“L” for Leadership, that is.

Today is the 5th anniversary of the 7.1 earthquake that kicked off (greater) Christchurch’s 18 months of earthquakes, including the 6.3 ‘quake of February 22, 2011, that killed 185 people.

There is so much I could say about these past 5 years, and I have said some of it under these Earthquake Reports here on my blog. Mildly, I might add, and trying to focus on the positive as much as possible.

But today I’d like to focus on what I personally feel as the greatest and most glaring lack in post-earthquake Christchurch throughout these 5 years, and that’s lack of real leadership.

Public leadership, not behind-closed-doors administration and managerialism—someone, or  a group  someones, who will get out among people on the ground and talk to us in everyday language about a vision for the city and passion for its future and what that might look like, not just in the CBD but in the suburbs and outlying areas.

Someone, or a group of leading someones, who talks about people being what matter most—and really means it—and actually puts the most vulnerable first and strives to ensure that no one is thrown off raft. And prioritises the importance of rebuilding our communities, and ways we can all come together, and pull together, to do that. Then leads from the front to “make it so.”

Someone, or a group of leading someones, who says clearly and coherently that “doing it once and doing it right” matters, as a matter of principle as well as because that’s what delivers the most efficient and effective long term solutions, not to mention delivering the highest return in terms of peoples’ health and wellbeing.

And that although sure, it’s huge, and sure mistakes are going to happen no matter how hard we try to get it right the first time — but that as a leader or leaders she/he/they are committed to investigating proactively and setting things right. And maybe, every now and then, an apology…

Idealistic maybe, but wasn’t there someone*, somewhere, who once said something about having a dream?

And someone else, albeit in a song**, who observed that if you don’t have a dream, how’re you gonna have a dream come true?

From the sublime to the ridiculous, undoubtedly, but the windblown, tumbleweed infested gap where Christchurch’s public and engaged leadership should be is what I perceive as Christchurch’s greatest lack, both now and over the past 5 years. You can’t legislate for it***, but you can’t substitute for it, either.

—

* It's OK, I know it was Martin Luther King

** The musical, South Pacific

*** And no, that's not code for swearing: I'm alluding to the proposed new transitional 
legislation, post CERA (the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Act) -- & yes, I did make a 
submission.