Dialogue: Coasters' courage against brewery a lesson for others

By DANIEL JACKSON

Never mind the alcohol brewed there; provincial New Zealand needs to bottle the spirit of Greymouth and the West Coast.

The West Coasters didn't take the news lying down when they were told by DB Breweries that the historic Monteith's Brewery was being shut down and its workers made redundant in favour of a plant in Auckland.

The Coasters fought back and within hours of the news the tide of public feeling was turning against DB. The company soon realised that it had dealt itself a huge public-relations blow.

People up and down the country got behind the Coasters and were promising to support a boycott of DB products.

Other breweries would have been rubbing their hands (if breweries had hands) in glee at the thought of all those DB drinkers turning away from their traditional drop to their taps.

I even received an e-mail from a mate in Ireland who had heard about the closure and promised that when he returned to New Zealand he would never drink DB again.

And the campaign seems to be working. Faster than you can say "falling profit margins," DB had promised not to shut the Greymouth brewery. While it hasn't completely given up on the idea of brewing Monteith's elsewhere, it seems more than likely that the future of the West Coast brewery is assured in some form.

What, you may ask, has this to do with Northland? Well, the West Coast and Northland (apart from geography and the number of sandflies) aren't really that different. They are both provinces which have little in common with the Big Smoke and they have both been kicked in the guts over the years.

In fact, most of provincial New Zealand has taken a hiding at some stage or other in favour of the big centres as manufacturing companies, head offices, health professionals and so on shut up shop and move to the bright lights or, even worse, overseas.

That's why I think provincial New Zealand, Northland included, can learn something from the fighting spirit of Greymouth.

Every small-town economic development group, every local body and every person who cares about their home town should study what happened and how the locals, with a bit of help by the sound of it from a public relations guy with a conscience, fought back in the most effective way - they hit DB in the pocket.

The people driving Greymouth's campaign have played to the nation's heartstrings. They gained public sympathy and they drove the message home that shutting the brewery down in Greymouth was a rotten trick.

They believed in the fight and they believed in their town and they weren't going to take being kicked around by a thoughtless corporation.

And the rest of provincial New Zealand doesn't need to take the endless strings of closures, downsizing, relocations and shutdowns either if it fights back.

Who is to say, for example, that there wouldn't still be 400 jobs in Waikato if the people of New Zealand had told Bendon in 1999 that they would no longer buy their knickers if the company proceeded with plans to shut down its plant there and move to Asia?

At the moment, people are smiling in the provinces because most are enjoying a bit of a boom from the flow-on of an improved rural sector.

But, like all things, the boom won't last. Things will go to the wall again and there will be tough times ahead. The people of the provinces just need to be tougher and protect what they've got.

That means buying locally, giving loyalty to companies who put back into the community, helping each other and expressing extreme displeasure when outsiders try to take something away.

Too often people just accept what's forced upon them and give up because it seems too hard.

That's why it's refreshing to see what is happening in Greymouth. It has restored my faith in people power.

I wish them the best of luck and I hope their spirit spreads.