We need an aspirational vision from our politicians as we approach the elections

A pessimistic mood engulfs New Zealand/Aotearoa

As we approach the election, there are lessons for our politicians from Estonia. In an interview, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas describes how Estonia became a model for digital democracy and how this has created economic opportunities for growth and resiliency.

In New Zealand, we used to like to think of ourselves as innovative and edgy boutique trading country.

But the national mood and sense of achievement has recently soured. Polling by Roy Morgan in May 2023 showed that 54.5% of voters said New Zealand was ‘heading in the wrong direction’.

Political analysis, talkback radio and social media tell us that we are over-regulated and all our politicians seem to be stuck in a rut, deficient of any new, innovative ideas. Most importantly, they lack an aspirational vision for the country.

We are still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic and a huge damage to our infrastructure from cyclone Gabriel. The economy is in recession, and our reliance on China is looking risky.  Our main earners, primary industry exports and tourism have taken a dive. There is a cost-of-living crisis and interest rates are high. Teachers, nurses, and doctors have been on strike and educators are losing their jobs. And there is a sense that we are paying too much for climate change having contributed little to the global emissions problem in comparison to many much bigger emitting countries.

In 2018 there was optimism about New Zealand becoming “the digital Estonia of the South Pacific, “positioning New Zealand as a global leader in Government technology". There was talk of building a new global brand, around a high-tech or digital New Zealand.

But reality set in and found that nowhere in the world thinks we're good at high-tech, unless they're dealing specifically with us.

When they think of our food, sport, Hollywood special effects or the environment –national NZ cliches - they rarely associate us with the technology supports them.

A digital economy was seen as the way forward for us as a small country, a test bed for technological innovation in education, agritech, fintech and manufacturing.

Estonia has also made some bold moves in experimenting with modern methods of the decision-making process. 

In Estonia, all the services of Government are linked across one platform, accessed by an ID card. The Government data platform, X Road, links servers through encrypted pathways, with private firms also on the network. 

Government becomes both all-pervasive and invisible.

As the New Yorker magazine put it, "its government is virtual, borderless, blockchained and secure" and asks: "Has this tiny post-Soviet nation found the way of the future?"

Why we are not like Estonia

• Estonia demonstrates that developing a successful economy in the digital era requires societal change that is driven by national aspiration A successful transformation requires a leaders that are imbued with an aspirational, future-focussed vision. Do we have such leaders?

• A digital society cannot function where silos exist. Our health system is a prime example of many legacy systems that are not interoperable. Estonia’s comparatively low-cost X-Road solves the challenge of unhindered data exchange with a radical anti-silo philosophy.

• The courage to experiment and learn from mistakes. New Zealand is risk averse. The drivers of its economy, once a given 20 years ago, are losing their impetus (for example, relying on exporting commodities to China). We suffer from the ‘incumbent mentality’ – this is what we know and its worked this way for decades – until now. This is particularly evident in the primary industry export space and our approach to training and skilling – just import who we need.  Estonia’s willingness to take risks and alter course has resulted in a stronger, resilient and future focussed economy.

• Privacy and trust must come first in an information society. The Estonian experience has shown that e-solutions can be built safely without compromising privacy. Citizens have digital sovereignty over their data: users own their data, decide who they share it with, and can access it at any time. As the Estonian Prime Minister points out in the interview (22’09”), “the most sensitive data” is the data that allows government “to help people the most”. New Zealand is experiencing an all-time low level of trust and confidence in government and the media that report on it , so adopting an truly open data approach looks unlikely

  

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