How New Zealand Led The World in Futuring
In the 1970s Aotearoa was one of the world leaders in future studies. In 1976, following close behind a similar initiative in Sweden, and around the same time as Australia, the Muldoon government founded an institution called the Commission for the Future (CFF). This was part of a new wave of thinking, spearheaded in Aotearoa by a group of forward-thinking government ministers (known as the "Young Turks"). The commission's aim was to consider the opportunities, trends and risks up to thirty years into the future and feed their findings back to politicians and the public. Although it didn't last long, the CFF brought futures studies into the mainstream and left a legacy. Following its dissolution in 1982, the New Zealand Futures Trust was founded - an independent Trust, which aimed to continue the commission's work exploring the future and engaging decision makers and public. Here, Yvonne describes these two important institutions: Commission for the Future 1976...