From the house: Napier MP Stuart Nash on remembering Anzac Day in sombre times

Stuart Nash is the MP for Napier and Minister of Police. Photo / File

One hundred and five years ago we collectively endured a terrible blow. We come together again today, united, in some of the most sombre peacetime circumstances in our history.

At Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915 our soldiers landed on beaches and hillsides where they ultimately paid a dreadful price. By the end of that day, more than 100 New Zealanders lay dead.

Most are now in unmarked graves, their names remembered instead on the formal marble memorials in Turkey and in more humble war memorials in their home towns. These local war memorials remain as sites of ritual for us in normal times.

Around one New Zealander in every six who was on the Gallipoli peninsula lost his life, a total of 2779 men. It was a devastating toll, and our communities first came together in 1916 to pay their respects in the first Anzac Day ceremonies.

The Gallipoli campaign of World War I strikes at our collective heart today. So does our united fight against Covid-19. It is now part of our shared heritage.

New Zealand is inextricably connected to this global threat, as in wartime. From a wedding in Bluff, to a college in Auckland, a bar in Matamata, a cattle breeders' conference in Queenstown, a rest home in Christchurch, and a tourism experience in Hawke's Bay, we know first-hand the dangers our communities face from this disease. We know about the threat it poses to our way of life.

So this Anzac weekend gives us more reasons for reflection. We remember those we have lost, we remember those who have suffered. And we thank those who have served the greater community. We do this during the pandemic, as we do in normal times.

In just a few days, we will wake up to alert level 3. To adapt a line from John McCrae's poem, In Flanders Fields, please don't "break the faith". We have come so far. We do not want to compromise all the hard work by our team of 5 million.

We have done what very few countries have been able to do. We have stopped a wave of devastation.

The most important thing to remember is that all of this preparation takes us to an alert level next week that still has many restrictions. Yes, alert level 3 allows more economic activity like construction, manufacturing, and forestry, but it does not allow much more social activity — and for good reason.

If we want to make sure that we are a health success story and ensure our economy can start to operate again without the virus taking off, we need to get this next phase right. The worst thing we can do for our country is to yo-yo between levels, with all of the uncertainty that this will bring.

So this weekend, Anzac weekend, enjoy the company of your bubble, stay local, reflect on the amazing sacrifices of our forebears.

Decades ago they came together in the most testing of circumstances, half a world away, and helped forge who we are today.

It was a very, very different battle than the one we are in now, but the character of who we are as a country remains exactly the same. So please, stay strong, stay home, be kind, and let's finish what we started.

• Stuart Nash is the MP for Napier and Minister of Police.