18 Months in Review – What we’ve been up to

by | Dec 21, 2020 | Uncategorized

1. Our 2020 work programme

Our 2020 work programme, like many, was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The image at right illustrates an outline of the 2020 work programme. It is not an exact representation of all the work completed this year; however, it does provide an overview illustration of the research and policy projects we have focused on.

The McGuinness Institute is in a unique position to be able to adjust and respond to emerging issues, and redirect our resources and time where we see a space in which we can provide useful input. In March this year, as COVID-19 made its way around the world, the Institute set up Project PandemicNZ as a research project that aims to help New Zealand prepare for future pandemics, as well as manage and learn from the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Midway through 2020, we redesigned the McGuinness Institute website. Each policy project and research project previously had its own website. All of these have now been removed and pulled into the main website for ease of access and navigation. Thanks must go to our two designers, Becky Jenkins and Billie McGuinness, for their skills and dedication to producing a website that is both user-friendly and aesthetically beautiful. Our work programme for 2021 will be available on our website in March 2021.

2. Our research approach and Project 2058 

Project 2058 is the Institute’s flagship project focusing on New Zealand in the year 2058. In 2008, we selected the year 2058 to guide our thinking as it was  distant enough in the future to avoid self-interest but close enough to realistically drive our work forward. We have three policy projects and seven research projects; policy feeds research and research feeds policy (see image on right). Where possible we aim to create a systems approach to our work and use lessons from the past. Understanding history and change is central to thinking clearly about possible futures.

November 2020: Nation Dates (fourth edition) In November 2020, the Institute released the fourth edition of our signature book, Nation Dates: Timelines of significant events that have shaped the history of Aotearoa New Zealand. Threads link related events and illustrate patterns that have formed over time. Each thread belongs to one of nine domains, which are based on the 12 domains in the Treasury’s Living Standards Framework. The fourth edition contains 77 additional dates as well as four new timelines, including one that chronicles the COVID-19 pandemic from its inception in late December 2019 through to November 2020. Visit the Nation Dates website for more information. The books are available for purchase here.

3. Our three policy projects

Our three interlinked policy projects were developed as a result of our observation that foresight drives strategy, strategy requires reporting, and reporting shapes foresight. In practice, each of these policy tools must work with the others if we want New Zealand to develop durable, robust and forward-looking public policy.

3.1 ForesightNZ

This project aims to explore New Zealand’s possible futures. Learn more about Project ForesightNZ here. Past initiatives and events include:

3–5 July 2019: KiMuaNZ three-day workshop KiMuaNZ brought together 40 young New Zealanders between the ages of 18 and 25 who have a connection with the Pacific. They shared experiences and understandings of climate change issues in order to develop different scenarios for New Zealand and our Pacific neighbours. The workshop was intended to amplify Pasifika voices, develop futures thinking capability and help build a more informed and cohesive society. It aimed to also contribute to a continued conversation about climate change allowing us to develop potential responses for adapting to and mitigating climate-related risks. More information about participants and speakers is available here. You can view the final presentation held at Government House here. Following the workshop, the participants prepared a publication which is available to read here. You can read blogs from each day of the workshop here:

We would especially like to thank Hulita Koloi for her beautiful artwork which appears on the front cover of the booklet and now hangs proudly on the wall at the McGuinness Institute office.

30 September–1 October 2020: Asia Pacific Foresight Group meeting CEO Wendy McGuinness was invited to be a part of the Asia Pacific Foresight Group (APFG), a small group of strategic foresight practitioners working in NGOs, governments and different industries across 32 countries in the Asia Pacific region. Each participant was invited to talk about a ‘megatrend’ that may impact the region over the next 5–20 years. Read the blog here to find out more about the meeting and Wendy’s presentation. The final output of the Asia Pacific Foresight Group meeting was a report titled Asia Pacific Megatrends 2040: Outputs from the First Dialogue of the Asia Pacific Foresight Group, which provides a useful conceptual framework for identifying and characterising future trajectories of change to inform present-day strategic and operational choices. You can view the report here.

