Is New Zealand broken? The Elephant asks Dave Letele and Shamubeel Eaqub

The Elephant is a new online video series that tackles the conversations New Zealanders often avoid. It dives into big, uncomfortable questions, looking beyond the echo chambers in search of a fearless and honest debate. This week in episode seven, hosts Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell tackle the state of the nation – broken or just bruised?

Is New Zealand broken? It’s a question we seem to hear more often, especially after a long winter of discontent and a catalogue of deep-seated social and economic problems.

From a pensioner struggling with rates and groceries to a mother just “hunkering down and surviving”, it’s clear something is shifting in the national mood. Recent polls show a clear majority of New Zealanders believe the country is heading in the wrong direction and the latest cost-of-living data suggest the pessimism may be justified.

Butter prices for a 500g block have jumped from $4.50 to $8.42 since 2023. Unemployment sits at an eight-year high of 5.3%. Property prices have fallen but our homes remain among the least affordable in the developed world, costing up to nine times the average household income.

“Kids sleeping under laundry because there’s no blankets,” community leader Dave Letele says. “The gap between haves and have-nots has never been bigger.”

Economist Shamubeel Eaqub told The Elephant that the country’s “rolling maul” of crises, from Covid to cyclones to inflation, has left deep scars. “There’s a big chunk of New Zealanders doing it really tough,” he says. “And they’re doing it tougher than before.”

Clinical psychologist Jacqui Maguire says mental wellbeing data back that up. “About a third of New Zealand adults experience anxiety or depression weekly – that’s up from 25% five years ago. Data doesn’t lie. People feel broken.”

A record number of more than 70,000 New Zealanders left last year, many of them young and skilled. Among them was Professor Michael Bunce, the former chief scientist at the Department of Conservation, who says he felt “chewed up and spat out” by the science system. “You can’t just turn science off and expect it to come back,” Bunce says.

But it’s not all gloomy. ANZ’s chief economist Richard Yetsenga points out that even after a tough few years, New Zealand remains “one of the wealthiest economies on Earth”, with a strong government balance sheet and comparatively low unemployment.

Refugee Marwa Ali, now studying here from Afghanistan, calls Aotearoa “the land of opportunity”, while comedian Jeremy Corbett and others remind us that for all its challenges, this is still one of the most peaceful, free nations on the planet.

So, is New Zealand truly broken or just bruised?

As Letele puts it: “We’ve been knocked down plenty of times. The question now is whether we’ve still got the heart to get back up.”

Watch, listen and join the conversation – new episodes drop every Thursday across digital, social, and broadcast platforms. The Elephant is made with the support of NZ On Air.