State of the Nation address on behalf of the Honesty Party

"My fellow New Zealanders, whether citizens, residents or those just passing through en route to Australian pastures, it gives me little pleasure to deliver this State of the Nation address on behalf of the Honesty Party because the State of the Nation is, to use a variety of technical terms, knackered, stuffed, buggered.

"While I am sure many of you use far more less technical terms, we can all agree, in the spirit of total honesty that this great party proudly stands for and embraces, that the country is not what it was nor indeed what it claims to be – and hasn’t been for decades.

"The Honesty Party recognises that our problems and issues as a country predate Rogernomics and Ruthenasia. Muldoonism was a failed experiment in populist authoritarianism and economics that failed to adjust to a rapidly changing world. What was once the (if briefly) wealthiest country in the world had already begun its decline and fall. The long snooze of the Holyoake years had set the tone of a ‘steady as she goes’ mentality, one that too often has meant the ship of state has steadily gone aground on the rocks of despair and desperation.

"The basis of our economy is one that no other first world nation has decided upon. A primary-production exporting economy to which we have added tourism, an overinflated housing market and high levels of immigration sets us apart, for a reason. New Zealand used to be the social laboratory of the word; today in all honesty we could say New Zealand is the economic laboratory in how to over promise and under deliver. ...

"New Zealand has suffered from low productivity for over half a century because of the economic, societal and educational basis of our nation. When we had a Productivity Commission to determine what we could do, we decided to ignore it and then disestablish it because what it suggested was deemed too problematic and too politically unproductive.

"But just as we were declining and failing under a First Past the Post electoral system, there is no indication that our shift to MMP has actually improved things in the areas that count. ...

"The state of the nation is one that all of us need to take responsibility for, but we too often prefer not to."

~ Dr. Mike Grimshaw from his post 'State of the Nation Address: The Honesty Party (An exercise in political honesty)'