30 November 2019: Revisiting Tomorrow: Navigating with Foresight Revisiting Tomorrow, held at the National Library, was a public event that brought together former Prime Minister Rt Hon Jim Bolger, Dame Silvia Cartwright, Peter Rankin, Tāmati Kruger and Amy Fletcher. The speakers were invited to reflect on two future-focused past government initiatives, the New Zealand Planning Council and the Commission for the Future. With both having been disestablished, the speakers reflected on what can be learned from the two organisations and how New Zealand might be able to integrate these lessons to better embed foresight into public policy, particularly in the context of emerging issues such as climate change and new economic models. You can view the group discussion and presentations from each speaker here. Please visit the blog here for a summary of each speaker’s presentation. The audience was given a ‘Revisiting Tomorrow Newspaper’ and you can view the PDF here. Discussion on past future-focused initiatives can be found in Report 11 – A History of Future-thinking Initiatives in New Zealand 1936-2010: Learning from the past to build a better future.

April 2020: Think Piece 34 – I am hungry for a vision for our country (Phil Royal) Phil Royal, a former managing partner and board member of PwC in New Zealand, contributed this think piece, discussing New Zealand’s opportunity to forge a new path in the wake of COVID-19. He discusses new ideas from leading thinkers in New Zealand who are having the important conversations about our future trajectory. The think piece imagines a principle-based framework that would drive decision-making and strategic thinking for the future of New Zealand. You can read the think piece here.

June 2020: Think Piece 35 – Where next? A Garden of Eden of or Slough of Despond? (Sir Michael Cullen) Hon Sir Michael Cullen, former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Attorney General of New Zealand, contributed this think piece, discussing how New Zealand might build a better economy and place to live in the wake of COVID-19. He says, ‘Whether it will be seen as a disaster or the beginning of a better age will depend on the honesty, courage, and unity we, as a nation, can show over the next couple of years. It is time to move beyond self-congratulation on what we did during the crisis. It is time to reckon with the much harder task of fulfilling the promise inherent in that time for our children and grandchildren.’

3.2 StrategyNZ 

May–June 2019: Government Department Strategy Index The McGuinness Institute regularly updates an index of government department strategies (GDSs), with an eye to establishing a culture of best practice and guidelines for devising GDSs. The following series of working papers refines the methodology for how the GDSs are indexed, lists expired and active strategies, records the scoring cards that determine the ratings of the strategies and presents the final results and analyses of the GDS index.

You can find more information about the GDS Index here.

3.3 ReportingNZ

This project aims to develop stronger systems to chronicle and shape New Zealand’s progress. Project ReportingNZ has been a major focus for the Institute since 2017. Learn more about ReportingNZ here. Note that the majority of ReportingNZ-related work was based on exploring the issue of climate change, and almost all of the publications produced in 2019 under ReportingNZ explored climate-related reporting practices in both the public and private sector. See Section 5.2 below for more climate change initiatives. Past initiatives and events include:

September 2019: Climate reporting insights from the UK Wendy McGuinness visited the UK in the first half of 2019 and organised a series of meetings with a number of organisations to gather expert perspectives on corporate disclosures in the UK, particularly in relation to climate change. Wendy spoke with a number of people from the following organisations: the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Green Finance Team, Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), ClientEarth, EcoAct, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Lab, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). These meetings were invaluable to Discussion Paper 2019/01 – The Climate Reporting Emergency (discussed below). The key takeaways have been written up in a blog available here.

September 2019: Working Paper 2019/05 – Reviewing Voluntary Reporting Frameworks Mentioned in 2017 and 2018 Annual Reports This working paper explores the extent to which New Zealand’s most significant organisations are adopting recognised voluntary reporting frameworks within their 2017 and 2018 annual reports. The data is collected from both the private sector (NZX-listed companies and Deloitte Top 200 companies) and the public sector (government departments, Crown agents and Crown entities, district health boards, Crown research institutes, local authorities and state-owned enterprises). The research has a specific interest in climate change or environmental reporting. The working paper contributes to Discussion Paper 2019/01 – The Climate Reporting Emergency as well as Report 17: Building a Reporting Framework Fit For Purpose, two big pieces of work that sit under the ReportingNZ policy project. You can view working paper 2019/05 here.  

