Gone are the days of bold policies like our nuclear-free and anti-apartheid positions. 

Not so long ago I was proud as punch to say I was a New Zealander. No more so than when I was visiting another country. It was an invisible badge to wear, always there, always polished and ready to draw attention to. When people would ask where I was from I would let them rattle off their guesses (usually Australia, England, Canada), then they would finally proffer New Zealand and we would both smile like maniacs; them because they had only ever heard good things about New Zealand, me because I was tangibly proud of my homeland. But this invisible badge has largely disappeared for me now, chipped away by years of bad decisions – and worse, no decisions at all – leaving me with a badge of disillusionment in its place. A badge I am not proud to wear. 

Twenty years ago we were a country of 4 million people and 40 million sheep. Now, it seems, we are the sheep. Blindly following whatever happens overseas, trotting along behind, seemingly too scared to veer off the trail and forge our own path. We used to be the little island country with the “can-do” attitude, now it seems we’re the little island country with a sit back and “do it to us” attitude. 

Gone are the days of bold new policy like our nuclear-free and (after a struggle) anti-apartheid positions of the 1980s. Or Helen Clark’s government’s firm opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and refusal to send any combat troops, despite pressure from close allies. It’s a stark contrast with the current coalition government’s non-committal stance over the war in Iran.

It feels like we have lost our bravery and our heart – wonderful attributes that made us proud to be New Zealanders. 

There have certainly been some bold policy decisions made recently but they hardly inspire feelings of pride, and generate international headlines for all the wrong reasons. Like the decision to repeal our Smokefree 2025 legislation, which has contributed to New Zealand’s fall from an incredible second place global ranking on the Tobacco Industry Interference Index to an embarrassing 53rd place, earning us the label of “most deteriorated” last year. The index assesses how governments guard against tobacco industry interference and also protect their public health policies from tobacco industry interference (as is required under the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control). Meanwhile, smoking remains the biggest preventable cause of cancer in Aotearoa. 

There was the bold and abrupt Equal Pay Amendment Act last year, which introduced stricter and higher thresholds for raising pay equity claims and obliterated the 33 pay equity claims from female-dominated workforces that were active at the time. Quite a contrast to our bold, world-leading legislation of  September 19, 1893, which gave women the right to vote. I daresay Kate Sheppard would be turning in her grave at the Equal Pay Amendment Act. Oh, and then there’s the policies designed to scale back the use of te reo Māori in the public sector and to prioritise the use of English, policies seemingly designed to take our race-relations back 50 years.

But wait, let’s not forget the series of changes that have weakened our response to climate change. The clean car discount? Gone. Plans to price agricultural emissions? RIP. Then there’s the legislation rushed through to stop Mike Smith’s case, which was already in train, against the country’s biggest emitters. 

Where are the bold policies that make this a better country for everyone to live? The bold decisions that value people and equality? The bold moves that put us on the right side of history, not the wrong side? Where are the bold positions you would crow about when visiting another country.

There is no better feeling than pride in your own country. I’d like to feel it again. I want my badge back, please.