'They say' one learns more about 'our' politicians from their opening (maiden) and closing (valedictory) addresses in Parliament's debating chamber than the rest of the time they spend up in Wellington 'on our behalf'. Whether that is true in every instance is of course highly debatable, and doubtless oftentimes wholly untrue, but in the case of William *Simon English, perhaps more true than for most. Anyhow, he completed his 29-year - and precisely 10,000 day - stay in New Zealand's unhallowed corridors of political power with what can only be termed, and is widely acknowledged as being, a great valedictory: one which I consider displayed real panache and aplomb - stylistic flair, to be sure, but even more some real, nitty-gritty, and moreover meaningful and memorable substance.
But first, may I make a couple disclaimers: and yes, admittedly this has been written somewhat 'after the event', and even - today - is being completed on the very day, and just as I hear for the first time that Mr English will now be referred to as a Sir. Be that (latter fact) as it well may - and it matters not one iota to this commentator, anyhow, it's hardly a sign of real sainthood simply to have been acknowledged, in however high-falutin' a fashion, as a knight, a dame, a lady or a sir (in the annual Queens Honour's List or in the New Years Honours). Either in New Zealand or anywhere else.
And moreover, and more pertinently by far, though long a contemporary of the political fortunes of **Bill English, of his rise and rise and rise - and then fall - and then rise and rise and rise, and again, eventual and final fall, I have very mixed views about the politician let alone the policies he espoused and pursued and the principles he arguably stood for - or oftentimes compromised, depending upon one's viewpoint. For the record, I tended to think well of him...except for four things in particular.
These were and are, as follows. Firstly, his sudden about-face upon his fundamental moral/religious principles on becoming Prime Minister, to wit the issue of homosexual marriage: vociferously and persuasively opposing such and maintaining it would insidiously serve to undermine the age-old institution of marriage (if my memory serves me aright), then recently declaring that the sky hadn't fallen in as he'd expected and so it really hadn't been such a big deal after all.
Secondly, his unwillingness - as leader of the entire nation - to be willing to subject his own (Roman Catholic) communion, let alone state institutions throughout the land, to the sort of proper sexual/psychological abuse inquiry that has been so effective and successful in Australia especially, and thus stand up for the victims of this scourge upon society and individual 'souls'.
Thirdly and fourthly, his rather shady, vague and more pertinently, highly questionable and problematic involvement in what's become known as the 'Todd Barclay Affair'; and - from both my recollection and moreover, the confirmation of then-contemporary newspapers - his continual denial of a pending challenge to his then leader, now 'Dame' Jenny Shipley, until of course he expeditiously mounted just such an extremely effective coup d'etat.
But be all that preceding guff as it very well may...and taking away not an iota from any or all of it: English made a number of very notable and memorable and moreover highly commendable and useful, important points in his valedictory speech which not only deserve a mention, they warrant placing upon the record for years, even decades to come - if our present world has that long, which is extremely unlikely. But nevertheless... .
Anyhow, let me cite a number of these (in bullet-point fashion, as seems most convenient) and then comment upon (some of) them, as the case may be. Firstly, let me simply quote (parts of) some of his best one-liners, the standouts among them anyway, for due reflection and consideration.
*"Everybody can teach you something" - the pauper as well as the prince "has something useful to tell you", so "listen to everybody": it's "an excellent way to get/arrive at the best product/decisions."
*"Jack's as good as his master." So "give everybody a fair go", "Treat everyone with respect and kindness."
*"Stay grounded in the real world" (rather than putting on airs and graces).
*"[The] integrity of the individual person" "matters much more than petty (bureaucratic) processes". "[We] need to be sensitive to the plight of suffering, institutionally-used and -abused individuals."
*"Just throwing money at everyone (and everything) is extremely unwise", since money-showering/spraying was ***"no substitute for well-targeted/focused/directed help". It was "(far) better to back people to make the changes they need to make (in their own lives)."
And head and shoulders above all his other insightful, admittedly simple but simply profound observations upon New Zealand's (and doubtless the Western World's) political scene was this one: "the dangerous complacency of good intentions." What others have called 'do-gooderism', and still others 'God-bothering'.
Opposing the establishing of yet another royal commission, this time upon the need for proper 'social investment' in citizens in welfare dependency, this much-praised, increasing focus of the National Government has been seen as English's own baby. Though he cited it in another breath entirely, National's ongoing liaison with the Maori Party over Whanau Ora (from early days) was a case in point: it had been "an excellent programme" which "exemplified these very (local, grass-roots) values/principles" of helping the individual on a case-by-case basis (as opposed to simply showering them with money).
