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Dr Muriel Newman
Contact Muriel:
Email: muriel@nzcpr.com
Phone 09 4343 836
or 021 800 111
PO Box 984, Whangarei
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In
a recent address in Washington honouring our ANZAC
relationship, New Zealand’s Ambassador Mike Moore stated:
“We are all just a few generations away from a farm and a
boat. We are nations of immigrants. We were all boat people at
some time or another, and no one came to NZ, Australia or
America without a memory. So, we feel a common heritage and
trace our history back to the Magna Carta, the Chartists, the
Bill of Rights, the British Glorious Revolution, and your own
revolution.
“We
should occasionally celebrate our success, the great ideas of
freedom, representative democracy, freedom of religion,
freedom from religion, the rule of law, property rights, the
genius of the limited liability company, bankruptcy law,
labour rights, women’s rights, the virtues of social
mobility…
“We
ought not to lose our nerve now when we know that more wealth
has been created over the past 60 years than the rest of human
history put together. Millions have been lifted out of extreme
poverty, and the more open the society the better the outcome.
The darkest places on the planet, where people are treated the
worst, are the closed economies and societies.
“People,
when given the choice, choose freedom in the polling place and
the market space. Even after the greatest economic recession
since the Great Depression, we are coming back. Those who
predicted the end of democratic capitalism and the exhaustion
of social democracy will be disappointed. The trading system
did hold. Because we learn from history, we adjust.”
The
Ambassador ended his speech, which we are publishing as this
week’s NZCPR Guest Commentary, by saying “let’s
concentrate on the future, because the past isn’t all it’s
cracked up to be.” You can read the full speech here
>>>
Mike Moore’s stirring optimism serves as a reminder of the
phenomenal achievements of mankind. In 1820, 85 per cent of
the world’s population lived in poverty; today it is less
than 20 per cent. Calorie intake in the Third World has risen
by 30 percent over the last 50 years. Nine out of ten of the
world’s population can now expect to live beyond 60 - more
than twice the average of only 100 years ago. And through
scientific and industrial development, one hour of work today
delivers more than 25 times the value that it did in 1850.
The reality is that the world is a far better place today than
it was 50 years ago or even a few years ago - and it will be
better still in the years to come. The technological and
internet innovations that we are currently experiencing are
only the starting point of a revolution that is now underway
and is transforming our lives on a daily basis.
In
2010 Statistics NZ published a Time Use survey that showed how
an ‘average’ New Zealander aged 12 and older spent an
‘average’ day: they slept 8.5 hours, spent 2.1 hours
watching television, 2.7 hours involved in other leisure and
sports activities, worked for 2.6 hours, and spent 2 hours
doing household activities. The remaining 6.1 hours were spent
on a variety of other activities, including eating and
drinking, attending school, and shopping!
As
well as leading lives of less hardship, New Zealanders in
general tend to be reasonably well satisfied. The Ministry of
Social Development’s 2010 Social Report indicated that 86
percent of New Zealanders aged 15 and above were satisfied or
very satisfied with life overall. Predictably, those who were
unemployed, living in rented homes, had no qualifications and
lower incomes, had lower levels of overall life satisfaction
than those who were employed, owned their own homes, had
qualifications and higher incomes. Family also plays a big
part in how people feel about life, with people living in
one-parent families the least likely to be satisfied with life
overall, followed by those not living in a family. The rates
for couples, with and without children were the highest.
Life satisfaction is one of 11 indicators used by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
to measure country well being. With its objective of promoting
policies that will improve the economic and social well-being
of people around the world, the OECD has compiled information
on the wellbeing of member countries into an interactive
website format, which enables countries to compare how they
are doing – see here
>>>
In terms of the Environment
indicator of national wellbeing, when compared with all other
OECD countries, New Zealand ranked 2nd out of 34.
This is our highest score on wellbeing factors, with only
Sweden rating higher.
Home
ownership provides families with stability, shelter, and
economic security, and is regarded as a significant
contributor to well-being.
On the Housing
criteria, New Zealand ranked 3rd behind Canada and
Australia. We also ranked 3rd on Community,
a measure that looks at the strength of our social and
community networks.
When
it comes to Health,
New Zealand ranked 4th in the OECD, with 90 percent
of New Zealanders reporting that they were in good health -
the highest rate in the OECD and much higher than the average
of 69 percent. We also ranked 4th on Governance,
indicating that in general the public have a high degree of
confidence in New Zealand’s government institutions and
public administration.
