Leading from the front issuu

CORRUPTING THE
HALLS OF POWER
WITH GOODNESS
by philip jensen
barrister, ahuriri
I met Pat in ’91 or ’92, more likely ’91 because Pat is not
one to let a good prospect go. I had come to Napier as an
older new lawyer, and I was saying things in Court. I was
most likely recommended by Russell Fairbrother. I was
invited, on a sunny Sunday for a drive into the hinterland
to Puketitiri, to a bach Pat had in the wilderness, a walk
around the property, a chat and a cuppa afterwards. We
probably pulled some weeds as well because that’s what
we were there for. From this walk and a chat and a cuppa
I forged a long comfortable and rewarding friendship
with Pat. I think he is just amazing. I haven’t met anyone
quite like him and long may he remain with us.
In hindsight it is easy to see how Pat works his magic.
He has a keen eye and good ear for identifying and recruiting
acolytes to his kaupapa. I am merely one of a
long, long line preceding and following. One at a time he
collects us up, over a walk and a chat and a cuppa. Long
may we continue that walk and talk with others.
In the decades I have been a working lawyer, I have
been astounded by the amount and variety of ways in
which hurt and harm is visited, one human to another,
and returned in kind. How easy it is to be angry and
judgemental and correctional towards all this. Detaching
from the awfulness of it all, searching for the good
and the redemption and the sunshine in such a murk of
horribleness is hard work. Very hard work. Pat has been
doing it all his life. I only know of the latter 30 years but
the talk I have heard at Napier Pilot City Trust AGMs is
from people who have walked with Pat since the 1970’s.
I would like to sup on some of that elixir Pat partakes
of. What it is I am not quite sure. I think perhaps it is
just a bedrock belief in the rightness that if you dig often
enough you will find little nuggets of gold goodness in
every person, and if we continually look for the good in
everyone then everyone’s life is improved. Such a simple
“In the decades I have been a working
lawyer, I have been astounded by
the amount and variety of ways in
which hurt and harm is visited, one
human to another, and returned in
kind. How easy it is to be angry and
judgemental and correctional towards
all this. Detaching from the awfulness
of it all, searching for the good and the
redemption and the sunshine in such
a murk of horribleness is hard work.
Very hard work. Pat has been doing it
all his life.”
proposition. And Pat imparts and propagates this simple
proposition by simply walking his talk. By the simple
expedient of turning up to someone with a muffin, or a
dinner box, for a cuppa and a chat. One person at a time.
What a life’s times work. Pat you are a wonder.
The great beauty is that he is so middle New Zealand.
Pat, as far as I know, is no tree-hugging, god-botherer
sect believing, hippy oriented lefty. He is as middle Kiwi
as they come. He was a business man, big business. He
follows rugby, was president of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby
Union at a grand time, and he likes a beer!! Pat is able
to walk in and talk with the ruling classes because he
comes from them, and they are comfortable with him because
he is from them. Yet the message he brings is so
different. In days of old the Soviets called them sleepers,
persons who infiltrate the power structures, and corrupted
them from the inside. Good on you Pat. Long may you
continue to corrupt the halls of power with goodness.
Above: Pat’s bedrock of belief in rightness, revealed to Philip Jensen as he walks around Pat’s bush at Puketitiri. Painting by Pat’s
friend John Ruth.
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Restorative Justice – for an unjust justice system