Editorial - July 9, 2013

From the sublime ...

KAITAIA made national headlines once again last week, for achievements ranging from the sublime - Dr Lance O'Sullivan's winning of a Sir Peter Blake leadership award - to the ridiculous sight of a local of very little brain who made what might well have been the most incompetent smash and grab attempt ever captured on security camera.

Unfortunately it is the latter who is likely to gain the greater attention beyond the Far North's borders. So now, along with all the other negative connotations attached by some to the very Far North, Kaitaia will be seen as a place where even the criminals are incompetent. But where morons like the would-be smash and grabber bring derision, individuals like Dr O'Sullivan bring great credit. The man who on Waitangi Day was named Maori of the Year/Nga Toa Whakaihuwaka has now been further recognised as what the Sir Peter Blake Trust described as one of the decade's most inspirational role models, a man with a courageous vision to eradicate poverty-related illnesses, who has significantly changed opportunities and improved access to basic healthcare in Northland, particularly for youth.

He and his fellow award recipients will now become part of a network of people who have been identified as amongst New Zealand's leaders, as fantastic role models, who have the potential to achieve even more for their communities and their country. They are not expected to sit back and admire the trophy on the mantelpiece. Rather they will have the opportunity to be included in future leadership activities and forums, environmental expeditions and awards events, where they will be able to network with other Blake leaders and medallists.

Their participation in what the trust describes as an exceptional network will enable them to forge strong, effective bonds that will help them advance their own causes and leadership development even further.

If there is one common denominator amongst those recognised last week, and before them, it is the ability to formulate a vision, then to draw on the intelligence, energy and commitment needed to make that vision a reality. In some cases intelligence might be put to good use in pondering the likelihood of benefiting from a crime that is to be committed after all but standing in front of a security camera with a placard stating one's name, date of birth and address; in others it might be directed to meeting the needs of people who, for whatever reason, are missing out on what most of us take for granted, like access to primary health care. The difference, clearly, is between the desire for instant gratification that is little more advanced than an animal's desire for food, and compassion for those who are struggling - in the process serving the entire community.

There may be similarities too. It is unlikely that Dr O'Sullivan has pursued the addressing of the Far North's rheumatic fever rate, inadequate housing and the need to actively become involved in making men in particular more aware of their health with the aim of winning awards. It is also unlikely that the fool who has made himself a YouTube star set out to steal something he probably had no use for with the aim of making an idiot of himself, and adding to his criminal history.

It would be fair to say that Kaitaia and its environs have been well served in medical terms for many years, despite the attentions of various Ministers of Health. Distance from Whangarei can no doubt be thanked at least in part for the fact that Kaitaia still has a hospital worthy of the name, albeit not the hospital it once was, but more fundamentally it has been blessed with the GPs who have lived and worked there for several generations. The apparent fact, recognised most publicly by Dr O'Sullivan but also by others no doubt, that in 2013 some people do not enjoy the access to medical care that many take for granted is even more disconcerting when one considers the quality of the care his predecessors provided, and the lengths some went to over the years to ensure that their skills were available to patients where and when they were needed.

As a country we, like everyone else in the industrialised world, worship the gods of centralisation, specialisation and technological advancement, but some, even in a country as blessed and as egalitarian as this one, are being left behind. It should not have been left to a country GP to agitate long and hard to inspire politicians to provide funding to reduce the harm being done by rheumatic fever, an illness that can have devastating effects for its victims but it is not difficult to diagnose and treat, but it was.

It should not be left to a country GP to make a link between inadequate housing and poor health, exacerbated by a reluctance or an inability to seek primary health care, but so far it largely has been. Dr O'Sullivan has not had to look far to find issues that can and should be addressed for the benefit of many, many people, and his community as a whole, and while others might have seen those issues too it is he who has acted. We may not all have personal reserves of leadership qualities to call upon, but we are all capable of seeing what is around us, and responding as each of us is able to right what is wrong.

The challenge for Dr O'Sullivan now might be to draw others to his causes, and to turn his vision for a better Far North community into a reality. His winning of a Sir Peter Blake leadership award will hopefully augment his ability to do that, perhaps further afield than the Far North. Sir Peter Blake Trust CEO Shelley Campbell said after last week's presentations that the award winners had made significant, demonstrable contributions to future-proofing New Zealand society. No doubt there is much more to come.

Ms Campbell made another particularly apposite observation. What was evident, she said, was that women, Maori and Pacific leaders were assuming key leadership roles in greater numbers than ever before, and were achieving remarkable results, suggesting that the last decade's investment in diversity and cultural leadership capability was beginning to pay dividends.

Hopefully her audience of 200 included members of the Labour Party, who might have been prompted to reflect on what she said and their party's latest departure from sanity, the proposal that some constituencies be reserved for female candidates to achieve the goal of gender equality within Labour's caucus. Labour MP Louisa Wall's eyes have lit up like Christmas trees but her parliamentary colleagues, some more belatedly than others, weren't generally so keen, some perhaps because they are intelligent beings, others in fear of a backlash, if a backlash is possible for a party that's polling as Labour is these days.

What this country needs, at every level, is leadership, regardless of race, gender or whatever else. Labour, indeed our entire political system, is not so well endowed with talent that it can afford to choose MPs according to gender. Quotas also demonstrably do more harm than good for the people they are supposed to help. Always have, always will. Someone might explain that to Ms Wall. And someone might like to warn the people who dreamed this up never to try their hand at smashing and grabbing. They probably wouldn't be much good at that either.