Clive Bibby: ‘Beware the Ides of March’

It is amazing how history has a habit of repeating itself.

Julius Caesar was warned of impending disaster and look what happened to him.

Wouldn’t you think that we should all learn from the mistakes made by these giants of history. Hitler failed in his disastrous invasion of Russia after ignoring what led to Napoleon’s downfall attempting the same thing.

Why is it that we continue pursuing the same objectives that have beaten the best laid plans of mice and men?

After all, it isn’t hard to see warning signals of trouble ahead when reading the latest news clips and yet we still seem to ignore the portents that are there only slightly buried beneath the surface.

We could save ourselves a lot of anxiety and time spent defending ourselves against threats that are already visible to the naked eye.

For example:

Why are we so reluctant to identify and challenge pressure groups who operate in a clandestine manner and with self serving objectives during normal public discourse?

The classic examples of this unwanted interference in public affairs are there to be seen with almost every new edition of the daily news bulletins.

While l am not suggesting that these groups should be excluded from the public conversations, l am warning that many of their activities are designed around a motivation to overthrow the democratically elected authorities or at least change the way we operate until it is in lock step with their own ideological persuasion.

Their modus operandi is best described as “subtle” - so much so that, if we unintentionally allow their negative influence in mainstream activities, things have changed before we know it and we are left trying to undo rules and regulations that should never have appeared on the statute books in the first place.

They say the first casualty of indifference or apathy is truth itself.

So, let’s do what former Premier David Lange advised when surveying the changes that had been made to the NZ economy by his Finance Minister, Roger Douglas - “Time for a pause and a cup of tea.”

In other words we need to stop and take stock of where we are heading before it is too late to avert the damage caused by precipitate decisions based on one group’s preference for the way we live our lives.

Here on the East Coast, the local authority is currently designing rules that hopefully will prevent a repeat of much of the destruction that occurred during Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle which were a result of poor land use decisions by previous generations.

While l have no problem with any well intentioned debate that leads to better land use, l am sceptical of some of the motives behind certain pressure groups who claim to have the Council’s ear.

Some are clearly of a mind to lock up the whole region and throw away the key although they will say “that is just rubbish.”

Well, is it?

My observations of the advice that Is being received and accepted by local Council is that the draft legislation points to a mandated form of governance that seriously limits the ability of current operators and owners to do what they want on their own property.

Our destiny remains in our own hands but if we don’t recognise these clandestine operators for what they are then we can’t complain If they move into the vacuum that we have left.

More work needs to be done before we can safely say that these concerns are no longer part of the proposed bi-laws and we should not be concerned about undue influence on the way we make a dollar.

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