Some of us at Koi Tū: Centre for Informed Futures tracked social cohesion during the early stages of the Covid pandemic, largely using Google Map data and what it told us about what people were doing.
For most of 2020, the willingness to follow expert advice and to do what was asked of us - both nationally and locally - was extremely high, and as high as anywhere globally.
But as the pandemic carried on, and concern and anxiety grew, combined with some of us accessing - and being convinced by - alternative and conspiratorial views, fractures began to emerge.
There was talk of “government over-reach” and more questioning of expert advice and political decisions and decision-makers.
By late 2021, clear divisions and differences were emerging. Social cohesion had noticeably declined.
There were also other factors in play. The online world had become much more toxic with a lot of yelling at others - and abuse, and increased levels of hate - and not too much listening.
Last year, the Edelman Trust Barometer, which surveyed people in 40 countries (not including New Zealand), found that about two-thirds of those surveyed thought that the “lack of civility and mutual respect” is now the worst they have ever experienced.
Last week, we were able to access comparable data for New Zealand from an IPSOS survey.
The same increase in post-Covid pessimism, the decline in trust in institutions like the media or politicians and the political polarisation that we have seen overseas is now present here.
The challenge is how to restore trust and rebuild social cohesion.
As one of the authors of a Cabinet paper on social cohesion (admittedly in 2006) and having given the matter a lot more thought since (advisory papers on policy, several chapters and a book), I am clear on some things - and struggling to know what to suggest on others.
The first is the significance of the local and the importance of building respect and networks in local communities, or what the Dutch call “do-ocracy”.
We saw the importance of these connections and local networks during Covid and Gabrielle. For example, vaccination rates only increased once Māori and Pasifika communities were invited to be partners in the vaccine rollout. Then iwi, whānau, church and trusted community leaders were able to shift the dial.
My view is that national social cohesion policies and approaches seldom work. Local efforts are much more important.
We need to explore new ways of involving communities in discussion and decision-making on key policy matters. One way that Koi Tū has been exploring is deliberative and participatory democracy.
The Irish have been using this to discuss and then to reach a consensus on difficult political and social matters - and it has been, by and large, extremely successful.
Digital options to do this provide an important, cheap and easy way to involve a range of people in communities.
The challenge - and this is where I do not know that we have many ways to resolve matters - is that the online world remains one that offers misinformation and disinformation, an opportunity to attack and threaten others because of their ethnicity, faith, gender and sexuality.
For those of us tracking the uglier parts of online discourse, including the rise - and rise - of antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and transphobia in New Zealand over the last four to five years, this aspect is a major concern. But the volume of hate directed towards women, especially female politicians, is very distressing.
Communities will need to work hard to rebuild respect and trust. For an initiative such as the Napier Pilot City, and the vision of the late Pat Magill, new strategies and ways of engaging the community in producing a city that is more just and fairer has just got that little bit harder.
- Distinguished Professor Emeritus Paul Spoonley is the speaker for the 2024 John Robson lecture on April 24.
