Economics Policy - Thinking Beyond Tomorrow

Note: This was the policy released for the 2005 election. An updated policy for the 2008 election will be released shortly.

Toitu te marae a Tane
Toitu te marae a Tangaroa
Toi tu te iwi.

If the world of Tane survives
If the marae of Tangaroa survives
The people live on.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
STARTING TODAY
AN ECO-NATION MEASURES SUCCESS DIFFERENTLY
AN ECO-NATION TAXES POLLUTION MORE, WORK AND ENTERPRISE LESS
AN ECO NATION INVESTS IN ITS FUTURE
AN ECO-NATION NURTURES CREATIVITY
AN ECO-NATION TRADES FAIRLY
AN ECO-NATION CONTROLS FOREIGN INVESTMENT
AN ECO-NATION VALUES WORK
AN ECO-NATION BUILDS STRONG LOCAL ECONOMIES
AN ECO-NATION GIVES POWER TO THE PEOPLE

INTRODUCTION

Thinking Beyond Tomorrow shows how New Zealand could enter the twenty-first century on track for a sustainable future. It is the Green Party's vision of a country where human needs are met without damage to the other species that share the earth with us.

It is a future where technology is harnessed to extract more value from each unit of resources, rather than to extract more and more resources from an already depleted earth.

It is a future where each generation, starting with this one, passes on soil, air and water in a healthier state than we inherit them. A future where human potential is free to flourish, no longer stunted by chemical residues in food and water, or by unhealthy buildings and work practices.

Thinking Beyond Tomorrow is a partnership between government, business, communities and citizens. It looks to the long-term future, but its main elements could be in place within one term of parliament if we start now.

STARTING TODAY

Within three years we could make the following environmental and social gains:

• measurements of sustainability on which to base a set of national resource accounts;

• greenhouse gases stabilised, and starting to reduce;
• new jobs, focussed on
  • forest recovery, through controlling pests;

  • phase-out agreements to eliminate the most toxic chemicals underway;
  • creating a waste free New Zealand and an organic nation
  • clean up of contaminated sites in full swing;
  • solutions to urban traffic congestion and pollution being implemented, e.g. light rail construction underway in Auckland and Wellington;

and a host of other community-led projects, creating ecologically sustainable work while rebuilding local economies and strong communities.

Some elements of Thinking Beyond Tomorrow will take the whole century to complete - soils take geological time scales to rebuild; cities take generations to change in response to new transport patterns. That is all the more reason to start now!

Thinking Beyond Tomorrow is about economic policy: about pricing, markets, planning, regulation, investment, trade and shifting the tax burden from 'goods' onto 'bads'. It is about government reclaiming its rightful role of looking after the long-term interests of its citizens, not just its investors. But government alone cannot do it.

It is about responsible and ethical business; but business cannot be responsible if customers are not, and if governments allow green business to be undercut by competitors who do not pay their environmental and social costs. So business alone cannot do it.

It is about a different way of life: where citizens are aware of what it is that sustains their lives, and how to take care of precious natural resources. Most people will not develop this awareness in a society that is still based on free-market greed, where they get no support for their efforts. So citizens alone cannot do it.

Government, citizens and business must work together to make it happen.
Sustainable, positive change will be based on recognising and implementing four key principles:

• Ecological Wisdom

• Social Justice
• Non-Violence
• Democratic Decision-making.

These are the four founding principles of the Green movement, and all four principles must be applied to economic activity. This is what distinguishes the Green Party from other parties that have 'environment' or 'human rights' policies separate from their economic policies. Only the Greens put sustainability and justice at the heart of economic policy.

How do we do this? The rest of Thinking Beyond Tomorrow looks at where action is needed. We need to do things differently on several fronts. Here's how we would start...

AN ECO-NATION MEASURES SUCCESS DIFFERENTLY

Greens measure economic success by progress towards sustainability and justice.
Our goal is to meet human needs more effectively and fairly while protecting the quality and quantity of natural resources and the health of ecosystems on which human health and wealth depend.

The usual measure of our country's economic success is growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However GDP is of limited use in measuring progress towards a sustainable, just society. It counts only those economic activities where money changes hands.

The value of many real human wealth producing activities, such as household care and child rearing and skills learning, is not measured at all. The massive contribution ecosystems make to our health and our economy by cleaning our air and water, regulating our climate and recycling waste into nutrients, is ignored.

