Where is New Zealand’s Moral Compass Pointing?

29 July 2005

The Great Morality Debate Where is New Zealand’s Moral Compass Pointing?

If you knew you could get away with it, would you keep cash from a wallet dropped on the road? Make a dodgy insurance claim? Do you think it is okay to read or watch porn? How concerned are you about the amount of sex and violence in popular culture? How would you feel if your child’s teacher was gay?

New Zealanders’ views on a number of ethical and moral issues are about to be surveyed by the Sunday Star-Times in its Great Morality Debate.

The survey, open to all people over the age of 16, will be published in this week’s Sunday Star-Times (31st July) and will be online from Sunday on www.sstmorals.co.nz until midnight Sunday August 7th.

The Great Morality Debate will comprise 59 multi choice questions that fall under the following categories; Honesty, Sexual Morality, Drugs, the Right to Life, Prejudice, Religion, Consumer Issues, Society and Politics.

Sunday Star-Times editor Cate Brett says there has been heated debate over a number of moral and ethical issues recently, and this survey should be a good gauge of where New Zealand’s moral compass is pointing.

“We are trying to ascertain how New Zealanders feel on a number of different moral issues, and how much, if at all, these issues affect which party a person votes for at the upcoming general election.

“All answers will be treated anonymously and presented as statistics, but we will be able to drill down into the results by demographics to see for example, what National voters or people of certain religions or people in a particular income bracket think of certain issues.”

The results will be published in consecutive editions of the Sunday Star-Times in the lead up to the general election.

* The survey is being carried out by independent research company, Phoenix Research.

ENDS.

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