Maxim Institute's regular e-newsletter, Real Issues, highlights the issues behind the headlines and keeps you up-to-date with important developments in policy and culture in New Zealand and around the world.
"Within our lifetime hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live. ... We must now set clear targets for the future to reverse this trend ..."
Julia Marton-Lefevre, IUCN Director General
A registered charitable trust, funded by donations, Maxim Institute values your interest and support.
New Zealand is a richly textured country. It has a great and colourful history and a thriving culture. Its people have inherited a vast and dynamic landscape. They know how to live and play well. Yet, New Zealand faces serious challenges. How we respond today shapes the future our children inherit tomorrow.
Maxim Institute is an independent research and public policy think tank. We are committed to the people, land, history and culture of New Zealand. Our mission is to foster ideas and leadership that enable freedom, justice and compassion to flourish in New Zealand. We are not affiliated with any lobby group, religious organisation or political party and are also independently funded, we have received donations from over 1,700 individuals and trusts since our inception.
The IUCN Red List highlights the number of species threatened by extinction—and the perilous plight of our natural world.
The Treasury has released a gloomy economic forecast for the next four years posing questions about how much the government should spend to solve economic problems.
With unemployment one of the highest risk factors for people re-offending when they leave prison, programmes that encourage employers to hire ex-offenders may provide a welcome service.
The Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has released its new "Red List," a massive collation and analysis of the state of the world's biodiversity, quantifying the number of species which are under threat or facing extinction. According to IUCN, there is a growing number of mammals facing extinction "with almost one in four at risk of disappearing forever."
The rest of the picture is correspondingly grim. The Red List mentions almost 45,000 species, with almost 40 percent of them facing the threat of extinction. "Nearly one third" of amphibians and "one in seven" birds are "threatened or extinct." The picture for marine mammals and sea-birds does not look much better.
The Red List contains a dizzying variety of species which are sadly under threat. The Tasmanian Devil's plight is worsening due to "fatal infectious facial cancer." The Caspian Seal's population is plunging due to "hunting and habitat destruction." Indian tarantulas and African elephant shrews, Purple Marsh Crabs and Fishing Cats, as well as New Zealand species like the Hector's dolphin and the New Zealand Sea-Lion all make an appearance on the list, or in the case studies. The picture we can no longer avoid is of a dazzling and wondrous natural world, (as Hopkins put it) "all things, counter, original, spare, strange," and the brutal impact that human greed, abuse, habitat destruction, pollution and unthinking development are having on it.
We can and ought to do better in the care of our environment, including more thoughtful and reasoned debate about the shape of that care. The conservation of our planet, our home, should be high on the political agenda. We can, and we must, think together about how we can balance the genuine need for people to grow and develop, with the sustainability of our environment. One of the most encouraging features of the list is the positive impact conservation efforts can have, for example on the population of the African elephant. In our own lives, too, small efforts can help with a huge problem—donating to environmental charities, recycling more, picking up the litter we drop. These things may seem small, but they are efforts towards a brighter, and a greener, world.
Surviving the current crisis
The implications of the economic crisis have been made clear this week by the Treasury's regular "Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update." The update opens the Government's books prior to the election and describes the Treasury's economic and fiscal forecasts for the next four years. The update does not hide the fact that New Zealand is in for some hard economic times. The most important points it makes are that there will be increased deficits, levels of debt and government spending along with lower tax revenues. But the question still remains: given we have such tough times ahead, should we not be looking at how to reduce government spending?
Higher government spending is one of two major reasons why Treasury forecasts that several years of deficits are likely, starting at $31 million this year and worsening to a projected $3.2 billion in 2012-13. For example, KiwiSaver is forecast to cost $650 million extra over the forecast period, and 20 hours free childhood education $800 million. Benefit costs are also expected to rocket by $500 million from the 2008 Budget forecast, due to rising unemployment. Falling revenues from taxation are expected because of declining consumption, affecting GST, and the tax cuts which have taken effect this month. These factors, combined with the unusual occurrence of the worldwide financial crisis have reduced New Zealand's ability to weather the economic storm.