GDP does not discriminate between activities that add to our wellbeing (such as producing useful goods and services) and those that detract from it (such as crime, pollution, war and accidents), the costs of which all increase GDP.

GDP counts as success the destruction of a natural resource (such as a forest or a fishery) for a short-term increase in income, and does not measure the economic value of gradually restoring such a resource. For example, improvements in fuel efficiency or public health, which both reduce spending, are counted as negative for GDP purposes.

The Greens will ensure that a modified set of national accounts is developed, to measure real national achievement and wellbeing by including positive activities such as voluntary work and unpaid childcare; and deducting negatives such as smoking and drinking related health costs, car accidents and pollution clean ups.

We will develop a set of natural resource accounts that will measure the degradation or restoration of resources such as forests, clean water and energy reserves. We will use these to ensure that economic management achieves a decrease in the overall rate at which resources are turned into waste.

We will also develop a set of social indicators to be considered alongside the national accounts. These will include, for example: life expectancy at key ages, literacy rates, access to housing, and the ratio of income and wealth between the highest and lowest earning groups of the population.

The Department of Statistics, which is currently woefully under-funded, will be resourced to collect and process the additional data needed for this work.
Matched with these national measures, we are working to encourage and facilitate business reporting on environmental and social performance, as well as financial performance.

AN ECO-NATION TAXES POLLUTION MORE, WORK AND ENTERPRISE LESS

Taxes can be a powerful force in supporting our communities and our environment, both through the signals they send, and through the services they support. The question is how?

Taxing human resources (via income tax) more heavily than natural and financial resources increases the cost of employing people in comparison with using raw materials, energy and capital. To promote employment and to use resources more efficiently, Green taxation policy will shift some of the burden of taxation from incomes to wasted resources.

A carbon tax on the carbon content of non-renewable fuels (oil, coal, gas) would be a concrete step towards the polluter pays principle, and would challenge business to find more sustainable ways of succeeding. This eco-tax would also raise revenue for government programmes such as energy efficiency and solar heating, and can reduce income tax on the lowest incomes. We will not, however, rely solely on the carbon tax to meet our greenhouse gas obligations. A range of measures to increase energy efficiency, encourage alternatives to private car use and develop renewables, must support a carbon tax.

Specific consumption and resource taxes which encourage the production and purchase of durable, easily repaired, reusable and recyclable goods are needed to develop a sustainable economy.

Crown resource rentals are needed for precious minerals and some fish stocks. Resource rentals promote conservation and ensure the public sees a return from these natural assets.

A levy on hazardous substances in proportion to their toxicity and persistence would both encourage less toxic alternatives, and help fund both the clean up of contaminated sites and the transition to organic production.

The huge flow of speculative capital around the world every hour destabilises many national economies and has contributed to the collapse in Asia in the 1990s. The Greens support calls for a small international levy on the movement of international capital to reduce speculation and provide funds for international social and environmental programmes.

Income tax reductions introduced to offset resource taxes would apply to the bottom of the tax scale, not the top rate, so that every citizen would benefit.

AN ECO NATION INVESTS IN ITS FUTURE

New public sector investment is needed urgently as the springboard for sustainability.

Poor public transport services have led to high car use with congestion, air pollution and high emissions of climate-changing gases. The Greens will support increased funding for public transport, walking and cycling facilities.

Sewage management is inadequate and water supplies polluted in many places. Small communities cannot afford the high interest costs on top of the capital cost to put these right. These costs are being used to justify privatisation of local authority services such as water supply, which will in the end cost ratepayers much more, as well as removing any democratic control over essential services. Access to clean water is a basic human need. The Greens support ecologically responsible water management coupled with adequate public funding and control of these essential services, rather than privatisation.

There is also a need for financial help to businesses converting to sustainability. This may take the form of R&D finance, assistance with capital for start-up and expansion, skills training, funding for the planning process and transitional development costs, but will not involve subsidies to ongoing production. We will support businesses that take advantage of New Zealand skills to create new goods, and services that add maximum value while conserving resources and reducing wastes.

We will provide the starting capital for a community-owned bank which keeps money circulating locally. Local banks can help overcome problems with access to capital for small business and community enterprises. The profits from a community bank will be reinvested locally in supporting community activities and voluntary organisations.

This bank will also administer a community development fund, providing investment funds for local enterprises engaged in ecologically sustainable businesses. The transition to an organic nation and a waste-free New Zealand will come about through local initiatives supported by clear government policies.

