People are the rightful focus in politics
“Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.”
The internet credits Socrates with one iteration of this quote, Eleanor Roosevelt with another.
As a condemnation of idle gossip or to encourage people to let the little slights slide in pursuit of a greater ideal, or perhaps to decorate a nice cross-stitched pillow, this quote has some value.
But for anything deeper, it’s nonsense.
Ideas, events, people — these things are intrinsically linked. The success of one depends on another.
The success of an idea depends on the people developing it and driving it to the next step.
If those people aren’t working together well, the idea is at risk — and simply ignoring failing relationships in the hope everyone will just get over it is not a winning strategy.
The last couple of years have seen many headlines about clashes among elected members in local government. Plenty of talk about people and events.
We’ve seen lots of it here in the Bay of Plenty — more than our fair share, I reckon.
Tauranga is the outstanding example.
The in-fighting got so bad two elected members quit and then the minister handed out pink slips to the rest, passing over some slightly gentler intervention options.
It would be a brave person who would argue that no intervention was needed in the situation, but it is fair to question whether such a bold move by the minister was the right one — it’s not clear how it will influence future voting ballots, for one, when we get back to democratically electing a council.
Either way, the experiment is under way and time will tell.
The Western Bay of Plenty District Council also saw an elected member quit. Christina Humphreys cited a number of reasons, describing her time as a councillor as a “humiliating and depressing experience”.
She had at one time also faced a potential Code of Conduct complaint that she held a predetermined view on the return of Panepane Pt on Matakana Island to local Ma¯ ori.
Rotorua’s council hasn’t escaped elected member skirmishes either, including one this month when, in a council committee meeting, mayor Steve Chadwick demanded an apology from a councillor over a social media post.
But the councillor, Reynold Macpherson, said he was just expressing his opinion, and others were expressing theirs.
Even the local residents and ratepayers association, which Macpherson leads, had members quit recently, including two who are also councillors.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council, an organisation that seems to me to prefer to be perceived as reasonably boring and staid, also had a councillor walk out of a meeting this week.
Wellington City Council, Invercargill City Council and Waikato Regional Council are just a few of the others that have also seen conflict among elected members hit the headlines.
Perhaps seeing how quickly things unravelled in Tauranga, Invercargill even adopted controversial new media protocols that ask elected members to agree to “focus on issues and activities when speaking to the media, rather than the actions or decisions of other elected members”.
I find this bizarre.
As a ratepayer, I want to see elected officials find non-disruptive ways to work through their issues as much as anyone, but trying to suppress or keep damaging clashes out of the public realm through heavy-handed rules is not the way to get there.
These clashes are, in my opinion, damaging to the public’s perception of these organisations, but that is no reason to hide them.
Voters need to know how their elected members are working together and handling interpersonal issues, lest internal battles derail them from the jobs they are elected and paid to do.
And there’s nothing smallminded about that.
More than 500 riders will be in action at Rotorua this weekend for the BMX New Zealand National Championships at the new international-quality track at Waipa.
More than 50 winners from last year, in both the Challenge (20” diameter wheel) and Cruiser (24”) classes, will be competing in the championships, which are supported by Red Stag Timber, Permapine, Spark Business Hub and O’sullivan & Clemens.
The major focus will be on the women’s elite class, in which New Zealand is qualifying one rider for the Tokyo Olympics at this stage, with more qualifying events this year. While the weekend does not hold any qualifying points, a national title will secure confidence and bragging rights, with Rebecca Petch (Te Awamutu) defending her championship in a likely battle against 2019 junior world champion Jessie Smith (Hamilton). Missing will be 2012 Olympic medallist Sarah Walker (Rotorua), who has decided not to take undue risk after shoulder surgery last year.
North Harbour’s Michael Bias will defend his elite men’s crown, chasing his third title in four years. His major challenge is expected from last year’s runner-up Rico D’anvers (Canterbury), with the 2019 runner-up Cole Mconie out due to injury.
There will be interest in the performances of Auckland pair Oliver Hanham and Cameron Jago, of the Mountain Raiders club, and part of Cycling New Zealand’s Schick Civil Performance Hub programme.
The Challenge and Cruiser classes begin today with their qualifying motos with former world championship winners and podium placegetters in the field including the likes of Adam Coker, hometown favourite Dave Mohi, Megan Williams and Toni James, along with the incomparable Cambridge rider Leila Walker, who has won her age group every year since taking up the sport as an 8-year-old. She is in her final year in the 16 years class before stepping into the junior elite division.
Also racing in junior elites is North Harbour’s Rico Bearman, also part of the Performance Hub, who won the cruiser world title when it was last held in 2019.
Qualifying motos begin today, with further rounds tomorrow along with finals, with a Jump Jam to provide action tonight.
The championships will also be streamed live on the Sky Sport Next Youtube channel.