Paddy Cowan: What we truly need here is reform

Ratepayer Paddy Cowan offers his opinion.

"Governance is about consulting for the permanent interest of a society as opposed to the immediate interests of the most active and powerful of its members and to watch over the welfare of the many, rather than the present advantage of the few and to protect those who's only property is their labour against the rapacity of the rich."

- James Stephen jnr, circa 1835.

Those words were written by the Under Secretary for the Colonies prior to the drawing up of the partnership agreement now expressed as the Treaty of Waitangi and came out of a time of social reform in England to end the injustices of the feudal system, slavery and colonial oppression.

Take a good look around you. Our current system is pretty much a reversion to the conditions prevailing before that reform. Family dynasties and dominant shareholdings on all sides of the political, financial and cultural divide. Where mana and prestige is accorded by succession, connection or the size of the salary, ahead of integrity and competence, where greed overpowers need and where power to control is confused with the right to do so. These are as alive and well today as they were back then and exist at all levels of government and society.

The condition of a nation, region, community or family in any cultural setting will always be a reflection of the character of its leaders. Wairoa and Hawke's Bay need reform more than they need restructuring. The kind of reform based on the same biblical principles that drove the social reform in England, spearheaded by the likes of William Wilberforce. Principles we've drifted so far away from.

Restructuring without reform is like putting the cart on the road while the horse is still in the stable and expecting the cart to go somewhere.

Sticking with the horse analogy, amalgamation amounts to lashing a donkey, a Clydesdale, an Arab stallion, a mustang and a mule together, giving them each their own finishing line and punting on which one will reach its destination first and what condition the rest will be in when it gets there.

I'm voting no to amalgamation and yes to reform and, after the vote, regardless of which way it goes, I'll still be working towards reform.

- Paddy Cowan is a Wairoa ratepayer and a soil fertility consultant residing in Nuhaka.