Generation still 'lost' says campaigner

Richard Poole in 2000 when he urged action to stop young Kiwis leaving NZ. Picture / Richard Robinson

Five years ago, patriotic 27-year-old marketer Richard Poole gathered some allies and printed a full-page advertisement urging the Government to address a "generation lost".

"The reality is the big OE has now become long-term loss which the country's decision-makers can't ignore," it said, over the names of 700 ex-pat New Zealanders wanting some reason other than scenery to return.

At the time, the blunt message was lost in political sideshows - Helen Clark's accusations Poole had joined with the Business Round Table for an anti-Government campaign, a Broadcasting Standards Authority slapping of Paul Holmes for shows lacking balance and impartiality.

Eventually, the sideshows abated, as did the hype around related affairs such as the Knowledge Wave initiatives. But the problem remained.

Yesterday, Helen Clark announced more plans to harvest our ex-pat crop and Mr Poole reflected on whether those long-ago words ever amounted to anything, especially in the face of the current skills and labour shortage.

These days Mr Poole - "an immensely proud, born and bred 7th-generation New Zealander" - is still based in New Zealand and many of his friends are still out of the country.

He has just got back from a trip to Europe to catch up with those friends - the ex-pats who "are adamant it's not the right environment to come back to, and that's a shame".

He is glad Helen Clark is still talking about the ex-pats. But he says it is still just that - talk.

In 2001 he joined up with the Auckland University business school to do an internet survey of 927 New Zealanders, two-thirds of whom were overseas. Their reasons for escape included low pay rates, student debt and limited career opportunities.

The solutions they wanted were better support for start-up businesses, a tax revamp and more investment in tertiary education.

Mr Poole said this had still not happened. In his own business, he says, he ends up spending more time on paperwork than on generating business.

He is quieter about it now, but says his views have not changed from 2000.

He says he is a conservative, but his concerns stemmed from patriotism and a desire to see New Zealand do well, rather than an attack on the Government.

"You learn things ... I always found it hard that what I was saying was not acknowledged. But it was a reality and I don't know how it could not be agreed with. At least it's now on the table."

He dabbled in politics - running under Citizens and Ratepayers Now for the Hobson community board - but says he has no political ambitions.

"I'm interested in politics. You have to be if you're interested in where your country is going.

"But that was a first and will be a last. I'm happy to be just an outsider looking in."