Dialogue: Hope still alive for endless optimist

By CHRISTINE RANKIN

In the past six months I have written on a wide range of topics. It has been a challenge, and one that I have come to really enjoy. However, this is my last.

The common thread through my writing is our potential as individuals and as a country and the leadership at all levels that is required to take us forward. My plea is for leadership that is open and enabling.

For example, at times I have been critical of underfunding in the health sector. I was delighted when I first heard that $3 billion was to be invested in health. I have been concerned about the negative spiral the health system has got into. It seemed that the Government had finally listened.

Yet an analysis of the $3 billion over three years is like the curate's egg - good in places. The reality is that two-thirds of this money appears to be required for either catching up or keeping up. It is designed to cover current debt or shortfalls from previous underfunding or simply to keep up with inflation and the effects of a low dollar over the next three years. It's not the silver bullet it looked like at first glance.

Health feels like an "every man for himself" rather than a cooperative sector, which is partly the result of competition for scarce funding.

I was confirmed in this view when I read this week's headline that medical practitioners are experiencing high levels of mental illness, particularly depression brought on by anxiety.

There will always be a shortfall of funds but it becomes destructive when levels are below sustainability as they have been. Practitioners don't just need money, they need leadership and direction.

Then there's Steve Maharey in his vexed welfare portfolio. He seems hell-bent on a pudding-soft policy that takes the individual responsibility off DPB recipients to look for work. He seems to think that money will buy him love.

Under a veneer of caring, the effect will be to sell short the many potentially capable and ambitious people on DPB who, without the spur of the existing policy, will be tempted by a handout and the inevitable lack of self-esteem and motivation that will result.

I have seen dramatic turnarounds in these people's lives as their case managers work with them to build their confidence and guide them back to the dignity of work. It has never been a situation where these people have been forced into any job.

The reality is that with continuing support and help one job leads to another. The first job is often life-changing. In particular, scrapping the work test seems to me to have been counterproductive and I have yet to see or read of anyone supporting it.

This is a case of giving money, where what's needed is leadership and a little courage. Just like our medical practitioners in the health sector, there is a body of talented people who, with the right mix of incentives, encouragement and challenge, could achieve a great deal.

Maybe we expect a lot of our leaders, but then maybe we don't pay them enough. Which brings me to the parliamentary pay rises.

Our politicians are important leaders in the community. None is more important than the Prime Minister, who has set a model of forthright and resolute leadership that is widely admired.

But her response on her salary was quaint and curious. I don't begrudge the Prime Minister a good salary. It is a big job. But let's not forget all the perks, including the free lifetime travel and so on, that more than double the salary.

Yet in her statement she referred to public sector salaries that were higher than hers, leaving the impression that she was somehow more worthy, and less well paid.

Did you get that innuendo? Did she feel that more money would make her a better leader? After all, she gets less than some public-sector chief executives. That had echoes to my experience. It was not beneath her party in opposition and in government to attack me on salary level - a salary set by the Government and which has increased since Labour has been in power.

Do these people get money and leadership confused? I sense a level of hypocrisy, and I hate it.

New Zealand is a great country, its potential largely untapped. Positive, motivating and inspirational leadership creates an enabling atmosphere that translates into action and results. New Zealanders are hard workers. They are valued all over the world. But we all need reasons, motivation, a purpose for going the extra mile.

I live in hope as an endless optimist that the future is bright. We are small but gutsy. If we could just unite the power of our efforts we would be unstoppable. I am sure that out there somewhere is the kind of leadership that will revolutionise this country. I hope I see it unfolding in my lifetime.