We really like the idea from the Grattan Institute of creating a reading list for our leaders. Every year, the Grattan Institute produces a Reading List for the Australian Prime Minister; the books and articles that they recommend Australia’s leaders read over the summer break.

The Grattan Institute, formed in November 2008, is an independent public policy think-tank focused on Australian domestic public policy. See more of the Grattan Institute’s ideas and articles here.

Today is three years since the Relationship and Confidence and Supply Agreement between the National Party and the Māori Party (16 November 2008) agreed to establish a group to consider constitutional issues, including Māori representation. The EmpowerNZ website is launched today as part of the Sustainable Future Institute’s Project Constitutional Review. This website aims to create awareness and spark discussion around the current constitutional review so that all New Zealanders, and in particular 18‐ to 25‐year‐olds, can engage with the Constitutional Advisory Panel in an informed and considered manner.

Project Constitutional Review was established in mid‐2011 in response to the government’s announcement in December 2010 of a wide‐ranging review of New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements. The initial idea for the project came out of an event the Sustainable Future Institute hosted in March 2011, called StrategyNZ: Mapping our Future. Wendy McGuinness, chief executive of the Institute, notes, ‘There was a clear appetite from participants to develop youth forums and find ways in which youth can become part of the solution. Participants clearly believed a national conversation on our constitution is a great place to start exploring our country’s long‐term future.’ McGuinness continues, ‘This is a very important matter for New Zealanders to address; it is the first time in our nation’s history that we have had an opportunity to treat our constitution as a blank canvas.’

‘New Zealand needs to start thinking about this review now in order to achieve tangible outcomes before the Panel reports back to Cabinet in 2013. After the 2011 General Election and Referendum, there will need to be a large drive to get New Zealanders interested and engaged in the constitutional review.’

EmpowerNZ and Project Constitutional Review will be closely following the progress of the review, with the aim of adding support to a debate that is vital for New Zealand’s long‐term future. By providing a place for public engagement in a new media format McGuinness hopes that ‘the project will have particular appeal to young New Zealanders, ensuring they are not only part of the conversation but actively leading it.’

Constitutional change results from a societal groundswell pushing strongly for improvements to existing arrangements. The Institute wants to help facilitate that groundswell by helping New Zealanders become more informed and engaged with the issues, to ensure this rare opportunity to shape our constitution is not missed. The Institute will also be launching an EmpowerNZ Facebook and Twitter presence to coincide with the launch of the website.

For further information on Project Constitutional Review and the Sustainable Future Institute see the Institute’s website www.sustainablefuture.info

For more information on the Sustainable Future Institute, contact Wendy McGuinness:
t: +64 4 499 8888
f: +64 4 385 9884
Mobile: 021 781 200
e: wmcg@sustainablefuture.info

Download the Media Release at www.sustainablefuture.info

The concept of the ‘black swan’, popularized during the global financial crisis, refers to events that are highly improbable and have a profound effect on our economies and lives. The premise of this  presentation is that climate change can be seen a ‘white swan’; an opportunity to develop resilience and maintain profitability in a situation where, while its impacts are highly uncertain, its occurrence is  not unforeseeable like that of the ‘black swan’.

The presentation will feature Dr Jim Salinger, Professor Caroline Saunders and Rod Oram to explain the impact of climate change on our health, properties, infrastructure and industries. The event will be chaired by Professor David Bibby and is open to the public. With an election only weeks away and both the environment and the economy key issues of debate, this presentation will present a new way of looking at climate change; as a challenge that we as a country need to embrace. You can find out more information about this presentation here.

When: 4.30pm–6.30pm, Tuesday 1 November

What: New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute Presentation: ‘Preparing for White Swans: Climate Change and opportunities for the economy’

Where: Hunter Council Chamber, Hunter Building, Victoria University, Kelburn Parade

Chris and Wendy had a lively discussion about the significance of New Zealand’s history to our future. Chris also quizzed Wendy about her passion for the constitutional review and the opportunity it represents for New Zealanders to participate in shaping their future. Wendy shared her vision for providing a copy ofNation Dates to every secondary school in the country free of charge with the assistance of a commercial sponsorship partner.

