Candidate Challenge
A three minute talk for Internet Party Candidate Selection Challenge
Tēnā koutou katoa
It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be here today: Because I think that we’re witnessing something special.
I don’t know about you but was really encouraged when I first heard about the Internet Party— I have to admit that I do sometimes despair at the state of our liberal democracy.
When the GCSB Bill was passed I must admit that I did despair that we, the citizens of Aotearoa could be so apathetic as to allow such a piece of legislation to pass into law. That we would so easily give up a piece of our freedom.
But I’m excited about the groundswell of support that is building around this Party. That people do want to see change, that they care deeply about that kind of New Zealand that they want to live in and are prepared to stand up and be part of that.
You will have heard it said that this Party is the play-thing of a dotcom millionaire.
I see this Party as a product of our times.
This party was born out of events that are right at the heart of some of the most pertinent issues facing our society today.
Whilst dotcom might embody some of these issues in a somewhat larger-than-life way — they are issues which affect us all, whether we realise it or not.
The Internet has brought about unprecedented technological change, but at the same time hard questions that we’ve never had to face before about issues of privacy, security, intellectual property, freedom and openness.
What better time but now, for New Zealand to birth a new political party, founded on the principles of the internet. A party which will respect and uphold these principles whilst pursuing policies based on evidence rather than ideology.
I live in the Far North of New Zealand. When I walk down my local high-street I don’t see evidence of our so-called Rockstar economy. I’m pretty sure the analyst that coined that term has never been to Kaitaia.
The Far North, and many of New Zealand’s regions live daily with with the darker side of our Rockstar economy.
New Zealanders work harder and earn less than most other people in the developed world.
Which is why I fully support a policy of delivering Jobs through Innovation. Because its knowledge and innovation that are key drivers of economic growth and prosperity.
For the last few decades New Zealand has lagged behind its OECD peers in terms of prosperity. We’ve been told that the answer to this is lower taxes and deregulation. But It’s not high taxes or over-regulated markets that is holding us back. The prosperity gap is a gap in Knowledge.
The source of long term economic growth is knowledge.
The late Sir Paul Callaghan wrote a book entitled ‘Get Off the Grass’, encouraging New Zealand to embrace innovation and to face up to its dependence on primary industry.
Because there’s a ceiling to how much we can grow our primary industries. Primary industry is not going to deliver enough of the new jobs and growth for regions throughout New Zealand that so desperately need it.
We’ve had a good run living off New Zealand’s rich endowment of natural resources, the good luck of yesterday, but it’s not viable to bet our future on this. We need to diversify. We need to close the knowledge gap.
We don’t need to work harder. We need to work smarter, and as Sir Paul so succinctly puts it:
Get off the Grass