September 2019: Working Paper 2019/06 – Analysis of Climate Change Reporting in Public and Private Sectors This working paper explores the extent to which New Zealand’s most significant organisations are reporting climate-related information in their 2017 and 2018 annual reports. Climate reporting is broken into climate change risks and initiatives, and carbon emission metrics, costs, controls and targets. The data is collected from both the private sector (NZX-listed companies and Deloitte Top 200 companies) and the public sector (government departments, Crown agents and Crown entities, district health boards, Crown research institutes, local authorities and state-owned enterprises). The working paper contributes to Discussion Paper 2019/01 – The Climate Reporting Emergency as well as Report 17: Building a Reporting Framework Fit For Purpose, two big pieces of work that sit under the ReportingNZ policy project. You can view Working Paper 2019/06 here.

September 2019: Think Piece 32 – Exploring Ways to Embed Climate Reporting in the Existing Framework This think piece maps out the existing reporting framework in terms of relevant international organisations, pronouncements and legislation, and the New Zealand framework and legislation. ‘Policy levers’ that could be used to embed climate-related reporting into the framework are then explored. Further, the think piece explores the remit of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill in order to identify gaps that might need to be filled via other legislative options. The think piece was prepared specifically for the Select Committee Hearing on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill and supports Discussion Paper 2019/01 – The Climate Reporting Emergency (discussed below). You can view the think piece here.

October 2019: Discussion Paper 2019/01 – The Climate Reporting Emergency: A New Zealand case study This discussion paper was one of the Institute’s largest outputs of 2019 in terms of the time, resources, dedication and research that went into completing it. The publication explores the existing reporting framework from a climate change perspective. It illustrates the global challenges faced by businesses and countries that wish to improve climate-related reporting in order to develop long-term strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The paper explores existing institutions and instruments, the legislative context, the mandatory reporting framework and existing voluntary initiatives. It then goes on to explore a series of ‘policy knots’, the international context and puts forward a design-solution for incorporating climate-related financial disclosures into the existing reporting framework. You can read the full report here.

October 2019: TCFD Workshops – Practical steps for implementation (Auckland and Wellington) On 16 and 17 October, the Institute partnered with Simpson Grierson to host two workshops exploring the Recommendations of the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) in Auckland and Wellington. The sessions were intended to provide attendees with a practical overview of the TCFD recommendations and their implementation within both public and private sector reporting. A series of speakers from different sectors and industries spoke, with Hon James Shaw opening the workshop in Wellington, and Nick Smith, partner at Simpson Grierson, opening the Auckland workshop. You can view the presentations from speakers in the blog here. Participants were provided with a TCFD ‘Strategy’ Exercise, prepared by the Institute, which assisted them to examine the scenario-based disclosure recommendation under TCFD. They explored various pathways that helped them think about the extent to which climate will affect the business environment, and were then required to develop disclosures on what risks climate change will pose to the future of their company. You can view the exercise here.

Wellington workshop, from left to right: Michael Zimonyi, Hon James Shaw, Mark Baker-Jones, Wendy McGuinness

December 2019: TCFD Survey Insights As a follow up to the workshop, the Institute prepared a survey, open to both participants and the public, which explored attitudes towards the TCFD. The results were summarised and analysed in Survey Insights: An analysis of the 2019 Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) survey.

December 2019: Submission: Climate-related financial disclosures – Understanding your business risks and opportunities related to climate change We do not normally include submissions in the yearly review; however, this particular submission became an important piece of work that was integral to the research and thinking behind Report 17. MBIE and MfE released a discussion document that proposed a framework for embedding the disclosures outlined in the Recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The McGuinness Institute’s resulting submission became a large piece of work that built on the findings from Discussion Paper 2019/01 (discussed above), and challenged the proposed plan developed by government. In this submission we outline a proposed framework which would mandate the External Reporting Board (XRB) to develop a climate-related standard or standards. The submission outlines who would be required to prepare the information, where the information would be required to be published, which organisations would be involved, and what legislation would need to be amended or activated to achieve this goal.

