Kia ora

We are still fizzing from the Economy for Public Good Conference in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland last week!

At the conference we reported back on Gareth’s Economics Listening Tour, we launched our open letter campaign and published our new digital and printed resource – The Turbulent Times.

Our Global Economics and Policy Lead Amanda Janoo travelled from the States to spend some time in Aotearoa discussing the global movement for a Wellbeing Economy.

The team would like to welcome two new trustees, Qiulae Antony and Joanne Waitoa and acknowledge the service of Suzy Morrissey.

We are a matter of weeks before voting begins. Elections are an opportunity in a democracy for citizens and candidates to talk about the big things and our mission to redesign our economic system to deliver wellbeing for people and planet by default is crucial.

Please add your name to our open letter calling on our elected leaders to take up policies that enhance our community wellbeing, that encourage participation in our decision making from locals, and that solve the big issues we collectively face.

Ngā mihi
WEAll Aotearoa team

Economy for Public Good

Thank you to everyone who made this a success! We had over 250 people gather together to discuss moving beyond a broken ‘business as usual’ economy and reshaping our economy to deliver wellbeing for nature and all our people.

Thank you to speakers who covered a deep range of topics from Mātauranga Māori approaches, Doughnut Economics, Degrowth and more as well as practical trainings on narratives and systems. Amanda Janoo WEAll’s Global Economics and Policy Lead brought an international perspective an inspiring message.

We can see the ideas discussed in the room are being worked on in the community, in businesses and in academia and the widespread acknowledgement we need to get our economic system settings right. One key reflection is the inspiration the country can take from the leadership of Māori.

We were struck by the diversity of sectors in the room and heartened to see the connections made between people inspired to progress past GDP, and create an economy where people and nature thrive.

Thank you to the team behind the scenes who made the day such a success and our sponsors Partners For a New Economy, AUT, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, Good Sense and The Kaka.

We will be sharing a professional recording of the conference and plan to share slides.

Turbulent Times

We have just launched a new digital and printed resource The Turbulent Times. This zine has the byline ‘only an economy for public good can change.’ It outlines what a Wellbeing Economy could look like and how we can get there. Please have a read.

WEAll-Turbulent-Times-Final-Digital

WEAll Aotearoa’s Open Letter

We were proud to launch our open letter at the Economy for Public Good conference.

The letter has signatories from key organisations in Aotearoa including The Council of Trade Unions, Oxfam, New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services, Action Station and many others.

We have written this letter outlining a positive vision of the future – a world with dignity, where everyone has enough to live in comfort, safety, and happiness. An economy with purpose, with participation where citizens are actively engaged in their communities and locally rooted economies. An economy with fairness and justice is at the heart with a restored and safe natural world for all life.

The open letter also has some principled and practical policy ideas as a wero to politicians – asking them about the transformational change they plan to take on to address our dual crises of climate change and growing inequality

If you would like to add your name to this call to action, please do sign on to this letter, and share amongst your networks too.

Thank you to Ravaani Ghaemmaghamy, who has volunteered a considerable amount of time towards making this a success.

Amanda Janoo in Aotearoa

We are deeply appreciative of Amanda Janoo travelling to Aotearoa to give the keynote presentation at Economy for Public Good and we were fortunate to spend a week with her meeting people in Tāmaki Makaurau and Pōneke discussing the global movement towards and international examples of a Wellbeing Economy.

Amanda and Country Lead Gareth Hughes met with Mayor of Wellington Tory Whanau, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman at Koi Tū, Treasury, Greater Wellington Regional Councillors Thomas Nash and Yadana Saw and gave presentations to Motu Economics, Auckland University Public Policy Institute, the Wellington Regional Leadership Committee and Te Hiko Centre for Community Innovation.

• Amanda Janoo wrote an opinion article for the New Zealand Herald
• Gareth spoke to RNZ about his economics listening tour
• He also published an article in Stuff on it
• Gareth spoke with lawyer Steven Moe on the Seeds Podcast
• WEAll Aotearoa is part of the Better Taxes for Better Future coalition and the press release for the launch can be found here. 

Prior to the conference we hosted two webinars that you can watch now, one discussing a world beyond growth and exploring Green Growth and Degrowth perspectives with Peter Nunns, Peri Zee, Professor Jonathan Boston ONZM and Jack Santa Barbara.

Our second webinar looked at better long-term thinking where we put people and planet at the heart of our decision-making. The Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa was privileged to host Sophie Howe, who has recently completed her seven-year term as inaugural Future Generations Commissioner for Wales and Sacha McMeeking, Ngāi Tahu, Associate Professor of Wellbeing at the University of Canterbury who led the development of He Ara Waiora Treasury’s Māori wellbeing framework.

Stay Connected

Thank you for your support for WEAll Aotearoa. We are a charity that relies on donations and philanthropic funding. If you can support our mahi please get in touch with our Country Lead Gareth Hughes.

We currently are assembling a team of high profile champions for an economy that delivers wellbeing for people and planet and would appreciate any recommendations or introductions

To hear future news, upcoming webinars and other opportunities to join this mahi you can follow us on LinkedIn Facebook and Twitter.