Leading from the front issuu

“Anything
that improves
the well-being
of Māori improves
the well-being
of the whole
community.”
MAN ON A MISSION, AN INFLUENCER,
SO MUCH MANA
by maxine boag, napier city councillor
When I first ran for Napier City Council a few years ago
now I had a photo taken with Pat to put on my flyer and
added, Nominated by Pat Magill. This had to be changed
because Pat lives in another ward, however it didn’t do
me any harm. Pat has actively supported left-leaning
candidates in local body elections myself included, for
years.
A few years later, the Maraenui Shopping Centre toilet
(since demolished and replaced), in the shopping centre
reserve, was kindly decorated courtesy of Pat. You could
call him the project manager, with a group of youngsters
doing a holiday programme. I think he was supporting
an artist who was working with a group of tamariki, and
purchased paint and brushes, and they did a one-day
bomb of the toilet block, which was in a terrible state.
Unfortunately Pat didn’t have permission or consent,
which caused minor ructions at the council, and workers
were sent down to paint over the “mural” as quickly as
they could.
The graffiti project was a bit rough and ready but harmless
really, and I was enraged by an email sent around
council by a well-paid bureaucrat working in Maraenui,
ridiculing Pat for organising this and I made a complaint
to the Te Puni Kokiri regional manager at the time, which
he put in the too hard basket. Pat has a way of cutting
through bureaucracy you might say and sometimes gets
away with it and sometimes he doesn’t! And I learnt
early not to tell Pat anything you wouldn’t mind having
emailed out to a wide range of people in the community!
Pat is a nomad and he doesn’t waste time, feeling he
has to make the most of what there is left and there’s
much more work to do. He’s a man with a mission; he
can influence events and beliefs and he has so much
mana, with Māori and Pakeha who listen to Māori.
I have more to say about Pat but where do you start
or finish when he’s still on his skates all over the place,
literally and metaphorically. He’s like the Scarlett Pimpernel;
“They seek him here, they seek him there, those
Frenchie’s seek him everywhere. Is he in Heaven? Is he
in Hell? The damned elusive Pimpernel!”
Love you Pat! Your fearless advocacy for social justice
has shown us all a way forward in honouring the Treaty
in our daily lives.
He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata he tangata he tangata.
What is the most important thing in the world, it is the
people, the people, the people.
Image above: Maxine and Pat in a photo that featured in Max’s campaign brochures for Napier City Council.
Napier Pilot City Trust – for a kinder, fairer city 127