“We are proud to support the Visionweek web summit, which will start the conversation on a national vision for New Zealand,” says Paul Blair, CEO of Infrastructure New Zealand.

“Visionweek runs from 8-12 June. It is a free, inclusive opportunity for individuals, businesses, iwi and communities to share their vision for what the well-being of New Zealanders should look like in 5, 10, or 50 years.

“A national vision will give purpose and direction to $100 billion worth of public spending and will heavily influence the remaining $200 billion of private spending in our economy.

“The COVID-19 crisis showed us that an aligned nation of five million can achieve world-leading results when we know what we’re trying to achieve.

“With a vision to give us the ‘why?’, a long term, integrated national plan is possible, providing clarity on what is important, where, how and who is responsible for delivery. With a long-term plan for the success of our country, we can generate ‘additional effort’ from people and communities towards our shared goals.

“It is time to focus on the comparative strengths we have as a nation, including our early exit from COVID lockdown. We also need to address some of the critical areas where New Zealand lags OECD peers such as housing quality and affordability, equality of opportunity, productivity and addressing climate change.

“Our Finance Minister in his pre-Budget speech said “there are few times in life when the clock is reset. Now is the time we should address these long-term issues. It is a privilege many countries won't have. It's not one we should squander,"

“A series of fantastic speakers will put forward their ideas on five daily digital TV programmes as a thought starter for hearing what you, as organisations and as individuals, believe our country should look like.

“Speakers include Peter Beck, Frances Valintine, Tamati Kruger, Sir Peter Gluckman, Kate Boylan, Shamubeel Equab, Dr Rod Carr, Rachel Taulelei, Sir Stephen Tindall, Nicole Rosie and Rod Drury amongst many more.

“We urge all our members and their staff to register for the summit at visionweek.co.nz, and to start thinking about how they can contribute to this shared vision. Participants should post their ideas, videos, polls or other content using the #visionweekNZ hashtag on Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter, so these ideas can be shared through the platform.

“To learn more about how your team can get involved in #visionweekNZ, you could register for one of two briefings where the Visionweek team will outline how to get involved. Click this link for a session today, and this link for the Thursday session.

“We have a rare opportunity to set a long-term vision and create a national strategic plan for New Zealand to lift the wellbeing of all New Zealanders - we now look forward to your engagement to bring these ideas forward,” says Blair.

Visionweek is made possible by the support of multiple partners, including Sustainable Business Council, the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, InternetNZ, the Ministry for the Environment, Infrastructure New Zealand and ASN Media.

© Scoop Media