In September this year, I am asking you to take an initial small step to reach out for this future by thoughtfully casting your vote – not on the basis of colour of your skin, or the texture of your hair, or on the basis on your belief – but on the basis of who offers a better future. You will choose between two competing visions – one arising from business as usual and another from a path of hope and aspiration. Which of these visions will you want your grandchildren to be a part of? - Professor Biman Prasad, Fiji Vision 2030 - Leader of the NFP delivered at the Rotary Club meeting, 12 June 2014. This We Are Fiji video just reinforces what Fiji is all about and what we can be - a free nation, absolutely confident in its diversity, celebrating it and from it reaping the benefits. Click onto:- youtu.be/hwstGb6VlZo?list=RDhwstGb6VlZo Full extract of the FIJI VISION 2030 Speech by Professor Biman Prasad, Leader of the NFP delivered at the Rotary Club meeting, 12 June 2014 12 June 2014 at 17:59 FIJI VISION 2030 Speech by Professor Biman Prasad, Leader of the National Federation Party delivered at the Rotary Club meeting on Thursday 12 June, 2014 at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva. The President of the Rotary Club, Mr. Ajay Amrit, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for the invitation to speak to you. I am especially pleased to talk at this wonderful venue. The setting speaks to us as a country. In the 1960’s, it symbolized our yearning for freedom as a nation – hosting major events in our transition to independence. But not too long afterwards, the GPH came to symbolize our rapid decline as a country. For decades this symbol of aspiration stood in ruins in the heart of our capital. Today its magnificence speaks to us again. It tells us that our future builds on our past. It reminds us of the urgency of reconstructing our country. It tells us the transformation cannot take a leisurely 30 odd years as it has taken to restore the GPH. Ladies and gentlemen, I have accepted your invitation to this historic venue to reflect on my 2030 vision for our country. My vision has three central messages. ▪ First, we need clarity about the direction of travel in rebuilding our country. ▪ Second, that in rebuilding our country, we need a sense of urgency, pace, good governance, transparency and accountability; and ▪ Third, we need knowledge and human resources to achieve our goals. In my journey from Dreketi, to Labasa, to Suva, to the wider world and back to Fiji, I have followed these guidelines. I believe they are equally relevant in helping us achieve my vision for our country. As I look around the room and reflect on our future, I suspect that in 2030 most of you will probably be somewhere else looking at Fiji from distant rocking chairs. In 2020, Fiji will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary as an independent country. I will work day and night, through the NFP, to make sure that we have real achievements to celebrate in the 50th year of our existence as a free nation. Given our many wasted years, we have a lot of catching up to do. It is my hope and expectation that with clarity about how we must travel and a shared commitment to get there, we will reach a quality and standard of living that is equal, if not better, to that of New Zealand by 2030. This is not my dream. This is a reality within our grasp. ▪ Fiji 2030 will be a free nation, absolutely confident in its diversity, celebrating it and from it reaping the benefits for growth. Our hospitals, our schools, our incomes from comparable jobs will be on par with NZ. ▪ Loud conversations celebrating our grandchildren’s achievements in technology, business, arts, sports, music or writing will have long replaced the hushed conversations about the excesses of those in power today. ▪ Routine 2030 tanoa-talanoa will be about the wonders our grandchildren will be doing with new apps for marine conservation, 4-D printing of products for export to Pacific Islands, or new nanosat technologies for climate change mitigation. They will be as routine as our own conversations about coups and crime today. But this future of a country at ease with itself and with the world is premised on us avoiding a path of ‘business as usual’. A ‘business as usual’ would mean the continuation of fear and intimidation, of inconsistent economic policies, of support for monopolistic behavior that stifles our creativity, and of governance that stifles voices and weakens the rule of law. ‘Business as usual’ will mean an economic growth averaging 2% per annum; meaning it will take another 30 years to double average incomes and push more families into urban areas; increasing pressure on our towns and cities and creating a large urban underclass living in extreme poverty, fueling crime, harming our tourism and hurting your investments. Deteriorating health services would mean 1 out of every 3 Fijians will die before they are able to reach their retirement age. The quality of education will remain low by global standards. Rising dependency on expensive non-renewable energy will drag down our economic performance. I present an alternative to this bleak future arising from a business as usual national trajectory. With clarity about our vision, certainty about the reforms needed to realize that, with a clear rootedness in our past -- and with some luck and the grace of God – this future of limitless possibilities lies within our grasp. In September this year, I am asking you to take an initial small step to reach out for this future by thoughtfully casting your vote – not on the basis of colour of your skin, or the texture of your hair, or on the basis