Roger Partridge: A crisis of ambition

When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand's first-world status was at stake.

Resolving these daunting policy problems is difficult enough. But there is a deeper, more fundamental challenge confronting the nation. It is one of ambition and identity.