MEDIA RELEASE
“We
are proud to support the Visionweek web summit, which will start the
conversation on a national vision for New Zealand,” says Paul Blair, CEO of
Infrastructure New Zealand.
“Visionweek
runs from 8-12 June. It is a free, inclusive opportunity for individuals,
businesses, iwi and communities to share their vision for what the well-being
of New Zealanders should look like in 5, 10, or 50 years.
“A
national vision will give purpose and direction to $100 billion worth of public
spending and will heavily influence the remaining $200 billion of private
spending in our economy.
“The
COVID-19 crisis showed us that an aligned nation of five million can achieve
world-leading results when we know what we’re trying to achieve.
“With
a vision to give us the ‘why?’, a long term, integrated national plan is
possible, providing clarity on what is important, where, how and who is
responsible for delivery. With a long-term plan for the success of our country,
we can generate ‘additional effort’ from people and communities towards our
shared goals.
“It
is time to focus on the comparative strengths we have as a nation, including
our early exit from COVID lockdown. We also need to address some of the
critical areas where New Zealand lags OECD peers such as housing quality and
affordability, equality of opportunity, productivity and addressing climate
change.
“Our
Finance Minister in his pre-Budget speech said “there are few times in life
when the clock is reset. Now is the time we should address these long-term
issues. It is a privilege many countries won't have. It's not one we should
squander,"
“A
series of fantastic speakers will put forward their ideas on five daily digital
TV programmes as a thought starter for hearing what you, as organisations and as individuals,
believe our country should look like.
“Speakers
include Peter Beck, Frances Valintine, Tamati Kruger, Sir Peter Gluckman, Kate
Boylan, Shamubeel Equab, Dr Rod Carr, Rachel Taulelei, Sir Stephen Tindall,
Nicole Rosie and Rod Drury amongst many more.
“We
urge all our members and their staff to register for the summit at visionweek.co.nz, and to start thinking
about how they can contribute to this shared vision. Participants should post
their ideas, videos, polls or other content using the #visionweekNZ hashtag on
Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter, so these ideas can be shared through the
platform.
“To
learn more about how your team can get involved in #visionweekNZ, you could
register for one of two briefings where the Visionweek team will outline how to
get involved. Click this
link for a session today, and this
link for the Thursday session.
“We
have a rare opportunity to set a long-term vision and create a national
strategic plan for New Zealand to lift the wellbeing of all New Zealanders - we
now look forward to your engagement to bring these ideas forward,” says Blair.
Visionweek
is made possible by the support of multiple partners, including Sustainable
Business Council, the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, the
New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, InternetNZ, the Ministry for the
Environment, Infrastructure New Zealand and ASN Media.
ENDS
For further information and
comment contact Paul Blair on 021 902 436