Saturday, March 30, 2024

PULPIT: Specific answers hard to come by

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It’s amazing how difficult it is to get a straight answer. Or any answer at all. It started with a comment piece by Liam Dann. The headline read Get out there and head for the mall – it’s your economic duty. 
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The column noted that after cutting interest rates to an all-time low Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr was calling for consumers to spend more and businesses to invest more. 

So Dann urged us on. 

“Get out there this weekend and have some fun, buy those new shoes. You’ll be doing your bit for the economy,” he exhorted

Dann worried over our gross domestic product (GDP) four times in his column. It made me wonder if he believes in endless growth on a finite planet. What about flourishing rather than growth? It’s an approach favoured by noted economist Kate Raworth and other sustainability advocates.

I decided I should check in with the Reserve Bank directly. I asked if spending more means getting out there and shopping, as Dann so enthusiastically urged. I asked if the bank still advocates GDP as a suitable indicator of progress. I wondered if anyone there was reading Raworth’s Doughnut Economics: How to think like a 21st Century economist and, if so, have they taken it to heart? 

Within a week I had a reply from a senior communications adviser at the bank. To my question about shopping there was some economic-speak but no definitive answer. The reply noted “GDP is still a useful metric of economic progress though its deficiencies as a measure of overall well-being are understood.” Nothing about flourishing v growth or Doughnut Economics though.

I wrote back seeking clarifications and, out of curiosity, sent it to Finance Minister Grant Robertson as well. No reply from the Reserve Bank, but, to my delight, I heard back from Robertson.  

“We are measuring progress against a broad range of indicators, not just GDP … We know that economic growth alone does not guarantee improvements to living standards.” And he said the likes of Raworth’s Doughnut Economics is considered by public sector agencies when formulating advice for the Government, noting the Treasury specifically.  

Buoyed by this and while I was on a roll, questions-wise, I thought I’d check in with the farming sector. After all, the climate is in crisis, agriculture is our biggest contributor to the problem and the Zero Carbon Bill has recently passed into law. 

Now comes the hard work but, politics as it is, farming is still not being held to account. As most readers no doubt know, farming will remain outside the Emissions Trading Scheme for now, will bear no costs until 2025 and will initially be charged for only a small portion of total agricultural emissions.

Given this, I wrote to three industry leaders – Federated Farmers’ Terry Copeland, DairyNZ’s Dr Tim Mackle and Sam McIvor at Beef + Lamb. I asked them who they propose should cover the rest of agriculture’s share of the costs and is it fair they should have to do that? No reply from any of them in three weeks, so I followed up. Silence again.

I wrote to National’s agriculture spokesman Todd Muller. I noted a recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report indicated it will not be possible to keep global temperatures at safe levels without a transformation in the way the world produces food and manages land. The report’s proposals include a significant shift toward vegetarian and vegan diets.

Then I asked him how he thinks our farmers should respond to this situation. Will the National Party show leadership for the needed changes? If so, what specific policies and programmes will it implement? 

Muller didn’t answer any of my questions but he did trot out National’s standard take on climate change. Subsequently, he said he could give me “a less specific answer”, whatever that means. 

The Government appears committed to doing the right and smart things for the economy, for the environment and for the future but cannot do it alone. 

Attitudes need to change.

Success will not come in a world that worships GDP growth, lauds Black Friday and cheers on ever-higher Christmas retail sales. And industry, including farming, leaders and politicians of all stripes need to think beyond the simple interests of their own constituents. It’s time they showed real leadership in the face of a truly global crisis.  

Australia’s bush fires, dust storms and flash floods are a stark reminder of the world we are creating. Transformative change is needed if we are to have any hope of staving off the worst of it. Changing how and what we farm will allow us to be part of the solution. 

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