Clive Bibby: “Those who also served”

A memorable line associated with the remembrance of all the medics who served in those horrific WW1 battlefields where so many disappeared without trace, is worth quoting again as we reflect on the modern day carnage being inflicted upon our own innocent citizens. It refers to “those who also served”.

That modest line is, in my humble opinion, the perfect summation for including all the unsung heroes who have never been adequately recognised for the contribution they made in order that future generations might enjoy a better life.

Included in that category must go our forebears, parents and grandparents, who sacrificed so much in so many ways apart from their unsung heroics during the war years and since.

Whether it be the hardship they and other parents personally endured to help with the associated costs of a higher education or simply providing us with a code of ethics that was enforced for our own good - their contribution to our well being during those times means our modern society is based on cornerstone standards that have endured.

Unfortunately however, many of our current leaders seem hellbent on trashing their memory in favour of expediency. A day doesn’t go by without some landmark pillar that has supported our community for generations being sold off to the highest bidder.

I call it vandalism and am appalled that these misguided wreckers are not being held to account.
Here in Tairawhiti but not unlike the rest of the country, we see it in the proposed sale of bequests like the Harbour Board Farms which were originally gifted to the community as a cash cow facility to help pay for the port maintenance and expansion. We are indebted to those insightful benefactors because their gift has ensured we have a port facility that is critical to what may well be our number one industry if it isn’t already.

It appears that those who now control the company that has benefitted the community for almost 100 years are more than happy to dismiss their moral obligations to the original donor and sell the farms as a job lot in a way that could easily be avoided.

The same attitude appears to be the overriding determinant with the recently sold local lines network and also the sale of our best farming land to investors in the carbon economy where, in both cases, alternative strategies that would prevent that happening are well documented.

Unsurprisingly, these local sales have mirror image examples in most regions throughout the country where politicians have abused their authority. 

Some will argue that the people who make these decisions have a mandate to operate this way. They say their job description stipulates that they must do whatever it takes as long as it is in the best interests of the shareholders

I disagree.

If an opportunity to sell these assets is the only viable option then possibly the decision should go back to the shareholders in order to obtain the mandate to do so.

Nothing less is morally acceptable and it shouldn’t take a dead beat like me to point that out. If they got the chance, l would bet on the ratepayers saying “enough of this madness.”

Let’s acknowledge our forebears’ contribution in a way that respects their memory. Surely we owe them that at least

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.