Editorial Tuesday October 14, 2014

Peter Jackson, editor, The Northland Age

WHATEVER the benefits of the so-called social media might turn out to be, it is doubtful that they will outweigh the negatives. Modern technology has given a voice to those who like to vent their spleen from the shadows, those who do not have the courage of their convictions, and who have nothing to offer other than hate and contempt. They don't always hide behind a keyboard though. The latest vitriolic outburst was delivered by way of a good old-fashioned chain letter.

Bay of Islands man Harko Brown, who isn't generally shy about expressing his views but could hardly be described as a 'conniving, power at all costs, miserable self-serving' sort of bloke, was apparently on the mailing list for no other reason than he sounded as though he could be Maori. The author is obviously not entirely bereft of powers of deduction, but that would be the closest any rational person could get to paying him a compliment.

For his part, Mr Brown was left wondering if all the talk of 'dirty politics' prior to last month's general election might have emboldened the lunatic fringe (not his term), and he might well be right, although this latest rant was not original, but just the latest version of what has become a familiar refrain over recent years. He was right though to express concern regarding how hate, once ignited, can spread. We are seeing that now with the first signs that the philosophy espoused by the Islamic State is taking hold in Australia, where some individuals apparently agree that beheading people is a valid form of protest against God knows what.

Our Race Relations Commissioner, Dame Susan Devoy, responded Mr Brown's brush with fanaticism by calling on the author of the letter to identify themselves and join an upcoming "national conversation" on the subject of race relations. Fat chance. And if that doesn't display the utter ineffectiveness of the office currently occupied by Dame Susan, nothing will. Perhaps she could do no more than invite the author of the letter to step into the light, but what is a national conversation on race relations supposed to achieve? It won't convert the racists among us, and it won't be needed by those who have no problem with sharing their lives with other cultures.

The concerns raised by former Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira based on allegations that some Maori voters were treated as second-class citizens in last month's election are much more unsettling, and demanding of investigation. Mr Harawira is hoping that the judicial recount of votes in Te Tai Tokerau, which has now been completed in terms of the actual counting of votes, will broaden to examine the alleged disenfranchising of hundreds of Maori.

It is to be hoped that the allegations are without foundation. Whatever faults our electoral system might have, they surely fall far short of what could only be described at best as deep-seated racism, at worst as corruption. We need to know if Maori voters were disadvantaged, deliberately or otherwise, and if they were then those responsible need to face the consequences. Mr Harawira has said that he raised these concerns in 2008, and again in 2011.

Now he's having another go, and hopefully this time they will be addressed, although some who should know better have already rejected them as a fit of pique on Mr Harawira's part.

He made it clear from the outset that he had not asked for a recount in the hope of overturning Labour's winning of the seat he had held for nine years. Rather he was seeking to "open the door" to at least challenging a number of enrolment issues and special voting processes, as well as highlighting the wider issue of racism in the polling booths.

That didn't deter some commentators from dismissing the recount as a hopeless last-gasp attempt to change the result. It's hard to say just what Mr Harawira has to do to get a fair hearing from some people in this country, including so-called political experts, whose ill-informed pontifications play a huge role in shaping public opinion. They might be unshakeably confident that the concerns raised by Mr Harawira are a figment of someone's imagination, but to misinterpret his motivation to this degree is disgraceful.

Mr Harawira, incidentally, distinguished himself with his farewell speech, having finally conceded defeat to Kelvin Davis. Unlike some others who fell short of their electoral aspirations, he spoke of the issues that had driven him for the last nine years, expressed the hope that they would be addressed by others in his parliamentary absence, and undertook to continue doing what he could in support of the poor and dispossessed. And he didn't blame anyone else for his political demise. There's a lesson there for others.

But if the people of Te Tai Tokerau lost (discarded would be a better word) a champion on September 20, the people of Te Hiku and the Far North lost a real friend when Dennis Bowman passed away. He was an old-fashioned politician, a kind we don't see much of any more. Not only was he always ready to listen, but he understood the small issues that were important to the people he represented. That might not have made him unique - one-time Mangonui County councillor Bob Masters and Kaitaia Borough councillor Ivan Morton were two who shared his philosophy, and Mayor John Carter does so now - but it did make him something of a rarity.

As Peter Wiessing noted at his funeral, it was the fact that Mr Bowman represented the ratepayers who elected him to the Far North District Council, Te Hiku Community Board and the Northland Regional Council, as opposed to representing those authorities in his constituency, that made him so popular. Some years ago a meeting of disgruntled farmers in Kaitaia made it clear that they wanted a regional council that would represent them in Wellington, as opposed to representing Wellington in Northland. Mr Bowman understood the difference, and devoted 19 years of his life to proving it.

That didn't always win him friends in high places, but that bothered him not at all. Several of those who farewelled him last week commented that the 'Real' Far North was his great passion, second only to his family. NRC colleague Joe Carr described him as one who saw the world through a young working man's eyes, who hated pointless, resource-consuming bureaucracy, who used his position to enable people to get on with their lives. He saw local government as part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

No one ever had reason to doubt what his view on any particular issue might be, and he was never afraid to defend his position against allcomers. He brought to his local government roles a lifetime of experience and common sense, and was refreshingly intolerant of those who he saw as beholden to processes that delayed the best outcome for the people he represented, and were paying the cost of those processes.

The qualities displayed by Dennis Bowman were in stark contrast to the cowardice of those who seek to change the world from the shadows, who offer nothing positive and do not even have the courage to identify themselves. It is the Dennis Bowmans of this world who deserve our respect, our attention, our support and our gratitude. Those who preach conflict and division deserve nothing but contempt.