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The tagline runs: "The story of unemployment in New Zealand" and In A Land of Plenty is an exploration of just that; it takes as its starting point the consensus from The Depression onwards that Godzone economic policy should focus on achieving full employment, and explores how this was radically shifted by the 1984 Labour government. Director Alister Barry's perspective is clear, as he trains a humanist lens on ‘Rogernomics' to argue for the policy's negative effects on society, "as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed".
The surprising success of our feature documentary, Someone Else's Country, at the 1996 New Zealand International Film Festival and the flurry of mail-order vhs sales that followed opened the possibility of a wide New Zealand audience ...
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This is a good historical documentary. I learnt a lot. However, I think portraying pre-1984 New Zealand as a utopia is misrepresentative. There was a reason we pursued these changes.
By 1984 commodity prices had fallen and our meat and wool industry was only being propped up by government subsidies. This meant the goverment ran a large deficit and the country had a large trade deficit. (Muldoon kept the sorry state of the government books a closely guarded secret.) There was a risk of the reserve bank going bankrupt. And we had 15% inflation and 5% unemployment.
The pre-1984 situation was undesireable and unsustainable. So I think this documentary was unfairly harsh on a government that had to deal with serious economic problems,
I was moved and very pleased to have the past 30 years so clearly examined. A society is judged by the way they treat the most vulnerable. How is NZ doing? Probably not so well.
Great film, very well done although certainly taken from a left wing perspective.
INCREDIBLE. I would love to see it as part of the school curriculum, along with a presentation of the current economic model being championed by the right, IMAGINE THAT!
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Television, 1964 (Full Length)
A 1964 doco on NZ’s then-largest public works construction project
Television, 2000 (Excerpts)
An episode looking at economic change in NZ society in the Twentieth Century
Short Film, 1948 (Full Length)
A 1948 documentary looking at 24 hours of work on the railways, from the Weekly Review series
Television, 1970 (Full Length)
Brian Edwards brokers an industrial dispute
Television, 1996 (Full Length Episode)
Also explores how Rogernomics affected unemployment
Television, 1996 (Full Length Episode)
Also explores how Rogernomics affected unemployment
Television, 1996 (Full Length Episode)
Also explores how Rogernomics affected unemployment
Television, 1986 (Full Length Episode)
A drama series set in a community house in the 80s
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Outstanding Website
The ONYAs 2010 & 2011
Best Entertainment Website
Finalist – Website design
Qantas Media Awards 2009
NZ ON SCREEN 2012
This website has been made with funding from NZ ON AIR ›
The synopsis and credits are included
tt
Posted at 08.12AM - 13.11.2011
I just wanted to say what a great documentary that was. Very moving.
I'm from Finland and we've had the same sort of neoliberal attack on the welfare state since the 80s although it hasn't been as severe as in New Zealand. Let's hope that with the recent Occupy demonstrations around the world we can educate each other about what's going on in the world and build up popular movements to call for full employment policies.