation he would recount an experience from what seemed to be an unlimited reservoir of experiences that revealed his many dimensions.
Owen’s major concern was the detrimental impact planning law was having on New Zealand families, communities and the nation in general. He understood the stress families had to endure when local government restricted freedom and private property rights by imposing ridiculous constraints and unreasonable costs. He, better than anyone else, fought for improved outcomes, especially through the reform of the Local Government Act and the Resource Management Act.
He gave willingly to communities under pressure from rising rates and charges, and unnecessarily restrictive council practices. He tirelessly campaigned against “Smart Growth” and other popularist planning policies that are constraining land supply and increasing housing costs; and against local government policies that are holding back innovation and enterprise.
Owen and I were in the final stages of planning the launch of a major campaign for Local Government Reform, with Owen taking the lead role. Despite poor health, Owen showed the resolve and commitment that demonstrated the strength of his character and his belief that tomorrow can be better than today when good people unite.
His untimely passing has taken us all by surprise. His presence was such that we all expected him to be around forever to enjoy the success that will inevitably come when law-makers eventually catch up with Owen’s vision and appreciate - although probably without admission - that he was right all along.
We all need to continue fighting his causes – he would have wanted that. His work and inspiration was too important a legacy for us not to do so. Fortunately the clarity of his thinking and writing was such that the direction he would want us to go in is well signaled.
Through all the complexities of the debate, Owen’s desire was pure and simple: He wanted families to enjoy their private property free of interference and without the cost burden of “we know best” planners. He concluded that “small is beautiful” and believed the future of local government is small councils closely connected and responsible to their local communities.
Owen McShane was a great New Zealander and the country will be poorer for his loss. Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family and friends.
Shakespeare said it best:
His life was gentle, and the elementsFarewell Owen, leader, scholar, teacher and friend.
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, “This was a man!”
Muriel Newman
8 comments:
Thank you. A befitting tribute to a great NZ'r. RIP
That was beautiful Muriel. Well done. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Owen understood local authority issues better then most. It is sad that he should die when what he feared is now being reported in the front pages of the mainstream media.
I only met him twice but always read what he wrote. His contribution will be missed.
Muriel, you write as well as Owen and Roger Kerr did, to comparable effect. Long may you continue to do so. And thank you for those words on Owen; beautifully put, and from the heart. Because local government is currenly so much in thrall to idealistic but unrealistic self-serving central planners and bureaucrats and their symbiotic alarmism-tending side-kick Enviro-NGOs, Owen's insightful, sensible and useful contributions will be very sorely missed. His special expertise in the RMA and it's abuses, the nature and (often socio-economically AND environmentally detrimental) effects of local government's interventions, actions and gold-plating "world class" (but entirely unaffordable) requirements, and his global connections and insights, have all been greatly appreciated by readers of his columns in NZCPR, NBR, NZCSC, and NZCRMS. Thank you for the platform NZCPR afforded him. He will be sorely missed by readers, but hopefully his writings will live on, continuing to point the way to better lives for all kiwis.
Owen gave willingly to those who would unknowingly benifit.
Owen was a great spokesman for limited government and loved talking about his homeland. He was a wonderful asset to the American Dream Coalition conferences and we'll miss his wit and wisdom.
Benita Dodd
Vice President
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
He punched the PC idiocies of the restricted urban cognoscenti so well, what will we do without him? Who will highlight the DURT, assure us the RMA wasn't meant to strangle the productive, remind us there's no smart nor growth in "smart growth"?
Will miss you.
Great tribute Muriel. I often think of him, and I still read his work.
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