on your belief – but on the basis of who offers a better future. You will choose between two competing visions – one arising from business as usual and another from a path of hope and aspiration. Which of these visions will you want your grandchildren to be a part of? Despite the imposed 2013 Constitution and the absence of a free and fair environment for the election, I have great hope in the final results. This is because I have great faith in our people. The process of forming a government will bring our political parties together. This will foster the stability which we have so missed in our recent past. It will lead to participative and inclusionary decision making. Our democracy will grow out of this. Our economy will grow from this. With stability we can more than double our economic growth rate to an average of more than 5%. We can then double average incomes by 2030. We can do this in our sleep! -- so long as we have democracy and stability. My aim, though, reaches much higher. We need to follow a much smarter trajectory. But even with a 5 percent sustained growth rate for the next 15 years; we will unleash tremendous new resources for our development. Urban towns and cities are already sources of growth, creativity and energy. Over the past two decades, urban infrastructure has stagnated; growing squatter settlements, rising waterborne diseases, worsening urban pollution, and deteriorating water supply are now entrenched features of urban life. A sustained 5% growth will open up resources for urban infrastructure renewal and development at an unprecedented rate. The transfer of squatters into social housing can be completed within 7-8 years and the coastal lands from existing settlements returned into environmental protection zones within 10 years. A Country Secure in its World Class Education Sustained investments will mean that our children will enjoy world class education, benchmarked by international quality standards and comparable with the top 30 countries. These investments will be protected by a teaching profession that attracts, retains and adequately rewards the very best of our students. It means an education system that encourages responsibility, fosters debate, promotes risk-taking and independence and provides the technical and language skills for the world stage. We will have broken free from an educational tradition that is built on fostering silence. This in itself will unleash creativity among our youths that will take our national development to great heights. It means a Fiji where I(information)-ways will have linked the learning experiences of children in primary schools in Beqa to knowledge labs in Bangalore; arts in schools in Rotuma to museums in Rome, and design in schools across Serua to design centres in Shanghai. A Fiji where our colleges and universities attract high performing students from across the world. A Fiji where our sons and daughters find their dreams at home rather than seek them in distant shores. A Military that Builds Resilience This is where our military will be a leader in international peacekeeping and peacebuilding, where our soldiers are world leaders who have cutting edge equipment, skills and means to respond to natural disasters at home and across the South Pacific – building the resilience of our communities. A Navy that Fights to Preserve our Resources A smart and technologically cutting edge navy will be able to support the protection of Fiji and South Pacific waters from overfishing using 4th generation drone technologies, nanosats and innovations in communications; transforming these oceans of peace into sustainable marine food reservoirs for the Islands and beyond. In essence a modern navy and army that fights for us; not against us. i Taukei at Ease with Modernity and Tradition I foresee an i Taukei community in 2030 that is supremely confident and secure of its place at the heart of Fiji and its unique place in the world. Collaborating with other parties, I will work through the NFP to ensure that needed laws are in place, and controversy with respect to protective elements of such laws long made redundant. My commitment is unequivocal. The NFP has an unmatched record of working for legislation benefitting the country as a whole; from the days of the legislative assembly, to the Alliance party to SVT, we have walked the talk. The ALTA, 1970 Constitution and 1997 Constitution are testament to this. Through devolution of powers and financial resources, the Fijian administration will have been re-energised as the primary tier of governance for i Taukei lands, natural and cultural resources. i Taukei together with Hindi language, as is English currently, will have long been mainstreamed and Fiji will be a nation of Fijian speaking people; its cultural and social life rich with i Taukei language, music, arts, theatre and drama presented and preserved through multi-media. i Taukei movies and historiographies will be routinely available through open platform technologies for our people, for Fijians across the world and for the global community. No need to complain any longer that there is nothing on television! Fijian cultural resources in museums in Cambridge, New York, Australia and New Zealand will have been linked through open networks and accessible to all of us here in Fiji. Realizing Gender Equality in Power NFP will work to legislate special measures that will help us achieve equality in women’s participation at all levels of leadership within the next 15 years, measured by having at least half of Parliament, cabinet, judiciary, permanent secretaries and heads of state enterprises being women. We want to have a Fiji where basic maternity