2013 Bruce Jesson Lecture The Rt Hon Sir Edmund Thomas “Reducing Inequality: A Strategy for a Cause”

Political Studies and the Bruce Jesson Foundation present the 2013 Bruce Jesson Lecture

The Rt Hon Sir Edmund Thomas

“Reducing Inequality: A Strategy for a Cause”

The speaker, a Distinguished Fellow at the Law School at The University of Auckland, argues that the gross inequality in income and wealth which besets New Zealand is the outcome of the neo-liberal economic measures of the mid- 1980s and early 1990s and the culture of liberal individualism and unfettered free market ideology which it spawned. A breakdown in social cohesion and a sense of community is the result. Reforms to counter this inequality are widely mooted. But increasing focus and discussion on the topic is confronted by a plethora of mantras and myths purveyed by the rich and powerful. The stimulus for change is deadened. The speaker advances a strategy designed to provide a coherent impetus to reduce the rank inequality that now prevails.

Wednesday 30 October, 6.30pm

Maidment Theatre, Alfred Street The University of Auckland

The Maidment Bar will open from 5.30pm