Poverty trap can end if we educate

Not everyone is capable of seeing possibilities, and that is a matter of education at home and at school.

THE OECD issued a Global Income Inequality Report this week which claims the prevalent inequality in New Zealand has stunted our growth.

The fundamental issue is not the gap between the population and the wealthy. That, apparently, does not hurt a country. What hurts is the gap between low-income households and the rest of the population.

It would be easy to assume the report blames our situation today, but in fact it targets the inequality which occurred in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

I recall fundamental changes as a public servant in the late 80s. The "nanny state" was being replaced by "user pays". Government departments, many hopelessly inefficient, were told they must make money, show a profit. It was a time when people could make a useful amount of money as a government contractor. It was also a time when unemployment peaked - to nearly 11 per cent in 1992.

There is a train of thought - and I notice this is prevalent in Wairarapa - that we have poverty because those who are "poor" have failed in life's choices. That those who are poor have within them the power to alter their circumstances, if only they could show a bit of backbone and common sense.

The legacy of those years in the 80s and 90s cannot be overcome in short order. It was a culture shock which poisoned us, and the next generation. We've always been a poor country - with two million-odd taxpayers it's hard not to be.

Having just returned from England (and having lived there), I've seen the intensity of European workers seeking a better life in England, willing to work hard. But in a country of millions of people, with the infrastructure to match, there is every kind of job. The country benefits from the intensity of the educated, motivated migrant. So does New Zealand.

Our poor may have failed in their choices. It is possible their parents failed them, and so on. Not everyone is capable of seeing possibilities, and that is a matter of education at home and at school. Otherwise, learned behaviour, among your peers, becomes the rule. Education has to dominate more, and that is where this country fails.