March 2020: Special Topic Newsletter – External Reporting: Climate-related Financial Disclosures The Institute prepared a ‘special topic newsletter’ which contains extracts of relevant research reports, articles and media releases on the topic of climate-related financial disclosures that we deemed both important and relevant in this area following the publishing of Discussion Paper 2019/01. You can view the special topic newsletter here.

May 2020: Working Paper 2020/02 – The Role of the Directors’ Report: An analysis of the legislative requirements of selected Commonwealth countries This working paper was designed to contribute to Report 17. It reviews and compares the extent to which directors’ reports are discussed in the legislation of four selected Commonwealth countries: New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK. The paper explores the commonalities and differences, and analyses how New Zealand compares with these countries. The findings overall show that New Zealand places weak disclosure obligations on directors. We then make a series of recommendations, with the key recommendation being that New Zealand should incorporate a directors’ report into our legislative framework in order to provide a space in which ESG information can be disclosed within the annual report. You can view the working paper here.

May 2020: Legal Opinion 2020/01 – Obligations on directors to report on risk in New Zealand annual reports under the Companies Act 1993 This legal opinion was commissioned by the Institute and prepared by Gerald Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald Strategic Legal, in order to describe in general terms the framework for annual reporting by companies and directors under the Companies Act 1993, and in particular, the extent to which the Companies Act 1993 requires disclosure of risks (such as climate change or pandemics). The opinion found that ‘there is no specific requirement in the Companies Act for directors to report on risks … a failure to include in annual reports disclosure concerning imminent and proximate risks could in some circumstances give rise to directors’ liability to shareholders’. We would like to thank Gerald Fitzgerald once again for taking the time to work with us; this provided a great contribution to the publishing of Report 17: Building a Reporting Framework Fit for Purpose. You can view the legal opinion here.

June 2020: Working Paper 2020/03 – Reporting requirements of Five Types of Entities This is an update to Working Paper 2018/04, and is designed to assemble the legislation and instruments that govern disclosure requirements for the annual reports and financial statements of five types of entities (companies, Crown entities, government departments, local government and registered charities). It is used as a helpful reference document that enables readers to understand what legislation determines which reporting requirement in terms of content, requirements, preparation timing requirements, accessibility requirements and assurance requirements. It contributes to to Report 17. You can view the working paper here.

June 2020: Working Paper 2020/04 – Analysis of Climate Reporting in the Public and Private Sectors This working paper is an update to Working Paper 2019/06 (discussed above), which explores the extent to which significant organisations in both the public and private sector have disclosed climate-related information within their annual report. This updated version contains data from 2017, 2018 and 2019 annual reports.

June 2020: Working Paper 2020/05 – Reviewing Voluntary Reporting Frameworks mentioned in 2019 Annual Reports This working paper is an update to Working Paper 2019/05 (discussed above), which explores the extent to which significant organisations in both the public and private sector have adopted internationally recognised voluntary reporting frameworks within their 2019 annual reports. These are then compared against existing data to show trends across 2017, 2018 and 2019. You can view the working paper here.

June 2020: Project 2058 Report 17 – Building a Reporting Framework Fit for Purpose A major piece of work, the report is the result of four years of research into New Zealand’s external reporting framework. The aim of the report was to add to the conversation about how to improve the function of the reporting framework and refine its purpose. It provides an overview of the Institute’s research findings and analysis to date, drawing together quantitative and qualitative data collected from more than four years of research, and highlighting what is and is not working in the current system. It also provides observations and recommendations for policy makers on how the system might be improved, including a chapter dedicated to embedding climate-related disclosures into the existing reporting framework. The report was launched on 18 June 2020 at a lunchtime presentation attended by policy experts from a range of institutions (including MBIE, MfE, XRB, Treasury, IoD, NZX, FMA, OAG, RBNZ and CA ANZ). The blog here provides a brief overview of the report as well as the slideshow presentation from the launch. You can read the full report here.

June 2020: Event: A Near Horizon: Seizing the opportunities and managing the risks in the transition to net-zero – The importance of climate-related financial disclosures. This online webinar brought together Mark Carney (UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance and former Governor of the Bank of England), Adrian Orr (Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand) and James Shaw (Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Statistics and Associate Minister for Finance).

