Sir Ian Taylor. Photo: ODT files
An open letter to Minister Shane Jones from Sir Ian Taylor
Matua, I must confess that reading your response to my recent opinion piece about the proposed Bendigo gold mine was rather entertaining.
In the space of a few paragraphs you managed to describe yourself as both a "loudly crowing rooster" and a "big brown Dalmatian from Kaitaia".
I must admit I was left slightly unsure which of those would finally turn up for the debate you challenged me to.
Perhaps both?
But it was the rooster image that stayed with me.
Because anyone who has spent time around a farmyard knows something about roosters. They make a lot of noise at dawn. They strut around the yard announcing themselves to the world. But if you watch the farmyard for a while you notice something else.
The hens are the ones that actually get things done.
Where I grew up in Raupunga, leadership looked a lot like that.
The people who organised things, settled disputes, fed everyone and made sure decisions were made with the next generation in mind were rarely the roosters.
They were the aunties.
Anyone raised in a Māori community knows exactly what I mean. The aunties didn’t need to crow about leadership. They left the cock-a-doodle-doing to the men and simply got on with fixing what needed to be fixed.
If you want a national example of that kind of leadership you don’t have to look far. It comes from up your way.
Dame Whina Cooper. She showed the country exactly what dignity and purpose looked like when she led the 1975 Land March. No theatrics required. No strutting. No crowing.
Which brings me back to you.
You say you are keen for a debate about the Bendigo mine.
So am I. In fact you generously said the venue could be of my choosing.
I’m very happy to accept that invitation.
You had suggested stepping into a boxing ring and I am perfectly comfortable with that idea.
From memory a boxing ring normally contains just two people and a referee. So the venue I have chosen fits that perfectly. It’s a small studio in Dunedin, (the city built on the gold rush), where we can stream the debate to the whole country.
We don’t need a stadium act. We don’t need half the crowd cheering one corner and the other half cheering the other.
Just the two of us in the ring, and a referee in case one of us starts to bleed.
I had suggested Paddy Gower as our referee, you want Jamie Mackay.
I am happy to go with Jamie.
But before the crowing starts there is one small detail we need to settle.
When are you coming?
Why don’t we fast-track the decision-making and lock in April 1.
It seems an appropriate day for a debate that has already featured a fair amount of theatre.
Clearly we would need to schedule it after lunch, by which time roosters have usually finished crowing, the yard has settled down and, as tradition has it on April 1, the joking is over.
I promise this will be no "mung bean tea party", as you described it. Just two New Zealanders discussing an issue that matters to a lot of people.
You and me, e hoa.
So the ring is ready. The referee agreed.
All that remains now is for the rooster to step into the yard.
Because where I come from the aunties always taught us something important about leadership.
Roosters may make a lot of noise in the morning.
But it’s the hens who actually get things done.
• Sir Ian Taylor is is the founder and managing director of Animation Research.
