Duncan Garner: Paradise Lost? The choices facing two families
Duncan Garner: "Our teenagers are heading into a vastly complex world where economies are changing as fast as technology is, and disruption and uncertainty are everywhere". Photo / Getty Images
Opinion: I used to regard New Zealand as unique, a kind of paradise, akin to an isolated, innocent and slightly naive child yet to grow up. No matter what happened in the world, we had the sanctity, charm, creativity, work ethic and opportunity within our own country to make a great life for ourselves.
I have questioned that more times in the past three years than I wish to admit - and if that kind of paradise still exists it’s much harder to find. Stories from two families got me once again reflecting on it.
I gatecrashed a small farewell dinner held by a mate’s family last month in Hokianga. I say gatecrashed because I was staying with him, doing a bit of fishing, when he told us we were off to a small family dinner at the local hotel to farewell his nephew, Sam, who is heading to London in search of work.
I already knew Sam, through work and as a family friend, before I turned up at the dinner. He’s a young journalist who wants to live and work in New Zealand, but his industry has collapsed, it’s laying workers off not hiring them, and now he’s forced to find work overseas.
About 30 family members sat down to say goodbye, they made speeches and sang waiata and his dad said Sam may never return to live in NZ again. I guess it sounds dramatic, but it’s also a very real possibility.
Our country can no longer offer Sam a future in the industry he trained for just a few years ago.
His dad started to tear up. He lost his wife, Sam’s mum, to cancer a few years back, his daughter works in London and now his son is off. It was sad, but it’s also part of the NZ reality and our stumbling and struggling economy. I can’t see it improving for some time yet.
It made me reflect on my own start to working life. When I graduated with a journalism degree, I worked for the Taranaki Daily News in New Plymouth before being hired by TVNZ as one of two interns. I was paid $15,600 a year - half what the paper was paying me.
Everyone in our class of 31 had some kind of work lined up. I can’t imagine today’s recruits having the same story to tell. I doubt we now need as many journalism graduates.
A vastly complex world