N.Z. ’needs global view’

Press, 14 August 1976, Page 20

N.Z. ’needs global view’

New Zealanders had to adopt a global vision, looking 30 years or so into the future, rather than thinking just of their own families and what might happen to them within the next few weeks, the leader of the Values Party (Mr Tony Kunowski) said. He told a meeting of the Canterbury branch of the Institute of International Affairs that mankind could survive only through global planning and co-operation. He said that issues like overpopulation and the increasing breakdown of the earth’s ecosystems were beyond national, political, and religious ideologies.. Quoting from studies published by the Club of Rome (a group of influential international

scientists and industrialists), Mr Kunowski said that if traditional patterns of growth continued, the economic and environmental structure of society would collapse by the middle of next century. Zero population and economic growth was needed urgently to restore global equilibrium. “Such a change of direction can only come about through a change of values at the individual, national and international level,” said Mr Kunowski. This would require a great effort on the part of the developed nations, not because they had greater intelligence or humanity but because they were the instigators of growth and were therefore at the fountainhead of change. Mr Kunowski said that

much would be done through proper aid to developing countries. For instance, the Values Party would prohibit the establishment in New Zealand of an industry that would compete directly with a poorer country. The Fijian sugar beet industry was an example. Mr Kunowski said that creating global equilibrium required a fairer distribution of wealth not only inside nations but also between nations. It was unfair, for example, that a New Zealand child could call upon 50 times more of the world’s resources than could a child in an underdeveloped country. If one New Zealander cut his consumption of resources by 10 per cent, this would allow five people in a country like India to live twice as well as they were doing now. Mr Kunowski said that the repercussions of an inequitable distribution of wealth would make themselves felt more widely and severely unless a new global form of thinking was adopted. An example of how these repercussions rippled through the whole fabric of society was the failure of the Russian wheat harvest in 1972-3. The Russians subsequently bought large amounts of wheat from the United ! States, pushing up the : price of wheat and causing world-wide inflation. Soccer.—-Australia's gamble on its soccer youth failed when [Hong Kong beat the “Socccroos” .1-0 at Manuka Oval in Canberra. 'Although the many newcomers Ito the side played their hearts • out. they were unable to give [Australia continued momentum.