It’s been just over a month since I stepped into the role of Leader of The Opportunity Party. In that time, I’ve been to eleven cities around the country - meeting innovators, community leaders, volunteers, and everyday New Zealanders who are keen to see this place thrive.

I’ve been inspired and energised by the conversations but also left wondering - where is our country going? What is our North Star?

So over the summer break, I’m encouraging all of you - while you gaze up to the southern cross on a balmy summer’s evening - to ponder what kind of Aotearoa New Zealand you want to see in 2050.

Looking back to look forward 

We are a nation of innovators. It’s in our DNA. We built world-first technologies from the shearing shed to the rocket launchpad. We’ve created globally competitive companies from a tiny domestic market. We’ve been early movers on renewable energy, biotech, digital services, and advanced manufacturing.

But somewhere along the way, we stopped backing ourselves. We became reactive instead of visionary. We became risk-averse instead of bold. We fell into the habit of tinkering at the edges rather than building something bigger.

A team of 5 million 

As a country we’re small and mighty (smaller than cities like Melbourne or London) and we know how to punch above our weight on the world’s stage. But that requires us to work together. We need a shared vision that unites us - one that aligns government, business, education, and communities - so every Kiwi has a stake in our collective success. 

That’s exactly what Ireland did in the 1990s. Faced with low productivity, high emigration, and limited resources, they found a North Star and committed to it as a nation. The result? A remarkable economic transformation that put them on the global innovation map. New Zealand can do the same in our own way that solves the challenges of today. But we need courage, ambition, and a plan.

Innovation is our funnel for the future

Over the past month I met with start-up hubs like CreativeHQ in Wellington, ManawaTech and The Factory in Palmerston North, and frontline conservationists like Predator Free Wellington and the Wildlife Hospital in Dunedin. What struck me is how powerful the innovation gene is in Kiwis if we get the chance to tap into it. Whether it’s robots that make ‘fish smoothies’ for sick Hoihō or break-through technology for low carbon cement, our quirky minds at the bottom of the world are capable of dreaming big. 

But we have to fund this properly. The success stories of today were born of support and investment over the past 10-20 years and if we stop feeding the funnel, the pipeline of great businesses will also dwindle. 

And there’s no shortage of challenges for our best and brightest minds to solve - climate action, food security, energy prices, infrastructure deficits. If we can show our young people there’s a pathway for them to succeed and contribute, we might just slow down the mass exodus and entice some of our cleverest to return from their stints overseas. 

I know that for me, the opportunity to come home to Auckland to raise my kids, and contribute positively to the country that raised me, was a very strong pull after nearly a decade in London. 

Powering that innovation on renewables and nature

Not many countries can say they run their energy systems at more than 80% renewable and protect a third of their land for native forestry and conservation. 

This is an extraordinary foundation to build on. Around the world, businesses are looking for green power, clean manufacturing, low-carbon supply chains, and countries with the conditions to host the industries of the future.

New Zealand should be at the front of that queue. We know this is our comparative advantage but we are at risk of losing our global reputation as kaitiaki of nature, and we need to bring it squarely back into focus if we are to fulfil those shoes with integrity. 

The thread that brings it together - Community

Another theme came through strongly in my conversations this month: New Zealanders feel increasingly disconnected. Isolation, individualism, and widening social divides are pulling at our social fabric. That is not the Kiwi way.

Whether I was speaking with volunteers supporting new refugees to settle into their homes, neighbourhood groups setting up community gardens, parents worried about the impact of social media on their kids - the message was the same: we need to reconnect. We are better people when we participate in our community.

Volunteering and local democracy aren’t “nice to haves.” They’re essential to the health of our society. When people feel part of something, they look after each other. They build trust. They build belonging.

And belonging is the strongest antidote we have to division.

New Zealand is ready for a reset. Not a small one — a generational one.

After a month on the road, I’m determined to work with you to build a plan for our country that is bigger than politics.

We want a country where innovation thrives and communities flourish. A country that keeps its talent, leverages its strengths, and builds a sense of shared purpose again.

I look forward to hearing more of your ideas in 2026 for what that future could look like. Because when we find our shared vision, everything else becomes possible.

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