Tomorrow Together: A Future Generations Act for Aotearoa NZ?

Our political system struggles to account for the long term: climate breakdown, housing unaffordability, biodiversity loss. Tomorrow Together is a movement for inter-generational fairness launched in Parliament last month, hosted by the youngest MPs from across the political spectrum, with reflections from former Prime Ministers, Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Jim Bolger (just before his death). 

The Tomorrow Together Discussion Document launched in Parliament includes a proposal for a Future Generations Act (which has several international precedents), as a cornerstone for long-term decision-making that puts people and planet first, and learns from te ao Māori.

Find out more, ask questions, and be part of this conversation with Sophie Handford (Tomorrow Together campaign lead) and Thomas Blakie (Ngāi Tahu) (member of the rangatahi leadership crew for the campaign.

Our monthly Spirited Conversations are hosted by Durham Street Methodists, as part of our commitment to bringing critical thinking, and ethical & spiritual insights to important issues of the day for our city and its diverse peoples.

Thomas Blakie is a youth advocate focused on intergenerational justice. He has worked with his iwi authority Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu on strategic policy, served as a UNICEF Young Ambassador, and is now part of the rangatahi leadership group for Tomorrow Together. He is currently undertaking a Master of Policy and Governance focusing on Ngāi Tahu governance and economies in the Ōtākaro-Avon River Corridor.

Sophie Handford is an activist and former Councillor, having founded the School Strike 4 Climate movement in Aotearoa and then gone on to serve two terms on the Kapiti Coast District Council. She believes strongly in the need for us to step into the responsibility of being good ancestors in the midst of intersecting crises, which is the spirit central to Tomorrow Together, a campaign she is now working on at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) Aotearoa.