Last Wednesday, the Herald published a special edition celebrating its 150-year history. The next day, it joined Massey University to publish what we hope will be an annual forecast of what the future holds for New Zealanders.
Neither organisation is interested in telling New Zealanders what to think. But we do want them to think, and this means providing them with the best knowledge available. We live in the midst of new times that mean we must behave very differently to the way we did in the last century. We cannot hide from these changes and we cannot keep changing our mind as to how we might respond. The question we have to ask ourselves is simple: do we keep "bailing out water" or do we build a better boat?
I am for the latter. There is a lot to do. Here, I want to present a list of a dozen areas we might focus on. My aim is not to come up with precise policies because that would be a recipe for disagreement from the outset. Rather, I want to set a core agenda for change. If we can agree on this (or some alternative) then the arguments can and should be about what to do in practice.
If the ideas are to make any real difference, they will need to lead us toward the kind of society we all aspire to. So let me begin with a brief description of what that might be.
It is a society where the ethics of community are combined with the dynamics of a market economy; one where economic opportunity is extended to everyone; where strong social institutions, strong families and strong communities enable people and businesses to grow, adapt and succeed. Investment in people is the top priority. Security, not fear, underpins action. Everyone is engaged with the change and committed to building a fair society where everyone gets their "just deserts".
Some will protest that we can do nothing until we address poverty. Others will say it is only after the economy is in good shape that poverty can be dealt with. What we have to understand is that we have to advance on a number of fronts. An unfair society will not be a rich one (although it will have rich people in it). An economically impoverished society is not going to do much about its environment. A society that destroys its environment will not have much of an economy. It is time to talk about the future, not one part of it.
In no particular order, I propose we start with the following:
1. Personalise learning to create a nation of active lifelong independent learners.
2. Innovate, innovate, innovate. Connect key public and private players into a sophisticated innovation ecosystem.
3. Pay a living wage - a decent income enables people to participate in society.
4. Build a development state, one that prevents poverty, promotes better health, builds quality housing, keeps people in employment and offers a hand up, not a hand out.
5. Modernise all policies that belong to another era. These are hard decisions but there should be no fixed age for superannuation, and we should guarantee retraining, not redundancy, insure against unemployment and introduce a capital gains tax.
6. Create a wired society. New technology gives a long skinny country far away from the rest of the world the best chance yet to conquer distance.
7. Support families - all children should grow up experiencing consistent love, nurture, support and discipline.
8. Clean up our rivers and lakes. If we do this we will, as we should, go green.
9. Become a republic - we need to know what it means to belong to 21st century New Zealand.
10. Collect more tax: we do not pay enough tax to build the kind of society we want to live in.
11. Build a ladder from small scale to large enterprise. We have to build brands and export but New Zealand companies cannot do this without support.
12. Make New Zealand the food capital of the world by applying knowledge to what we do best and spinning industries off at every step of the food chain.
Yes, there is much more we should do. But we have to prioritise. And we have to choose ideas that respond to the times we live in while ensuring we have a sense of shared purpose.
This is the new social contract we need to have with each other. We cannot protect each other from the world around us. But neither should we abandon each other. We can and should stick together and succeed together.
There is one remaining problem - politics. When New Zealand moved to a proportional electoral system, it did so because voters were fed up with bickering. The shift was a positive one that has produced a more representative Parliament.
But it has not changed politics, because proportionality stops on election day. We need to complete the change by making everyday politics proportional. Power has to be shared. This would shift the emphasis to points of agreement, not disagreement. It would mean politicians would be encouraged to advance rational-evidence based arguments, not personal opinion.
It is time to move beyond disagreement. So when you read this, ask what you agree with before you disagree.
Steve Maharey is the vice-chancellor of Massey University, a sociologist and a former member of Parliament.
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