As well as supporting these local initiatives, there is an important role of government to support local projects that employ people in environmental restoration and caring for others in the community, which will not be funded by the private sector.

Investment in education and preventative health needs to support other measures to rebuild our communities and clean-up our act. Our society is in the midst of massive change. To survive we need a new way of thinking about the world and ourselves. Nurturing strong communities, ensuring safe food, clean water and clean air are all part of a sustainable future. We must move towards a view of ourselves as part of a network of people and other living things; the way we approach both health and education needs to reflect a vision of healthy relationships.

We must also invest in protecting and restoring our natural and historic heritage. The Department of Conservation has been seriously under-funded ever since it was established. Basic scientific information is not being maintained, highly skilled staff are being lost, endangered species are approaching extinction and facilities for visitors are crumbling. Our historic heritage, which is an economic asset and an essential link between past, present and future is being lost. The Greens support a substantial increase in the budget for conservation and historic heritage protection.

AN ECO-NATION NURTURES CREATIVITY

Greens believe that as a society we need to invest in both pure research and the arts. This may seem an unusual juxtaposition but both help us understand ourselves and our world in ways we cannot predict.

The role of the artist in society is to inspire, to challenge, to invigorate an idea or to reveal a truth. The arts are intelligent, challenging, and demanding. They are also an increasingly important part of our economy. The Green Party recognises art and craft as an environmentally friendly, strategic investment area.

Pure research often leads to discoveries of great worth - often in areas where this was least expected. We encourage the creation of links between researchers and their community.

'Experts on tap, not on top' is a phrase that reflects our view of the role of science in the community. We need to do much more to ensure that information becomes knowledge and that knowledge becomes wisdom.

Applied research priorities need to be developed in partnership with industry and the community. This is part of our commitment to localisation and community economic development. Applied research must also recognise the impact of looming environmental problems, such as climate change, on our ability to produce and export. Research priorities must support the shift to sustainable systems of production and patterns of consumption rather than just profit-generation in the present.

The funding criteria for Public Science Funding must be amended to support sustainable development. For example, we need to shift money from GE research to organics. The government will decide funding from the public purse on a rolling five-year basis. A public consultation process will help inform the allocation of funds.

We also believe that local industry must raise its own commitment to research in parallel with this. We will examine closely the best means to encourage such an increase in private sector activity.

AN ECO-NATION TRADES FAIRLY

As well as working for sustainability and justice at home, we can use our trading relationships to help encourage ethical business, environmental responsibility, human rights and the dignity of work in the global economy.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement has created a situation where strict environmental controls, such as pesticide residue limits in food and quarantine requirements can be classed as non-tariff barriers and made illegal. The WTO has no democratic accountability to any voters.

The Greens actively promote fair, rather than so-called 'free' trade in international agreements. We will encourage and facilitate bilateral trade relationships with third world countries. We seek a balance between trade and self-reliance. We see no sense in carrying identical goods long distances in opposite directions at great energy cost. Our commitment to 'buy local' and the localisation of sustainable economic activity within strong communities provides a human scale alternative to impersonal globalisation.

As responsible global citizens, Greens oppose buying from factories whose operations we would find abhorrent at home. Child labour and environmental destruction ought not to be more palatable because it is less visible. 'Free trade' is not only bad economics, it cheapens our spirit and our common humanity.

The Greens support international agreements that protect and restore environmental and workplace standards, wages and working conditions, and we support the rights of our people and indigenous communities against social, financial and monetary exploitation. Nations have the right to protect their own people from deprivation.

Until the rest of the world adopts sustainability and social justice as economic goals, some control over imports is necessary. We do not support the removal of further tariffs while our competitors still have tariffs in place. It makes no sense to destroy efficient New Zealand industries when those products will instead be made in countries that protect and subsidise their industries.

Our one-sided dash into 'free trade', coupled with the increasing flow of profits overseas as our businesses are increasingly owned offshore, has led us to import massively more than we export for many years. We are failing to pay our way as a nation.

We cannot go on living beyond our means. New Zealanders used to worry about government debt but we consumers, supported by government policy, have now mortgaged our country to the hilt to pay for the next cheap T-shirt, TV set or sportscar. We can correct that imbalance by restoring New Zealand production of many things that we can make just as well here.

