Fending off my Facebook identity crisis

Last week I was labelled on Facebook a Communist and a Nazi on the same day. Two million dead at Stalingrad would point to the unlikeliness of one person embodying both ideologies, but there you go.

The communist label was the result of my being appointed to the Government working group on Three Waters governance.

I think the logic behind the comment was the writer’s belief that the current Government is Communist and therefore, if I sit on a group appointed by that Government, I must be Communist too.

This does miss the point, however, that the purpose of the group (within some tight restrictions found in the terms of reference) is to try to find a governance structure for the four Three Waters entities that is better than the one proposed by the Government.

Were I a card-carrying, cloth-cap wearing member of the party faithful, be that Communist or Labour, why would I be putting the effort in ,rather than just agreeing with what the Government is proposing?

The simple fact of the matter is that I’m not a Communist. I’m a pragmatist.

The Government has made it plain it will push these unpopular reforms through.

As a mayor, I have an opportunity to have a voice on some of the crucial aspects of the final outcome and it is an opportunity I have taken as I believe some southern pragmatism will go a long way in the discussions to come.

And pragmatic we must be, given the Government’s intention.

The situation is not much different to how parts of Central Otago found itself in the days of the planning of the Clyde Dam.

Back in the early 1980’s, the Muldoon Government decided to build a high dam at Clyde.

For a while, it seemed that the dam would be stopped by the High Court following a successful appeal by landowners. The Government, however, overturned this decision by passing the Clutha Development (Clyde Dam) Empowering Act 1982.

I didn’t live in Central when all this happened, but I am told by those who did that there was a point where the forces in opposition realised that the dam was going to be build come hell or, literally, high water.

The discussions then turned to how to make the best out of what was going to happen, and parts of Central are still reaping rewards from the outcome of those discussions today.

I don’t know whether my participation in the working group will make any significant difference to the Three Waters outcome, but I am willing to put the time and effort into trying.

And apparently, according to more than one person, I am a Nazi for encouraging people to get vaccinated.

I haven’t met anyone lately who isn’t firmly of the belief that Covid won’t be back amongst us before Christmas, especially now that the Government has signalled Aucklanders will be able to travel.

I also haven’t met anyone who doesn’t recognise that we can’t stay using big lockdowns as our primary weapon against an overwhelming spread of the illness.

That leaves having as many people as possible individually protected through vaccines as being our best way of dealing with what’s coming, either as individuals or as a community as a whole.

Like most of the south, Central’s vaccination numbers are looking good, with the district sitting at just under 85 per cent double-dosed as I write this.

While the ‘‘target’’ is 90 percent and we should reach that in the next couple of weeks based on the single dosed figures, it needs to be remembered that the 90 per cent figure is the floor not the ceiling and the higher the better it will be for all of us once the virus gets here again.