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by Scott Stevens - Queenstown Media Group

ANZAC Day, arguably the most respected of all public holidays in New Zealand. It’s origin, a time when we followed the United Kingdom into their troubles on the other side of the world. It was the right and only thing to do back then. Ever since, this day is marked with respect for all our service men and women, past and present. We stand to attention with almost every resident in the village of Arrowtown at the Cenotaph on the top of Soldier Hill, or at the Memorial Gates on the waterfront in downtown Queenstown. It’s an emotional show of community spirit and a powerful experience. This Saturday, 25 April. Do not forget.

Imagine being one of those young men 109 years ago in places like the Belleview Spur near Passchendale in Belgium. Parallel lines of trenches divided by a no-man’s land exposed to artillery and machine guns and strewn with barbed wire obstacles. Casualties were a day-to-day occurrence thanks to trench raids and artillery bombardment. However, the real bloodletting occurred when either side sent men “over the top” to assault the opposing trench lines. Mowed down by machine-gun fire, caught up in barbed wire in awful weather. So awful the heavy rain contributed to the Allies gaining only five miles of ground in three months.

Within the first few hours of this battle at Passchendale the New Zealand Division suffered 2,700 casualties, of which 845 were fatalities. These casualties amounted to 6% of New Zealand’s total casualties in the entire First World War and our highest one-day death toll in history. About 325,000 Allied troops and 260,000 German troops died in this battle alone making Passchendale one of the muddiest and bloodiest battles of World War I. Let us never forget and keep alive the memories of those who sacrificed so much. In Passchendale and every Kiwi service man and women since.

Now here we are in 2026 and war is fought very differently. Sadly, an indictment on humankind as the conflict continues. For Kings, Queens, Religion, Tyrants, Land, Resources and Economics. This is the scary bit. Economics and the fight over an ever-decreasing pool of resources to sustain humankind. It seems to me every conflict currently destroying people and planet is economically driven. What does this have to do with us here in New Zealand?

Quite a lot. We need our service men and women more than ever. Not to rush off and join someone else’s war. That’s a hard “no” from me. Our fair weathered “friends” and their economic threats if we don’t jump in support can get the diplomatic middle finger. We need to harden up and back ourselves. Someone, friendly or not, will buy our milk and lamb. Our military need to be here to come to our rescue when nature strikes and to protect our economic resources.

We have an exclusive economic zone 200 miles out to sea. 4,300,000 km2 of resource rich area, 15 times our land mass. Is that respected by foreign fishing vessels? Give them a taste of Kiwi I reckon.