At a time when the United States and European governments are having to bail out major banking institutions, New Zealand is in a better position and does not have to resort to the higher levels of government intervention which are now occurring overseas. While the deficit and unemployment will increase in the near term, they are not forecast to reach levels experienced during the restructuring of the 1980s and 1990s.
In this context, it is important for New Zealand governments to look at how to curb spending which has increased in recent years. We need an economy where families are not taxed at unrealistic levels and where entrepreneurs are left with enough to invest in activities which will help secure the future stability of our economy.
From inmate to workmate
Crime does not pay. In fact, crime costs an awful lot. The costs include the direct financial costs of incarceration and reach well beyond this, impacting the security and cohesion of society as a whole, as well as costing the wellbeing of the victim and the offender and their families. What a nation does with its offenders is crucial, with the maintenance of law and order being one of the primary platforms on which a healthy nation can be built. A research note entitled "You're Hired!" has been released from British think tank Policy Exchange, looking at ways to encourage the employment of offenders after they have served their term in prison.
"You're Hired!" explores two programmes operating in the United States that provide incentives for employers to hire and support ex-offenders whilst simultaneously working with the offender to deal with issues arising from their new employment and new lifestyle. The benefits of such a programme are far-reaching. The ex-offenders are trained in and placed in roles where there are skills' shortages, fulfilling a need for many employers.
For the person who has gone from prison into paid employment there is an obvious benefit as they find they have an opportunity for a fresh start and to develop skills that they are likely to be lacking. According to the research note, half of Britain's prisoners read so poorly that they would be unable to fulfil 96 percent of jobs. The other benefit is for society as a whole. In one of the programmes outlined, re-offending rates for those who participated in the programme are between only two and five percent, compared with the national rate of 66 percent. Financially these schemes also make sense. Prisoners who cannot find work, cost tax-payers substantially. By diverting funds into programmes such as these, the burden on society is also reduced.
Unemployment is one of the highest risk factors for people re-offending when they leave prison. Tackling this problem is one step that could help us re-integrate prisoners into the community after they have completed their sentence and are attempting to make a new start. But these schemes are only ever as successful as society allows them to be. While these programmes can deal with lack of skills and legislation can change to pave the way for such initiatives, employers and communities must be willing to give someone a chance, despite their past mistakes, in order for the programmes to succeed.
Credit scheme to address prostitution
The Dutch city of Eindhoven has recently mooted a new credit scheme to deal with prostitution, which is legal in the Netherlands. According to news reports, the scheme encourages prostitutes to take concrete steps to change their lives, rewarding healthy choices with "credit" "street miles" which can be spent on things like clothes and consumer goods. The idea is to find incentives which appeal to the women and men involved, match them up with support and mentoring and help them to find jobs or training. The hope is a more positive lifestyle will result.
As with so many things, the devil is in the detail. But interventions which help people to leave destructive cycles of prostitution and abuse and to deal with related problems like drug addiction are to be welcomed. With some Dutch cities re-evaluating their policies and management of prostitution, attempting to put the broken and battered victims of the "sex industry" on a more positive trajectory can only be a good thing.
An invitation to "Breakthrough New Zealand"
Maxim Institute would like to invite you to "Breakthrough New Zealand," a public lecture by Dr Samantha Callan on Monday, 3 November 2008. Dr Callan was heavily involved in authoring the Breakthrough Britain report which looked at reducing the costs of social breakdown in the UK. She is an honorary research fellow at Edinburgh University and is engaged in primary research into long-term marriage and committed relationships. The event will run from 6.00pm to 7.30pm at The Gus Fisher Gallery in Auckland, with drinks and canapes being served. As places are limited, RSVP by 27 October is essential.
NZ Votes promo video
With NZ Votes Political Debates in full swing, check out where you local debate is happening and watch a promo video showing what happens at an NZ Votes Debate.
