Sir Ian Taylor is a leading New Zealand businessman and entrepreneur and the founder and managing director of Animation Research, renowned for its work revolutionising the way people watch sport. OPINION Kia ora matua Shane, It was an interesting week in the debating chamber earlier this month , and once again, your oratory skills were on full display. I’ve noted you often reference the Bible to explain some of your positions.
While I admit my knowledge of that text is somewhat limited, I recall this: Genesis 11:1-9: The story of the Tower of Babel, the structure the people had started building as their “stairway to heaven”: “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
’” Watching politicians debate over the past few weeks , I realise it doesn’t matter if people are speaking the same language or not. If they aren’t listening to each other, they might as well be speaking different languages, because confusion is certainly the result of those of us looking to our politicians for leadership and vision. In your role as Minister of Resources , I understand the frustration you feel when proposed solutions bear no consideration of the potential cost to our economy or the ongoing damage to the global en.