Opinion:
I have been asked a few times over the past couple of weeks about why I am wading back into public life by voicing an opinion through these columns and fundraising for the National Party.
It is a fair question. There is sound reasoning at a personal and professional level for getting out of the public eye and just getting on with a new healthier life, but I believe there are those in life that sit on the sidelines and spectate and there are those that participate, and since I was useless at sport I participate by entering into public debate and supporting a cause. I give a damn about this country and the direction it is heading and I still want to contribute in a minor way. It got me thinking this week about how people contribute to wider society.
Louisa Wall has contributed to society in a way that not many will. Not long after her marriage equality bill was passed I attended the wedding of good friends. They are about to celebrate 30 years together and because of Louisa shepherding her bill through in 2013, they have spent the last nine of them legally married. At the wedding, friends of theirs approached me with tears in their eyes telling me what a difference it had made to their sense of self.
I went to school with Louisa but we weren't friends then, she was the sporty Māori girl driven to excellence, I was the one behind the bike sheds wagging PE and trying to cause chaos. We met up again at university years later and I was student president and she was the women's rep. Our politics haven't generally aligned but I always admired her conviction, dedication and bloody-mindedness to make a difference. For all that she has been through in the last couple of years, I hope it is her contribution to making us a fairer society that she is remembered for.