This Saturday we remember and honour the service of the 900 Nelsonians and more than 30,000 New Zealanders who have lost their lives in war. The scale of losses in WWI & II meant no family in Nelson was spared having a loved one killed, maimed or scarred for life. Our greatest risk, after eight decades of relative peace, is that as time passes, we forget.
These lessons are more pertinent than ever. The world is more unstable than it has been in decades. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are killing tens of thousands, displacing millions of people and disrupting economies everywhere.
The first duty we owe our fallen is to remain true to the values they fought for – freedom, democracy and universal respect for human rights. We must condemn graffiti such as the death threat against Jewish people that was plastered on Nelson’s Maitai Bridge last week. We must be a voice for peace and freedom for the people living in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine and Ukraine.
Our second duty is to remain true to international law. It was agreed after World War II, with 50 million killed and dozens of cities in Europe and Asia destroyed, that it would be against the law to change borders by force. That is why we must stand firm against Putin taking Ukraine or Trump’s threats over Greenland.
The third duty is to ensure we invest adequately in our own defences. We were ill-prepared in previous generations when the world went crazy. We have been excessively reliant on the US for our own security. I welcome the Government’s significant boost last year in our defence forces.
A fourth duty as a small country is to work more closely with those who share our values. Our Anzac bonds with Australia are more important than ever. I also welcome the recent joint training exercises of our armed forces with countries such as Germany, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.
The greatest learnings from Anzac Day are the horrors of war. We need to work hard – through student exchanges, sister cities and official diplomacy – on the long-term relationships that help avoid global conflicts
