Looking to the past for solutions to Auckland's crises
Looking to the past for solutions to Auckland's crises
Can we learn from past crises to inform current solutions? That’s the theme behind this year’s Vaughan Park Sir Paul Reeves Memorial Lecture being delivered by historian Professor Michael Belgrave. The lecture at Massey University next Wednesday July 27 is entitled ‘Auckland in crisis: What should government do?’
Professor Belgrave says at a time when Auckland is facing major crises in housing, poverty and transportation, it’s worth remembering that the city’s been here before. He says post World War II Auckland was facing many of the issues it faces today, if not worse. “The city in 1945 had come through seven years of war, 10 years of depression and was facing phenomenal growth not only from the post-war baby boom but also from European, Māori and Pasifika migration to Auckland.”
Professor Belgrave compares the principles of two influential Māori leaders as examples of different approaches used in the past to deal with the kinds of problems we have today. Sir Āpirana Ngata believed people shouldn’t be dependent on the state and his policy of cultural renewal was aimed at remodeling tribal structures for a modern world.
On the other hand, T.W. Ratana championed equal access to resources and reducing inequality through government intervention. Professor Belgrave says while the proactive state ideals of Ratana got Auckland through its growth crisis in the 1950s, by the 1990s New Zealand had returned to policies more compatible with Ngata’s approach to social policy. So whose approach should Auckland follow in 2016?
Professor Belgrave says while some might think Ratana’s reliance on the state to solve social crises is the way to go, it’s important to understand the context around the government building programmes in the 1950s that hammered the city out of its predicament. Professor Belgrave’s lecture will ask whether lessons can be learned from this period or whether New Zealand has changed too much in the last half century.
The Vaughan Park Sir Paul Reeves Memorial Lecture is a free annual lecture dedicated to the memory of Sir Paul Reeves and the issues that engaged him. It is run by the Vaughan Park Retreat Centre in conjunction with Massey University and will be held at the Sir Neil Waters Lecture Theatre at Massey University in Albany on Wednesday 27th at 7pm.
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