Held in conjunction with Simpson Grierson and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), the virtual roundtable between these thought leaders on climate change and finance discussed rapid pathways to achieving New Zealand’s transition to a low-carbon future, with a particular focus on the Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Following a presentation from each of the three speakers, a Q&A session followed which comprised Angel Mentis (CEO, Bank of New Zealand), Matt Whineray (CEO, NZ Super Fund), Mardi McBrien (CEO, CDSB) and Martijn Wilder (founding partner, Pollination Group). You can view the full webinar via our YouTube channel found here. You can read a blog which summarises each of the speakers’ presentations as well as the Q&A that followed here.

We were delighted that Minister Shaw announced in his speech that the government would be looking to work with the External Reporting Board (XRB) as the leading institution to introduce mandatory TCFD disclosures. This has since been discussed further in a cabinet paper on climate-related financial disclosures released in September 2020. You can view the cabinet paper here.

4. Our seven research projects 

In addition to the three policy projects, we also operate seven research projects. Our research projects are framed and fed into by our policy projects, and address a range of significant issues facing Aotearoa New Zealand. Each project is discussed below. If you are interested in learning more, please see each project on the Institute website. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute has established a new research project (Project PandemicNZ) to explore the ongoing government response to COVID-19, and to explore how New Zealand might better prepare for pandemics in the future.

4.1 CivicsNZ

This project aims to build the social capital and empowerment of New Zealand citizens. Learn more about Project CivicsNZ here. We were delighted to have been able to support On the Fence, an online platform that matches users’ personal values with parties and candidates during the 2020 election. It was created by Design+Democracy, a Massey University-led initiative which aims to encourage engagement with social issues through user-centred design. Past CivicsNZ initiatives and events include:

September 2020: Working Paper 2020/07 – Analysis of the 2017 Labour-New Zealand First Coalition Agreement three years on This working paper explores the extent to which policies contained in the coalition agreement between Labour and New Zealand First were implemented during the 2017–2020 parliamentary term. Using government press releases and news articles, this paper evidences whether each policy was fully implemented, partially implemented or not implemented. You can view the working paper here.

September 2020: Working Paper 2020/08 – Analysis of the 2017 Labour-Green Confidence and Supply Agreement three years on This working paper explores the extent to which policies contained in the confidence and supply agreement between Labour and the Green Party were implemented during the 2017-2020 parliamentary term. Using government press releases and news articles, this paper evidences whether each policy was fully implemented, partially implemented or not implemented. You can view the working paper here.

December 2020: Working Paper 2020/10 – A List of Royal Commissions since 1855 This working paper provides a historical list of Royal Commissions that have been established in New Zealand since the first inquiry in 1855. New Zealand currently does not have a public list available of past Royal Commissions, and this working paper was the Institute’s attempt at collating a complete and user friendly list. You can view the working paper here.

December 2020: Working Paper 2020/11 – Obtaining a comprehensive list of coalition agreements and support agreements since 1996 This working paper provides a list of political party agreements since 1996 (including links to PDFs where available). The agreements are listed in five tables, based on the nature of the agreements (e.g. coalition agreement or support agreements), and include the dates they were signed and the party signatories. The list of political agreements was created to support Working Paper 2020/07 and Working Paper 2020/08 discussed above. You can view the working paper here.

December 2020: Briefing to Incoming Government For the first time, the McGuinness Institute decided to prepare a ‘letter to the incoming government’, a letter that reflects on the year 2020, and explores global and national trends and key issues the government should focus on with an eye to the long-term future. You can view the briefing here.

4.2 ClimateChangeNZ

This project has absorbed the Institute’s previous Project LivestockNZ.  Project ClimateChangeNZ aims to explore a climate change strategy for New Zealand. You can view all ClimateChangeNZ initiatives at the McGuinness Institute website here. Note that the majority of climate change-related work from the past 18 months also fits under Project ReportingNZ. See Section 4.3 for further details on climate change-related publications and initiatives. Past initiatives and events include:

3-5 July 2019: KiMuaNZ three day workshop See Section 3.1 for more information on the workshop. Read more about KiMuaNZ  here. You can view the resulting workshop booklet here. You can read blogs that discuss each of the three days:

September 2019: Working Paper 2019/06 – Analysis of Climate Change Reporting in Public and Private Sectors See Section 3.3 for more information on this working paper. You can view the paper here.