Having access to work is, of course, an important indicator of
wellbeing, and, with an unemployment rate that is far below
the OECD average, New Zealand’s ranking on Jobs
was 5th.
A
country’s crime rate obviously affects wellbeing, and on the
Safety indicator,
New Zealand ranked 7th in the OECD.
The on-going decline in manual jobs world wide has led to a
greater demand for skilled workers, and on the crucial Education indicator, New Zealand ranked 11th.
When
it comes to Life
satisfaction, we ranked 12th with researchers
concluding that New Zealand is one of the happiest countries
in the OECD! However, we don’t do so well when it comes to Work-life
balance, with a ranking of 24th out of the
OECD’s 34 countries.
The
final OECD indicator of wellbeing is Income. This is our worst performing measure, with New Zealand
ranking in the bottom ten OECD countries at 25th
place. The figures are sobering. In New Zealand, the average
household net-adjusted disposable income is US$18,996 a year,
lower than the OECD average of US$22,284. Our average
household wealth is estimated at US$16,131, less than a half
of the OECD average of US$36,808.
In
considering such a snapshot of how New Zealand compares to
other western nations, the stand-out issue is just how
financially poor we are. While we can all acknowledge that
none of this is simple, our low comparative incomes help to
explain why so many of our families and friends are seeking
better opportunities abroad.
It also helps us to better appreciate that a key priority of
government should be on raising New Zealand incomes. That of
course, means improving the country’s productivity. The best
way to do that is to remove the barriers to progress – the
excessive regulations faced in every walk of life, the
needless red tape that all too often chokes the
entrepreneurial spirit, and the unnecessary compliance costs
that cripple enterprise and destroy wealth creation.
It
should be easy for people to harness their talent and
innovative skills and start a small business in New Zealand,
with the ambition of growing it into a big business and
exporting added value products around the world. Government
should be playing its part, by doing all that it can to
encourage established businesses to expand their markets
across the globe. Removing impediments like the Emissions
Trading Scheme - that costs so much and destroys international
competitiveness for no good reason - is crucial.
While
New Zealanders are hard working, it is clear that a major
problem we face is that many Kiwi jobs do not pay well. The
tourist industry, hospitality, retail, manufacturing,
agriculture – in fact most of the areas of high employment
that provide a majority of the country’s jobs do so at the
lower end of the wage scale, rather than the high end. In
fact, those who say our future is in tourism, for example, are
really saying that our future is as low income earners. Surely
we should aspire to better than that!
So what sort of jobs would provide the higher incomes New
Zealand needs? Some that spring to mind are businesses in the
IT industry, in the health, and education sectors, in
engineering, high value manufacturing, mining, scientific
research and development, banking and finance, and the
professions. The government is, of course, already involved in
some of these areas - up-scaling our broadband network,
encouraging an expansion of the mining industry, discussing
greater financial deregulation, and proactively pursuing
greater trade opportunities through free trade deals and
closer economic associations with our trading partners.
While
New Zealand clearly has a long way to go to become competitive
with other countries on wage rates, there is no doubt that
these initiatives are heading in the right direction. The
problem is, however, that is not what political opponents are
saying.
The
reality is that radical groups like socialists and
environmentalists make political mileage out of pessimism.
They denounce progress and prosperity, claiming that wealth is
evil and that development leads to catastrophe. It becomes a
real problem when their scaremongering is adopted by
Parliamentary parties to influence the wider public, causing
fear and uncertainty.
But
their game is politics and we must not let detractors take
away our optimism and hope for a brighter future for New
Zealand. That is not to say that the future is without risk;
all progress involves a certain amount of risk that society in
general is prepared to take - if the benefits are great
enough.
The
examples are all around us. We accept the risk of
electrocution because the benefits of electricity are so
enormous. We accept the risk of radiation because x-rays can
be life-saving. We accept the risk of injury because
of the massive benefits cars bring to our daily lives. We
accept the risk of a plane crash because
it is outweighed by the benefits of air travel. We accept the
risk of drowning because
of the huge benefits water-based activities provide.
And
so it should be with public policy – if, as a society, we
want the benefits that high living standards would bring to
all New Zealanders, then we must be prepared to look beyond
the political scaremongering to the benefits that progress
will deliver.
I
will leave the last word to Mike Moore who, when talking about
progress, said how important it is not to lose our momentum or
lower our ambitions: “This will require courage, stamina and
vision. Boldness is our friend. The future is to be faced, not
feared.”
This week’s poll asks: How
optimistic do you feel about New Zealand’s future – do you
believe things will be better, the same, or worse in five
years time?
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