Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year 2020
For once, the end-of-year proclamations are true – 2020 really has been like no other. A year of ups, downs and turnarounds almost solely because of Covid-19, the virus we were only just beginning to hear about this time last year.
Since then, the world has changed with astonishing speed. And though here in New Zealand, we have so far escaped the worst of it, we have changed, too.
Many of us are working from home, we’re holidaying locally, wondering why we hoarded toilet paper when Covid-19 arrived, and often looking back at lockdown through the unreliable lens of nostalgia.
There have been massive challenges this year. Thousands lost their jobs, tens of thousands juggled the stress of working from home with kids, and essential workers lived with the pride that they were vital – and the anxiety at how vulnerable their status made them.
But overall, New Zealand has come out sitting pretty. We are more confident in ourselves, more trusting (not too trusting, though) of our leaders, and more aware than ever of just how lucky we are to live in this isolated paradise. It’s a good time to be a Kiwi. This should never be taken for granted. It could have easily gone the other way. A government that hesitated could have lost control early, and that control could have been impossible to regain. Look no further than the US, England or Brazil for a how-to guide for mishandling a pandemic response.
These countries are economically and socially devastated. The political equity their leaders have lost with their people will take generations to restore. The legacy of Covid-19 is measured not just in the hundreds of thousands of lives prematurely over, it is measured in the distrust those societies bear for their governments.
New Zealand is not without issues. We move steadily forward on gender equality but are still years away from genuine racial equality.
That housing is heading towards being a luxury item is deplorable, and will accelerate alarming trends in inequality.
And the coming generations are about to be landed with a massive bill for decades of underinvestment in both our environment and vital infrastructure.
The silver lining is that after 2020, New Zealand is in a better position than most countries to begin to deal with those issues. It will take leadership, but we are chock-full of people up to the task.
Starting on Monday, we will be bringing you the stories of five Taranaki people who have contributed to making their region and their country a better place in
2020.
They have all taken different paths, achieved different things. They are continuing to achieve. These are the people who have helped to shape our past, build our present and influence the future.
This is the 11th year we have brought you the Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year.
They won’t say it themselves, but these nominees are our leaders.
They are the ones who make us proud and deserve to be celebrated – because in acknowledging their mana, we can all share it with them.
Nga¯ mihi nui