I was a bit deflated a couple of Fridays ago when the news of the passing of Bill Birch came through.

His life contribution and story barely got a mention.

But I felt better this last Friday when at least his funeral got much better coverage.

I haven't really been able to work out whether today's treatment of the passing of some of our more influential figures has changed because of a lack of resource in the media, or because those left in the media lack an institutional knowledge and therefore most people didn’t have a clue who Birch was?

That last bit is a particularly weak aspect of modern journalism. The "I wasn’t born when that happened” excuse has become some sort of acceptable reason for knowing nothing that didn’t pop up on your Facebook feed.

It remains as important as it ever has to recognise contribution.Sam Neill got his fair share the other day.

But Bill Birch left this country with a real legacy, the largest bit of which is the Clyde Dam.

Clyde Dam was part of 'think big', which ultimately was a futile exercise given we couldn’t. Not properly.

But the irony was not lost on me that in the days of saving Golden Bay Cement and using bits of Marsden Point we seem to have arrived at a new view on self reliance, which was what 'think big' was also about.

Birch might have been if not “the” most impactful MP never to be in the top job, certainly in the top handful.

Decades in Parliament, at very senior level, making decisions that can still be seen and felt to this day.

There is value in understanding how this country was run and who ran it. Just because you weren't around, doesn’t make it less so.

In fact Birch came to Parliament when I was about six or seven-years-old. But given his length of tenure I ended up dealing with him numerous times over the years.

Not being unkind - he wasn’t what you'd call a "hot talent" on air. But the influence and string pulling behind the scenes meant he needed to be talked to regularly.

He perhaps also represented an increasingly rare breed in the workaholic. Forget the politics; you could never fault his dedication to the task.

He was exactly the sort of person you wanted in the nation's Parliament. He was there for the right reasons and determined not to die wondering.

Thankfully he got at least someway towards what he deserved by way of our respect on Friday.

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