September 2019: Think Piece 32 – Exploring Ways to Embed Climate Reporting in the Existing Framework See Section 3.3 for more information on this working paper. You can view the paper here.

October 2019: Discussion Paper 2019/01 – The Climate Reporting Emergency: A New Zealand case study See Section 3.3 for more information on this discussion paper. You can view the paper here.

December 2019: Submission: Climate-related financial disclosures – Understanding your business risks and opportunities related to climate change See Section 3.3 for more information on this submission. You can view the paper here.

March 2020: Special Topic Newsletter – External Reporting: Climate-related Financial Disclosures See Section 3.3 for more information on the special topic newsletter. You can view the newsletter here.

November 2020: Working Paper 2020/09 – A Forestry-Centric Investigation of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (by Paddy Baylis) This working paper is a contributing paper from Paddy Baylis, a student of Economics and Maths at Pomona College in California. The paper explores the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from a forestry-centric perspective and offers suggestions for further reform. It investigates the California-Québec scheme and the potential for the NZ ETS to link with the scheme. You can view the working paper here.

4.3 OneOceanNZ

This project aims to promote the stewardship of a healthy and productive ocean. Learn more about Project OneOceanNZ here.

4.4 PandemicNZ

This project was established following the outbreak of COVID-19 in New Zealand. The project aims to help New Zealand prepare for future pandemics, as well as manage and learn from the current COVID-19 pandemic. It draws together early Institute publications as well as an increasingly comprehensive suite of research and publications on the current pandemic. Previous research undertaken on pandemics includes Lessons from the West African Ebola Outbreak in Relation to New Zealand’s Supply Chain Resilience (May 2015). Learn more about Project PandemicNZ here. Past initiatives include:

March 2020: SupplyNZ: Winning the war against COVID-19 The Institute established SupplyNZ, a sub-project of PandemicNZ, that aims to connect makers, suppliers and purchasers of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the battle against COVID-19. The Institute created a website that enabled individuals and organisations to share with others their manufacturing, supplying and/or purchasing capabilities in terms of PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was then displayed on the SupplyNZ website and enabled interested parties to be connected with those offering their capabilities. The Institute prepared weekly situation reports detailing the number of registrants on the SupplyNZ register, and the final total came to 104 before the initiative was paused following the country moving to Alert Level 2. You can visit the SupplyNZ website and register here. The website also contains relevant resources from official organisations (such as World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health), an analysis of the National Reserve Supply (NRS), and commentary on possible supply gaps in New Zealand.

March-April 2020: COVID-19 infographics/maps The Institute made a series of infographics that provide various strategies the Institute deemed necessary to control the virus, as well as a map of COVID-19 curves around the world. You can view the infographics by following the links below:

  • Distancing Strategy: Flattening the COVID-19 curve (11 March 2020) – this infographic presents an easy visualisation of methods New Zealand might use to manage the spread of COVID-19. It was prepared with assistance from Roger Dennis.
  • Country graphs: Mapping the COVID-19 curves (28 April 2020) – this infographic maps the number of cases in 11 countries between 21 February and 27 April.
  • Unlocking Strategy: the COVID-19 dilemma (16 April 2020) – this infographic explores two options that New Zealand could take in terms of moving New Zealand from government Alert Level 4. This was prepared in the wake of the government making an announcement on whether or not lockdown would be extended on 20 April 2020.

March 2020: Worksheet 2020/01: COVID-19 Exploring certainties and uncertainties This worksheet was designed for users to explore certainties and uncertainties about how the COVID-19 pandemic might affect New Zealand in both the short-term and the long-term. The worksheet invites users to use the ‘cone of plausibility’ (a tool used by futurists) to develop scenarios for what New Zealand might look like in a post-COVID-19 world. You can view the worksheet here. An example of a completed worksheet can be found here.

April 2020: Working Paper 2020/01 – Analysis of options if P2/N95 masks are no longer available This working paper explores possible options for New Zealand in the unlikely event that P2/N95 masks are not available during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following fears about the low numbers of masks in the National Reserve Supply (NRS), the working paper was prepared as an explorative piece, not a medical or academic publication. You can view the paper here.