Bill English also heaped praise upon (former Maori Party co-leader) Tariana Turia for her involvement in this and other such innovations, "giving credit where credit is due"; likewise recalling his own hands-on engagement with the 'iwi group' and its intense discussions, the profound lessons he learnt from these, and their singular effectiveness and successful outcome, citing them as being the highlight of his own tenure in Parliament.
Recollecting some memorable personal examples, and without engaging in self-pity, English yet stoically reflected upon the innate unfairness of the politician's lot - "Yes, people blame politicians for anything and everything" - and how being heartily bashed about by the brother of one successfully-enrolled Olympic/Commonwealth athlete taught English some extremely valuable lessons in personal composure under very stressful, difficult circumstances when fortitude was required.
On a similarly personal level - but vis-a-vis his political colleagues - English lavished high praise on his erstwhile leader. John Key, (who indeed was unquestionably one of, if not in fact New Zealand's all-time most popular politician/s/leader/s), had 'relentless optimism' ("in dealing with everyone, every day, on every detail of every issue".
Even more generous was his singling out of Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee. "In a wonderful testimony to his sterling character", "displaying the sense of selflessness required" in his handling of the Christchurch recovery, GB "never once mentioned his own (family's) personal circumstances", which BE "years later discovered had been dire".
Bill English exemplified (and enunciated in his valedictory) an old-fashioned individual-centred (as opposed to individualistic) ethic, political purposes formed and fashioned by his Roman Catholic convictions ("which often coincided with those of the National Party"). And which were based upon mutual respect (between citizens and their government), and humility and teachability on the part of politicians. Yes, he well understood, from personal experience, the serious limits of big government.
Yes, good 'ole-fashioned kiwi values which no-one would argue with, based upon giving everyone 'a fair go'. A pity then that those various governments of which English was an integral part rarely seemed to practice these oh-so-worthy virtues and values.
For me, Bill English's own star never shone out brighter than when he - around 2010-2012 or so - decried and earnestly inveighed against the 'moral failure' of simply building ever more prisons; rightly understanding that that in itself represented an utter failure of our society. Though truth be told his own Government kept on building ever more and bigger ones.
In conclusion, Sir Bill (William Simon) English in his justly-celebrated final address to Parliament
espoused and advocated some, indeed many, just, praiseworthy and significant goals, aims and aspirations, ideals and values - let there be no mistake. Ones which deserve commendation and note - from anyone who happened to say or promote them, in fact.
And who would dare to second-guess him or even argue that it''s easy to sound all high and mighty as you prepare to exit the scene without really achieving said aims and objectives, or at most only getting the actual debate underway? Or that he only really ever managed to get a few of those well-intentioned ideas up-and-running or posted upon the political dartboard of actual accomplishments?
Well admittedly, some verily might, but that's for another day (of the historians' assessments and all). But it is somewhat more problematic for one's legacy if it is argued - and in Mr English's case it can easily be - that the policies he and the various long-serving Governments of which he himself constituted a not inconsiderable or powerful part actually often completely contradicted such aims and objectives, even at times effectively nullifying them; whether that be by deliberate design or simply unfortunate (by-product) consequence.
And nowhere more glaring can that, those innate contradictions between the earnest politician's wistful reflections and the actual, on-the-ground realities...of what actually transpired under his (and his party's) long leadership of this nation...be seen, that in the widespread de-institutionalization of New Zealand's mental health facilities from the time of the fourth Labour Government on into the nineties when English's own party was ruling the nation's roost.
Yes, there was indeed "massive disruption" to peoples' lives, great dislocation and all the rest. The pertinent question, however, for Mr English was and will remain: did his, the Bolger (and then Shipley) Governments reverse any of these awful changes?
Yes, the question is rhetorical, and the answer is unequivocal, and reflects poorly upon English et al. Hardly! Not on your nelly!
No, the gulf between the very best of intentions, that Mr, I mean, Sir Bill English, himself bemoans and decries and the actual, on-the-ground realities that in fact played out while he and his mates manned and womaned the ship of state is a not inconsiderable one, and indeed cannot feasibly be bridged...except maybe by political spin-doctoring and the like. Because unavoidably words like inconsistent, self-contradictory and even hypocritical spring readily to mind, and cannot easily be refuted. And I've only cited one particular glaring instance in this case.
