The plan we need to keep our young people in New Zealand

Thursday, 2 October 2025

A blunt message about young people’s prospects, postered around central Wellington earlier this year.

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Sophie Handford was one of the organisers of the Schools Strikes for Climate and served two terms on the Kapiti District Council, likely making her New Zealand’s youngest ever elected councillor. She is the Future Generations Lead at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa.

OPINION: Every day, 201 young New Zealanders like me pack their bags and board planes overseas. They’re not necessarily chasing adventure or a classic OE, they’re leaving because it feels impossible to build a secure and thriving future here at home.

And it’s not because we aren’t trying hard enough. The latest research from the Financial Services Council shows Gen Z are actually a “savings generation”. We’re disciplined, engaged with KiwiSaver, and trying to do the right thing.

But despite this, 93% say they’re deeply worried about the cost of living, and more than half admit they’d have to lean on friends or whānau if they lost their job. Even as they prepare responsibly, they’re confronting a future they don’t feel confident about.

This shouldn’t be the story of young people in Aotearoa, nor does it have to be the story for anyone here. But unfortunately, more and more Kiwis are doing it tough. There’s a growing sense of frustration, which I argue is partially rooted in our country’s poor track record of long-term planning.

You can see it in our underfunded infrastructure, the decline in freshwater quality, and the constant policy flip-flops that come with every election cycle (hello Cook Strait ferries!). It feels like we lack a vision and plan to guide us into the future.

That’s why, I’m really excited to be working with other rangatahi on a campaign called Tomorrow Together. We want to spark a national conversation about what we truly want for our future, and what it would mean to put future generations at the heart of every decision we make.

Former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer told the recent launch function for the Tomorrow Together discussion document that the big policy problems facing the country can’t be solved with quick fixes.

Our newly released discussion document is an invitation: how do we, together, shape a future that the next generations can feel confident in, hopeful about, and excited to inherit?

But don’t get it wrong: this isn’t about skipping over the current generations. This is fundamentally about ensuring everyone in this country has what they need to thrive now, in order to be good ancestors.

It’s also not just something from one side of the political divide. When we launched the discussion document at Parliament, we were supported by the youngest MPs from four political parties: Tom Rutherford (National), Arena Williams (Labour), Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (Te Pāti Māori), and Tamatha Paul ( Greens). We were also joined by two former prime ministers, Jim Bolger (National) and Sir Geoffrey Palmer (Labour).

In his speech, Sir Geoffrey skilfully outlined many of the problems we face, and how a Future Generations Act could help. He highlighted how, “the greatest policy problems of our time – and I think particularly of climate change here – cannot be solved with quick fixes or political expedients”.

Sophie Handford, who has completed two terms as a Kapiti councillor, is now helping lead a push to make future generations a focus of our planning and policy-making.

“They require the kind of sustained commitment and forward-thinking approach that our current democratic structures struggle to provide.”

All of this is why we see political decisions being made that ignore climate risks, allow rivers to become unswimmable, and leave inequality to deepen completely unchecked.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Other countries are showing what’s possible. Wales passed a Future Generations Act nearly a decade ago, ensuring every public decision is measured against the wellbeing of those yet to be born. Australia and Scotland are following suit. Finland, too, has a permanent cross-party Committee for the Future that reviews government plans against long-term risks and opportunities.

In the past we’ve led on issues like nuclear free and women’s suffrage, and it’s time for us to step up again. We can, and should, lead in this area too. We can do this by building on Te Tiriti-led indigenous approaches that are already grounded in intergenerational responsibility, and by committing to structural safeguards like a Future Generations Act.

This isn’t about left or right politics. It’s about fairness. It’s about recognising that the people most affected by today’s decisions, young New Zealanders and generations yet to come, deserve more than the scraps of short-term thinking.

For Jim Bolger, the two big responsibilities we have to future generations are to ensure a healthy, clean environment (including clean water), and putting in place economic policies that provide opportunities for all.

We’re standing at a crossroads. We can keep losing young people to the sense that their future lies elsewhere, and we can keep degrading our environment for the hope of short-term economic gains. Or we can create a system that values foresight, responsibility, and care for those who follow and give young people a reason to stay, and to feel hopeful.

I know which path I’d rather take.

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