In the era of public choice and free markets, and when widespread public protest against global treaties such as the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement is having little effect, does the New Zealand state still have the best interests of its individual citizens at heart? Margaret Wilson argues that the shift to a neo-liberal public policy framework has profoundly affected the country’s sovereignty and that New Zealanders must continue to engage in the struggle to retain it for the sake of individual and community wellbeing. Introduced by Bronwyn Hayward.

Margaret Wilson is Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Waikato. In 1999 she was elected a List Member of Parliament and from 2005 to 2008 she was Speaker of Parliament. She was appointed to be Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009.

Dr Bronwyn Hayward is an author and political scientist at the University of Canterbury. Her research focus, with several international teams, is on communities, especially children and youth, and democratic ways of addressing problems caused by rapid economic, social or environmental change.