Susan Wood interviews Volunteer Student Army founder
Sunday 21 July, 2013
Susan Wood interviews
Volunteer Student Army founder Sam
Johnson
Q+A, 9-10am Sundays on TV
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Q
+ A
SUSAN WOOD INTERVIEWS SAM
JOHNSON
SUSAN
So, what have you got that other people want,
Sam? Nice to have you in the studio.
SAM
JOHNSON – 2012 Young New Zealander of the
Year
Thanks for having me on. It’s great,
and it’s great to come on. I’ve just been in Fiji last
week – lucky place to go for a conference on the way that
the Pacific is preparing for disaster risk reduction, and
that’s the area as a foundation I’m particularly focused
on.
SUSAN
You’ve got really into it, haven’t you? You
mobilised a movement, a real force, an army, if you
like.
SAM
Yeah.
SUSAN How did you do
that? Because a lot of people try and
fail.
SAM Look,
the Student Army was a— it’s incredible. The response
that students gave to Christchurch is phenomenal, and it
only was thanks to a really strong team of people who all
were able to bring their individual skills to something.
And we talk about it – Jason, my colleague, who now runs
the foundation, and our wider team, just like young people
right around New Zealand – all specialising in different
areas, focusing on what they’re good at, being willing to
be wrong, being willing to ask for help and fundamentally
believing that change is possible, that you can look at
things in a different way, no matter what level of society
you’re on. It’s our philosophy – the skill of the
unskilled. I sit at a lot of conferences, and I’m the
only one without a PhD, but we say, ‘What about this
idea? What about this idea? Where are we going? Are we
fundamentally doing things that are right and taking our
country and world in a good
direction?’
SUSAN Do you think
you’ve changed the way people in New Zealand look at young
people – older people look at young people?
SAM I
think we have. I’m really proud to know that the way the
students responded has now completely changed the way we
look at young people in New Zealand. They’re not a
vulnerable group of people who we need to look after and we
need to care, like, ‘Oh, poor, poor
students.’
SUSAN
Does it drive you crazy, that? It drives me
nuts. I’ve got a couple of sons around your age, and
they’re fantastic like you are, and it drives me nuts the
whole stereotype of, you know, they’re all
losers.
SAM
But we shattered that now, and I think what’s
important is we’ve realised that, and that we realise that
particularly— so disaster preparedness around the world
– the last three years have cost a billion— over $100
billion. And the increase in extreme weather events,
increase in disasters – we’re realising the role that
young people have to play. And we know now that for every
dollar we spend in preparedness, and particularly, I guess,
on the back of Wellington having its shakes this morning and
the last few days, you know, it’s changing. We’ve got
to be prepared for these disasters, and we’ve got to be
prepared for people in all different positions to assume
positions and actually assume leadership and take
responsibility for what— the future they want to
see.
SUSAN You’re back
at university now. How’s that after what you’ve been
doing for the past couple of
years?
SAM It’s
good, actually. I’m, yeah, back finishing my law
degree. It’s, sort of, nearly final semester. It’s
nice to be back. It’s good just to have that debate
again – the debate that we have at school. At school –
at uni.
SUSAN At
uni.
SAM
It’s cool to see the way that the university has
responded to the student movement, like service learning has
really come into the University of Canterbury. And I think
and I predict, and that’s what I hope, that UC will do
exactly what Tulane University did in the States after
Hurricane Katrina, and that means we— Tulane now has more
applications to it than Harvard does because it’s a
university that’s embedded in the community. They take
the students— when you learn, you’re actually learning
how a community operates, how the economy
operates.
SUSAN
So you’re talking about things, for example, the
law students who go and help in the community, aren’t
you? You’re actually talking about— That’s
fantastic.
SAM
And of all the different disciplines, why
can’t— if you’re learning something, why aren’t you
out there doing it and actually learning exactly how the
world operates, how the community operates? And that was
the fun thing. You know, Christchurch is still in a
position that it’s hard there for a lot of people, but
it’s also— the group of people that I am with every day
through Volunteer Army Foundation, the Ministry of Awesome,
we are— we love Christchurch, and you couldn’t pay us to
move anywhere else, because of the innovation, the
excitement. You know, population numbers are up in
Christchurch, and we are going to be a— it’s a strong
place to be.
SUSAN How are you
going to keep this enthusiasm? You know, if you could
bottle it…? I mean, it’s infectious. I can feel
it. The panel are laughing. They can feel it too. How
do you keep it,
though?
SAM I focus
on doing things that I love. I focus on surrounding myself
with people much more intelligent than myself and people who
can really make things happen, building strong teams. I
think that’s the philosophy we take in Christchurch. We
specialise in different areas with what we’re good at and
focus on
that.
SUSAN So is there a
future in politics for you, do you think?
SAM
I’m interested in change, interested in ideas.
Politics is one tool to do that. I’m not sure yet
whether in the front of politics is the right thing or
behind the scenes or doing something overseas or a
combination of all three, which is probably the answer. So
we’ll see what
happens.
SUSAN
You turned down Lianne Dalziel as running mate for
the mayoralty. We hear a whisper that you might be up for
the Christchurch East seat. No?
SAM
No, I’m not, thank
you, but thanks for the offer.
SUSAN Great
response.
SAM Yeah,
no, there’s whispers that go around. And I think, you
know, Christchurch elections – it’s going to be—
it’s a real turning point for Christchurch. These
elections – we can thank Mayor Bob for the great job that
he’s done in that council, and now it’s time jjfor
someone new. And some of those councillors, a lot of those
senior staff I imagine will— may resign or head away.
It’s a good thing. We need different people in there.
It’s a different role. This council – it’s our
opportunity to turn it round. And I’ve had three years
on a community board there – really lucky to serve on a
community board, actually. Great work that they do, but we
need to shift it around. We need those community boards to
have a bit more power. We need some different people on
those boards with new ideas, and,
actually—
SUSAN How do you
mobilise young people to get on? I mean, you look at the
boards – they’re all 60-plus and it’s blimmin’ dull,
I must say.
SAM
Yeah.
SUSAN
But it’s important, so how do you mobilise young
people to get involved?
SAM
I think it starts, say,
with volunteering. It starts with service – that
actually getting out there and learning about how a
community operates, learning about why a bus stop ended up
outside your house or why if a tsunami comes across, like
when we worked in Japan after the tsunamis, what you can do
and why it matters to be prepared for change, prepared for a
different circumstance, with extreme weather events on rise,
with looking at this earthquake. We live in a
disaster-prone city. How can we make sure we’re prepared
for that, and who’s the biggest player in preparing, is
locally. How do you make sure we’re ready for what
happens? And I think, particularly, a story I love is what
happened after the tsunami in Japan. There was a group of
students – high-school students – who took their
primary-school kids – primary-school students – they
didn’t obey their teachers and said, ‘We’re not high
enough on this two-storey building,’ and they ran them up
a hill. And they disobeyed their teachers in Japan, which
is a huge thing to do. And it was a real signal and a real
sign, the story, that, actually, young people’s thinking,
our fresh ideas and just being able to think independently
– critically – is so important for disasters and for the
world as we move forward.
SUSAN Right, you got
me. I bought it. Good
luck.
SAM Thank
you.
SUSAN Lovely to talk
to you, Sam Johnson.
SAM
You
too.
ENDS