Sovereignty, sustainable development and social justice. Priorities for social democracy in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Dr Peter Davis will discuss how we have been here before - our population is bleeding to Australia, we remained locked-in to low-added value commodity production, we cannot save enough to own our assets and we are in chronic structural deficit, the public service is demoralised, a US-style poverty underclass is in formation - in other words, we are in stately social and economic decline. Do we have to accept this apparent destiny, or can social democracy provide an alternative? Kiwisaver, the "Cullen" fund and Working For Families are three landmark initiatives from the previous administration that show that social democrats do have many of the necessary "big ideas" and can build institutions addressing core social and economic concerns. In this talk Peter Davis will outline some ideas that might continue in that proud tradition, returning New Zealand to some semblance of social and economic independence.