Government's role includes leading the nation in setting standards for what we produce and what we import so that we do not undercut quality New Zealand producers with goods made in ways we find unacceptable. We will promote quality and efficiency standards, such as energy efficiency standards for vehicles and appliances, and standards for durability and ease of recycling, in order to reduce waste disposal costs in New Zealand. That is ethics in action not protectionism.

Beyond the arguments about trade barriers, our global shuffling of goods depends on burning the very fossil fuels that are changing our climate and destroying the predictability of our seasons. Every time we buy 'cheap' imports we not only support a sweatshop mentality in the Third World, we help to destroy our own country's primary production.

AN ECO-NATION CONTROLS FOREIGN INVESTMENT

The Greens welcome foreign investors as guests. And we expect the same of them as any guests; that they will behave with respect while they are here and not try and take over.

The Green movement world wide continues to oppose the signing of international and bilateral agreements (eg MAI and Singapore Free Trade Agreements) which create far reaching rights for multinational companies investing in countries, but no corresponding rights for the people and governments of those countries.
We support the international move for a charter of responsibilities for overseas investors. Overseas investment in New Zealand should have to meet much more stringent conditions in order to be approved by the Overseas Investment Commission and the Minister. Companies that wish to invest here must meet the same conditions of sustainable development as we will expect of New Zealand companies.

We will also distinguish between new investment in sustainable enterprises and the simple purchase of existing business and resources with a view to exporting profits. In particular, land ownership ought to remain with New Zealand citizens and permanent residents. Land is the fabric of our nation. We hold it in trust for the future.

AN ECO-NATION VALUES WORK

Work is one of the ways we add meaning to our lives, be it the work we do for money, or the work we do raising children, caring for others or contributing to our communities. Work is about dignity, about being valued and valuing each other.

The Greens recognise the human need to work and to participate in society. We honour all forms of work — paid, unpaid, voluntary and in the 'informal' sector of the household and the community. We are committed to shifting our economy to one that uses resources sparingly and is rich in meaningful work.

We recognise the need to restore workplace relations that recognise the dignity of productive work, and facilitate healthy, open and cooperative employment relationships. We support pay equity, equal employment opportunities, legislation for decent working conditions and employer-employee partnerships negotiated in good faith.

Bringing work back to our communities requires a partnership. Creating the conditions for a rebirth of paid work means supporting and encouraging ideas that provide meaningful work in sustainable enterprises.

Our survival demands we 'do more with less for longer' with natural resources and capital. As a result human energy and human creativity are all the more precious. Local work emerges naturally from a framework that emphasises ecologically sustainable business. The Green commitment to an organic nation and a waste-free New Zealand, supported by changes to the tax system, research, and community development funding, offer work where the value-added results from the idea itself, rather than extra processing.

Much paid work no longer occurs in large enterprises; self-employment, small businesses and community enterprises all create work in a less structured way than the big workplaces of the industrial age. Much of this occurs at a community level, and these businesses will often contribute some unpaid time and services to their local community.

Government needs to invest in small business support centres, new venture agencies, employment resource centres and similar organisations which provide mentoring and support for small to medium, community and cooperative enterprises. We will put in place a framework that supports small and community business development and the wellbeing of those working, including increased support for skills development.

We understand that the hours of unpaid and voluntary labour contributed to the community are as vital to strong communities as more visible paid work. We must ensure that there is enough paid work for unpaid and voluntary work to also thrive. We need to recognise and support the mutually supporting contribution of each to strong communities.

The Greens will increase the amount and scope of tax deductibility for donations and business contributions to communities. Quality education and training that meets the specific needs of the voluntary sector, including postgraduate, distance education and exchange programmes will be fostered.
We also need to support people's striving for balanced and varied lives within strong communities. Currently we are dividing into those with time and no money, those with money and no time and a large group with neither. The Greens support an intelligent and far reaching public dialogue and discussion on present practices, attitudes and values about work. Our society needs to recognise and support many more forms of socially and environmentally necessary work, and share paid work more fairly.

AN ECO-NATION BUILDS STRONG LOCAL ECONOMIES

The foundations of an eco-nation are strong communities. Many communities are poor because most of the money they spend on food, energy, transport, clothing and building materials goes straight out of the area, often overseas. In a global economy, New Zealand will always be vulnerable to economic collapse happening elsewhere in the world. Making more of our essential needs locally will reduce this vulnerability and the transport costs that are raising prices and contributing to climate change.

