14 January
Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
I missed Big Norm's birthday on the 6th of January.
This metaphorical and literal giant among men would only have turned 91 on the 13th, so could easily have been with us, apart from a dodgy heart and working himself to death.
Dying in 1974, Kirk would unquestionably have dominated New Zealand history, had he lived.
To my mind, he is still our greatest example of a New Zealander, standing in front of other giants like Michael Joseph Savage, Ernest Rutherford and Ed Hillary. Even though he was Prime Minister for two short years, Big Norm changed the face of the Labour Party, and New Zealand, forever.
At a time when most of the world felt nuclear power was essential to combat the evil USSR, Kirk sent frigates to Mururoa in an attempt to stop the Frogs nuking our ocean.
In 1973, Big Norm said "No!" to the Springboks, recognising that Apartheid was reprehensible, refusing to allow a racially-selected team onto our shores. In hindsight, we can see that Kirk was light-years ahead of his peers.
The changes he made to New Zealand social welfare system gave us the blueprint for a social policy that guaranteed a good standard of living for all Kiwis. It wasn't just anti-nukes and apartheid that set Norm apart from other politicians, it was his vision. His institution of National Superannuation was visionary and after it was cancelled by the National government that succeeded him, we find that it has been resurrected all these years later as Kiwisaver.
No fault compulsory accident insurance. NZ must be the only country in the world not to waste good oxygen on personal injury lawyers. Thank Big Norm for that.
Just imagine what our financial status would be now had Muldoon not decided to deconstruct the most sensible idea ever to come out of NZ Parliament. We would be up with Switzerland in standard of living. Instead, we have suburbs worse than anything you'll find in Swaziland.
After Kirk, successive governments have weakened and corrupted those ideals.
There is no doubt that Kirk's enormous capacity for challenges caused his death - he accepted responsibility for every single New Zealander, and approach everything personally. Working 18 and 20 hour days with a dicey heart is a recipe for disaster, and so it turned out for Big Norm.
Still sadly missed. A locomotive driver who cared enough about ordinary Kiwis that he devoted his physical life to the cause.
We will never see another politician like that.
Copyright © Alan Charman