April 2020: Think Piece 33 – The Long Normal: Preparing the National Reserve Supply (NRS) for pandemic cycles This think piece encourages readers to view pandemics as part of the ‘norm’ given that the COVID-19 pandemic is the fifth in just over a century, and there have been two smaller coronavirus outbreaks in the last 17 years. The think piece explores how New Zealand might develop long-term pandemic strategies and ensure maximum preparedness in the face of these cyclical events. You can view the think piece here.

May 2020: Survey Insights: An analysis of the 2020 NZNO PPE Survey The survey aimed to highlight the experiences of health-care workers (nurses, midwives, kaimahi hauora and students) operating within New Zealand’s health-care system during the COVID-19 pandemic. A collaboration between the McGuinness Institute, the New Zealand Nurses Association and Stickybeak, the survey received 589 responses. You can view the survey results here.

July 2020: Working Paper 2020/06 – Letter to the Minister on AgResearch’s approval for GM animals in light of pandemic risk This working paper includes an open letter to the Minister for the Environment, David Parker, to request the government to review its approval of a genetic modification (GM) experiment in light of the global pandemic. This GM experiment allows the mixing of human and animal genetic material, a cause for concern given that the origins of the 2020 coronavirus can be traced back to a cross-species jump of the virus from animal to human. You can read the open letter here. If you are interested in this area of work, visit Project 2058 Report 16 – An Overview of Genetic Modification in New Zealand 1973-2013: The first forty years.

November 2020: New Zealand COVID-19 Timeline This timeline contains a detailed overview of the events that took place during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the lockdown Alert levels in New Zealand. See the timeline here.

4.5 PublicScienceNZ

This project aims to contribute to a discussion on how to invest in science for the long-term benefit of New Zealand. It also encompasses our work on genetic modification and pandemic management. Learn more about Project PublicScienceNZ here. Past initiatives include: July 2020: Working Paper 2020/06 – Letter to the Minister on AgResearch’s approval for GM animals in light of pandemic risk. See Section 4.4 for more information on this working paper. You can view the paper here.

4.6 TacklingPovertyNZ

This project aims to build and share ideas on how to tackle poverty. Learn more about Project TacklingPovertyNZ here.

4.7 TalentNZ

This project aims to contribute to Sir Paul Callaghan’s vision of making New Zealand ‘a place where talent wants to live’. Learn more about Project TalentNZ here.

5. McGuinness Institute in the media

6. Acknowledgements

It is always amazing to see what a small team of focused people can achieve. We could not accomplish what we do without the guidance and hard work of a number of people. We would like to particularly acknowledge the ongoing financial and administrative support of Willis Bond, without which we could not achieve what we do. Special thanks to Lay Wee Ng for all her help over the years, particularly in regard to Discussion Paper 2019/01. Special thanks also to Michael Zimonyi (CDSB) and Mark Baker-Jones, (Simpson Grierson), for working alongside the Institute with the TCFD workshops and survey. Special thanks to Caren Wilton, copy editor, and Johanna Knox support editor, for their assistance with our fourth edition of Nation Dates. We are so grateful for your dedication and cooperation.

We want to say a special thanks to our interns and short-term staff, in particular, Kaeden Watts, Anna Broom, Jacob Flanagan, Angus Shaw and Lucy Witkowski. We will miss three amazing long-term staff who have recently left the Institute: Eleanor Merton, Ella Riley and Isabella Smith. Our permanent staff, as we start 2021, include Reuben Brady, Madison Crisp, Becky Jenkins, Arne Larsen, and Billie McGuinness. Thank you all for your support and hard work.

2020 was meant to be the year of perfect vision, but COVID-19 certainly blurred the road ahead. However we learned a great deal about ourselves and each other – and what we discovered was that we can work together for the good of each other. So as we bring the year to a close, there is a lot to be thankful for. But, saying all of this, it is nice to think we are starting a new year with all the opportunities a new start will bring. Have a fantastic summer break and a very productive and healthy 2021.

Ngā mihi o te tau hou

Wendy