May/June 2020 - BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS

4 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS May/June 2020
From the editor
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Alan Neben
Ph: (07) 838 1333
Mob: 021 733 536
Email: alan@bopbusinessnews.co.nz
EDITOR
David Porter
Mob: 021 884 858
Email:david@bopbusinessnews.co.nz
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Bay of Plenty Business News has
a circulation of 8000, distributed
throughout Bay of Plenty between
Waihi and Opotiki including
Rotorua and Taupo, and to a
subscription base.
www.bopbusinessnews.co.nz
Bay of Plenty Business Publications
210/424 Maunganui Road,
Mount Maunganui, 3116
We are fortunate to be
living in a fertile,
temperate land, in
moated isolation during the
COVID-19 pandemic. But we
have been reminded that when
a global crisis strikes, we can
be as vulnerable as anyone in
the world,
Kiwis are unlikely to experience
the plague of locusts in
which swarms of insects the
size of cities continue to ravish
crops across tracts of East
Africa.
Nor will we see the extremes
of poverty and dysfunction
in some countries that will
continue to undermine their
efforts to fight COVID-19.
We are by no means in the
clear. Lockdown was easy –
we are hardly a fractious and
rebellious population – yet.
But locking down is nowhere
near as difficult as reopening
the economy is going to be.
We have to ensure the government
reaches out and listens
to the business community and
doesn’t become consumed by
the delusion that only politicians
and bureaucrats know
best.
After getting used to delivery
trips with essential worker
family members through near
empty streets for five weeks, I
was startled to again encounter
traffic jams when I ventured
into Tauranga’s Downtown
CBD the day the country
moved to Level 3. Now, more
than ever, is a time to take care.
It was apposite that lockdown
coincided with Anzac
Day.
Although, to my shame, I
seldom attend the Dawn Parade,
I hold dear the victims
of the appalling wars in which
New Zealanders have given
their lives, limbs and sanity.
It takes only a brief exposure
to the terrifying images
on the History Channel to appreciate
the horrific, wasteful
experiences of soldiers and
civilians alike.
The most poignant lockdown
moment for me came
when delivering my student
daughter back from her essential
job, doing 12-hour night
shifts in a packhouse.
I confess I hadn’t really
taken in the proposal of observing
Anzac Day at dawn
David Porter
outside homes, rather than in
large public groups.
But as I drove home in the
darkness, preoccupied with my
own concerns, I was stunned
to notice that virtually every
driveway I passed had a householder
or two, or three, stationed
outside – a seemingly
unending Dawn Parade of
respect.
And when we reached our
own cul de sac, a couple had
quietly organised their kids to
paint giant poppies on the street
and set up a handmade shrine
to hear the Last Post and Reveille.
And there we neighbours
assembled in silence, young
and old - safely apart, come together
in remembrance.
Let’s keep taking care of
one another.
BUSINESS DIRECTOR
Pete Wales
Mob: 022 495 9248
Email: pete@bopbusinessnews.co.nz
Bay of Plenty Business
Publications specialises in
business publishing, advertising,
design and print media services.
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