and child care benefits become part of the lives of our women and children. It means a Fiji that is absolutely comfortable in maintaining its zero tolerance on violence against women and children day in and day out. A Media that Protects our Freedoms It will be a Fiji where we would have reversed the damage done on freedom of information and expression and that has learnt to debate responsibly and negotiate differences on policy and governance. Our broadcast, print and new technology media will be staffed with tertiary qualified specialists who work to preserve our freedoms. As announced the NFP will enact a Freedom of Information (Right to Information) Bill, that will ensure that citizens can demand and be entitled to receive information from the Government. An open government is good for our citizens, for our businesses and for our democracy. This will contribute towards building and achieving our vision for Fiji in 2030. A Pristine Environment A Fiji where we have in place environmental protection as our top most priority will exist. The reversal of environment degeneration requires the establishment of agencies with clout, staffed with people with frontier knowledge, and with resources that reflect this as a priority. No more toothless watchdogs anxious for an illicit bone to sneak into their doggie bags! Fiji’s luck as a preferred holiday destination for high spending tourists from across the world and therefore able to maintain a high growth path will depend on sustained successes in protecting the wonderful environment that attracts people here. It will need firm environmental protection using new knowledge and frontier technologies, while counting on an ever alert citizenry acting responsibly. Having World Class Healthcare We will aim for a Fiji where there is universal health care for all our people with world class facilities in specialist areas; and a primary health care and education system that has succeeded in significant reducing the incidence of diabetes and heart diseases, which reduces our health care costs. Making Care for the Aged an Export Industry A Fiji where the retirement age is more than 60 and where our retirees are provided with opportunities, support and infrastructure which will allow them live a dignified living for the rest of their lives. A Fiji where retirement opens up new opportunities supported by a comprehensive private and public care systems. A country that has gone much further and transformed its care for aged infrastructure into a source of income generation by attracting Australian, New Zealand and 3rdcountry retirees to take their final years of ease in a benign country that has a population traditionally grounded in respect and genuine care for the elderly – and doesn’t suffer winters! Fairness in the Legal System We will have a Fiji where there is universal respect for the rule of law across society including within our disciplined forces like that which exists in other progressive common law countries. We will have a legal system where justice is not only done but is seen to be done. But how will we know we have got there? Visions are often abstract. Sometimes in life we do not really know when we have realized them. Today we have a fractured, fearful, uncertain nation. The absence of fear of your own government is a primary characteristic of the vision I have for our country. The high cost of living is robbing the poor of their dignity today. A nation where our young are struggling to find decent employment – a plight made even worse by the punishing prices of essential food items that is a crime against our own people. Decent employment, pegged to a high minimum wage; and a floor of social protection for those unable to work or facing temporary unemployment are also core characteristics of this vision. An average sustainable growth of more than 5% from 2015 will help us readdress almost all our economic and social ills. Other signs of having realized our vision by 2030 will be stability in the macroeconomic policy environment, sustained high levels of investment, and export and tourism sectors that continuously generate smart, high quality and high paid employment for our young. We will not compete with Bangladesh or Indonesia for low wage jobs – that is not our future. In September this year, you and the country have to choose between these two visions. We can choose a business as usual low growth trajectory where the country will need to rely on some form of semi-authoritarian rule to manage extreme inequality, tensions and growing crime. We can choose instead a high growth path that feeds off the creativity, skills and most of all, a revolution in the expansion of our freedoms. The 2013 General Election, flawed as it may be, provides Fiji people with these two stark choices. The Fiji 2030 vision is an achievable goal. We could have realized this vision earlier. But some of our leaders have let us down. Our institutions have let us down. Our people deserve better. We offer a future that holds much promise. The NFP will, in Government, work night and day to help us fulfil that promise. Service is in my DNA. Of Rotarians I ask this: join me in this service to rebuild this great nation of ours. Of the country I ask: give us this one chance to realize the vision this time. In return you can set the bar as high as you want for judging our results. Thank you, dhanyabad, vinaka vakalevu, and may you have a pleasant evening contemplating the delightful future that could await you. Prof. Biman Prasad Suva, 12 June 2014 #TrustNFP. #VoteNFP
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 04:01:06 +0000
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