President Steve Baron: State of the Nation Address

Our young nation has been built on a foundation of ingenuity and perseverance, along with a compassion for those in times of need.

These are the founding principals the early settlers bought with them and the principals that have made us a proud nation. However, times have changed and I now stand before you New Zealand, to warn of impending disaster.

Decisions of monumental importance need to be made, decisions that will have a colossal effect on the lives of future generations. It is not the threat of terrorism, war or invasion, but the invasion of unsustainable government spending on social welfare and health that threaten to cripple our economy.

When a service does not operate in a competitive environment it is rarely efficient and usually lacks innovation. When a service is also offered free of charge it is often abused and people die in queues waiting for operations. National healthcare has become inefficient and ineffective. An aging population also puts huge financial pressures on the government to provide healthcare and superannuation. At present these account for approximately fifty percent of government expenditure, a monumental amount .

As a nation the government can no longer afford to be the first port of call, only the last for those in times of need. Most New Zealanders have grown up in an age of paternalistic government, many have come to accept that it is the responsibility of the government to continuously look after them and this is no longer possible. This reliance has dropped our standard of living to one of the lowest in the OECD and it is crippling our economy. As long as we continue to look to the government to fix our problems, we will fail. Personal responsibility needs to be embraced and government policy needs to be created to allow this to happen.

There are those who argue that we are a lazy people. I disagree. New Zealanders already work longer hours than those in most other developed countries. Neither is the problem too much investment in real estate. Australia in fact invests more than us. There is no doubt that we are taxed too much as has been highlighted by the OECD in 2005 which showed only Norwegians were taxed higher.

It must be our intention, as a nation, over a period of time, to move the responsibility for national superannuation and national healthcare to each individual New Zealander thereby allowing the government to reduce taxation and expand the economy.

We can no longer fund these services through taxation, because it is no longer sustainable or efficient. Your government can implement policies to correct this and put us on a path toward a better standard of living, but first of all

New Zealand, you need to make the decision that you want to help yourself. Your Nanny-State can no longer continue to breastfeed you. I await your answer.

Steve Baron is an author, Founder of Better Democracy NZ, and a regular contributor to publications throughout New Zealand. He resides in Cambridge.

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