The interview closed with Chris’s wonderful quote from Tawhiao the third Maori King in 1894: “I know lots of missionaries. They ver’ nice men, ver’ good men, make Maori do what they please. When miss’n’ries come first Maori’s have plenty of land everywhere. They say ‘Let us pra ay, let us pra ay.’ We pray and shut our eyes so we see nothing at all. When we open dem again the land had gone!’.

Listen to the full interview

Project Constitutional Review is the Institute’s latest project, and seeks to build capacity so that New Zealanders – in particular youth between the ages of 18–25 – can engage with the Constitutional Advisory Panel in an informed and considered manner. The outcome of this referendum, as well as any subsequent review into or referendum on our voting system, will have wide-ranging implications for New Zealand’s future constitutional arrangements. Come along tonight and hear some of New Zealand’s great political minds debate the future of our voting system!

What: MMP Referendum Debate with Jim Bolger, Michael Cullen, Ruth Richardson and Jeanette Fitzsimons

When: 6pm–7pm, Wednesday 26October. Audience to be seated by 5.45pm.

Where: Soundings Theatre, Te Papa, Wellington

posted by Diane White

“Quality environmental information is as important to New Zealand’s success as financial or economic information. Environmental information enables good decision-making and builds a reliable picture of how we are managing our natural capital. New Zealand’s trade advantage lies in its worldwide reputation for quality products from a quality environment.”

The Institute agrees wholeheartedly with this sentiment. However, we see a number of gaps in the Government’s proposal and we outline these and possible solutions in our submission on the Environmental Reporting Bill.

You can see our submission here.

If you are interested in receiving our twice-yearly newsletter in the future, you can subscribe here.

Please click on the image below to read the article.

Photography: Paul Gorman/The Press

The group of over 40 students, closely following the strategy mapping process set out at StrategyNZ, formed eight groups that represented students from Year 7-11. Wendy opened the event with a presentation on future-thinking and strategy mapping. The teams worked tirelessly over the two days, creating seven impressive and unique mission statements, strategy maps and school magazine covers. These were presented on Saturday afternoon, with Wendy acting as one of the three judges who awarded prizes to participants. Two strategy maps were selected to present to the school’s Board of Governors at their next meeting.

Both Wendy and Diane were honoured to attend the event and both came away feeling inspired by the foresight and future-thinking skills of this very talented group of young students. The feedback from the participants has been overwhelmingly positive and we have subsequently launched a competition for all school students to submit a strategy map of New Zealand for the year 2058. The Institute also aims to be involved in future strategy mapping exercises at other schools around New Zealand and will look to work closely with the students involved in the Kristin exercise. We also plan to take the key themes from the students’ presentations and write a piece on ‘What Learners Like’. Wendy’s presentation from the event can be found here.

The course is designed to enable the students to envision what the future tourist will look like, where they go on holiday and what they will do using scenario planning and trend analysis techniques.

Ian is a futurologist specialising in travel and tourism. He learnt his trade as the scenario planner for VisitScotland, where he established the process of futures thinking within the organisation using a variety of techniques including economic modelling, trends analysis and scenario construction. Ian’s new book, Tomorrow’s Tourist enables readers to imagine what a future tourist might be, where they will go and what they will do.

An introduction to the course sets the scene by providing the following scenario:

By 2030, China will be the world’s largest tourism destination; holidays in Outer Space will be the ultimate luxury experience, extreme Swedish ironing will be an Olympic Sport, embedded technologies will be the norm for future tourists and skiing in the Alps will be no more.

In 1950, 25 million tourists took an international holiday and by 2005 this figure had risen to 803 million. By 2030, it is forecasted that this figure will reach 1.9 billion international arrivals, spending US$2 trillion with US$5 billion being spent by international tourists every day across the world, from US$2 billion in Europe to US$1.5 billion in Asia.

The Institute was excited to be asked to be involved in the course and is enjoying watching the development of the scenarios for New Zealand’s tourism industry in 2050.  We are looking forward to the final presentation on 10 October, where I am sure we will continue to learn from these great students.