However, since none of us either can really know or indeed has any right to sit in judgment upon another's true motives or intentions, I'll conclude by giving Bill English the benefit of the doubt and let his own final, self-chosen 'epitaph' be his 'final word' here. After quoting a poignant line from a favourite James K Baxter poem, English mentioned how his brother ****Connor informed him 'the other day' that he'd be leaving Parliament exactly 10,000 days to the day he'd first been elected.
Footnoting Baxter's inimitable words - These unshaped isles...won't fit/fix the chisel of the mind - English signed off with deep feeling, barely holding back the tears, by saying that he believed and was satisfied (in his own mind) that every day (he'd been in Parliament) he'd turned up to take his turn up/on the chisel...
In conclusion, it sadly seems to me that Bill English himself contradicted the very things, values and principles he so ably and often articulated, advocated and championed - aka the suddenly-acceptable Marriage Amendment Act, his inexplicable refusal to countenance a commission of inquiry into state and private/religious et al institutional abuse, his disingenuousness re mounting a challenge to his former leader - one of the worst-kept secrets in modern NZ politics - or his questionable, unethical involvement in the Todd Barclay Affair, or, for that matter, in apparently 'rorting the system' (in terms of rental subsidies allowed for politicians) for his own (family's) financial benefit.
While none of that makes him the worst politician of all time - by a very long shot or stretch of the imagination - unfortunately it does tarnish his 'high-integrity' political brand, in my view anyway, and somewhat irretrievably. However, in championing a series of 'old-fashioned' political values when they were increasingly going out of fashion, in maintaining a level of personal decency and civility and simple good manners at all times in his political discourse and interactions with other politicians and the public-at-large whether inside or outside the chambers of Parliament, and in sticking it out and keeping on keeping on however his oft-waxing, oft-waning political fortunes were fluctuating, after just under thirty years in the high pressure cooker that is modern Western and kiwi political life Bill English can hold his head high that he seemingly survived with his *****personal integrity intact.
*A name he shares with two of National's most outstanding MPs of my lifetime: former Minister of the Environment/MSD & all sorts, plus later ambassador to France, Simon Upton; and former Minister of Finance and one-time wannabe (and highly likely) National Party leader (& future PM) Simon Power.
**Curiously, he (former National Party Deputy Leader) and John Key, thrice elected Prime Minister in landslide proportions (in terms of MMP, anyhow), respectively shared the exact ages of two of my older siblings, one of whom I'd still maintain shared a remarkable facial resemblance to Mr Key; or is that now also Sir John Key? Whatever.
***English even claimed the use of the word 'customer' in the WINZ system of Government-beneficiary relationships was a personal triumph of his; that it was intended to put it upon the basis of treating the welfare recipient with more respect and due deference and the like, rather than as
merely another faceless statistic. I must sadly inform - and can verily assure - Mr/Sir Bill English et al that in practice it's done, if anything, the very opposite; if he'll excuse the unintended 'pun' - of all his 'good intentions'.
****A former Federated Farmers Chairman (occasionally on Q&A and/or The Nation) whose face I noted having once encountered (the resemblance to Bill being uncanny) as I recalled having passed him outside NZ Post as I ensured I was on the Electoral Roll in the run-up to General Election 2002.
*****In his own mind anyway, though I well realize that the rental fiasco and the Barclay Affair have inevitably left at least a cloud of doubt and/or uncertainty over even that (in both my own and the eyes of many of the public, no doubt). But I at least am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt (in both instances, however outwardly troubling), as neither seem to fit his public persona.
Though of course it has well been said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and none of us are immune to the subtle eroding effects of that inescapable aspect and reality of human nature. But for my part I believe a few have managed to do just that historically, to wit the biblical heroes and heroines Joseph and Daniel, each Prime Minister of the world-ruling heathen empires of their respective day/s, and Mordecai and Esther who also served as high official and even Queen in a similar context of a non-Jewish world-ruling empire.
So it can be done. And in our day and age such notable personages as Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Robert Kennedy, George McGovern, even Barry Goldwater and Margaret Thatcher spring to mind. Sure, they might occasionally have infuriated the hell out of some, but true integrity is something else altogether, and cannot be so easily judged and determined, as some 'on the tip of my tongue' quote from Shakespeare would itself only corroborate...
No comments:
Post a Comment