We believe in growing our quality of life not our use of resources and our rubbish dumps. We call this a 'waste-free world'. And zero waste starts with our people. The greatest indictment on our society is that thousands of people languish on the dole while many more have become the working poor. All this at the same time as others are working ever longer and more demanding hours. And we are still told that these long hours and extra money are the route to happiness. Neither is sustainable; both are destroying the fabric of our communities. It's past time to stop this tragic waste of human potential.
Government can set a clear framework for sustainability and then empower local communities and the business sector to create meaningful work in green business.
The Greens support local initiatives that keep finance and production of goods local - green dollar schemes, community banks, credit unions, co-operatives, and regional business support schemes. We would support communities that wish to take local responsibility for their economy by carrying out an audit of their resources, skills, training needs, and the money flows in their local economy, and finding ways to keep their local resources circulating locally.

We will ensure that the true costs of transport, including environmental costs, are accounted for. The noise and fumes from a street jammed with traffic undermines the community surrounding it. A more balanced view of transport choices means we'll spend less time and resources simply getting somewhere else. There will also be more local economic activity, and human interaction as we reclaim our streets as public spaces. This in turn strengthens communities and frees our cities and towns to fulfil their true potential.

We see huge opportunities for local eco-development and the creation of green jobs in areas such as: house insulation, energy efficiency and solar energy, erosion control, development and production of sustainable technologies, organic growing and marketing, waste reduction, recycling industries, restoring native vegetation, restoring historic buildings, building cycleways, local tourism, urban beautification and planning, crafts and the arts.

We will be much more self-reliant and we will produce much more that lasts. Ecologically innovative businesses will see one company's waste as another's raw material. They will create durable, high value products made by well-trained, well-treated and well-paid workers.

Our energy will come from the sun, waves and wind and we will pride ourselves on the efficiency with which we use it. We will value and support the unpaid labour and the natural environment that makes all this possible. And local people will be in local jobs using local resources and local knowledge to provide for the present and the future. We will buy local and sell New Zealand with pride.

Some of what we do will be financed by the market, others by the public sector, still others will build on the strengths of the community and voluntary sector. All will work together to build strong local economies within strong communities.

AN ECO-NATION GIVES POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Every day thousands and thousands of New Zealanders try to make green choices in their lives, choosing healthy food and durable goods, and minimising their waste outputs. They need government and business to be responsible for setting green standards and keeping to them - but every citizen has a part to play too.
It is time to end the frontier culture where individuals claim their rights to waste as much as they like, just because they can afford to pay cash for it. We need to say goodbye to 'she'll be right' practices like driving badly tuned and polluting cars because it is too much trouble to fix them; taking undersized fish and exceeding the bag limit because there are 'plenty more'; spraying chemicals regardless of their impact on the land and the neighbours; and cutting down 500 year old rimu trees because we 'own' them.

To change destructive, wasteful and selfish attitudes and actions like these we need communities to do better. Citizens must pressure government and business to set high standards and maintain them, and then play their part in honouring them.

Thinking Beyond Tomorrow is about a society where we recognise environmental rights: to clean air and water; to a stable climate; to protection from toxic chemicals. A society where we also talk of environmental responsibilities: to each other, for pollution free surroundings; to future generations, so they can catch a fish for tea, listen to a kokako, enjoy their arts and reach their creative potential; and to other species so they can even survive.

Greens in government will recognise these rights, and create a climate in which people are supported in exercising their rights and responsibilities. How? Here are just three practical examples:

1. Local authorities will be required to have a water management plan, in which they assess water conservation strategies against new supply strategies. Citizens will be involved in discussing and approving these plans, so will have the information they need to take action in their own lives.

2. Progressive electricity pricing will make a first block of power available at a low price, but those who use more will pay more. Waste will not be cheap. The removal of fixed line charges will make it economically possible to conserve energy without being penalised.
3. Local government will be given the power to make decisions on a wider range of topics and much stronger obligations to ensure participation by citizens in decision-making. STV voting will ensure truly representative local government.

The Greens also bring a positive, constructive and co-operative style to politics. The main opposition to the Green movement is not other political parties — it is apathy and cynicism.

Green MPs will not ask anyone to do what we are not doing ourselves. Along with legislating, enabling, investing and providing information, Green government will show the way to an eco-nation in the way it conducts its own affairs.

'Only when the last tree has been cut down, when the last river has been poisoned, when the last fish has been caught will you finally discover that human beings can not eat money!'
Native American prophesy