Chris Hipkins argues that inequality in New Zealand goes beyond wealth to unequal opportunity and life chances determined by birth. He says modern economies increasingly predetermine life outcomes, and that people should have real choices and upward mobility rather than futures decided before they're born.
What's the thing that you're like? In my life, in politics here in New Zealand, this is the one thing that I'm willing to fight for. Economic inequality is the thing that really kind of motivates me to be involved in politics. And it's not just about wealth. It's about opportunity and about the ability to make the most of those opportunities. So there's so much more that goes into, you know, the debate about inequality than someone earning more than someone else or someone having more assets than someone else. It's actually more than that. It's about, is life a level playing field? To what extent do you chances in life get determined before you're even born? And what we're seeing now in the modern economy is increasingly people's chances in life are more and more predetermined by the circumstances into which they are born. And to me, that's not what life should be about. Life should give you choices and options, and sometimes you'll be successful, sometimes you won't. But the idea that that's predetermined before you're even born, I think is really tough.
