If you are young and ambitious you should leave New Zealand. This was the moot for the New Zealand Initiative’s Next Generation Debates grand final, held at the City Gallery in Wellington last night.

The top debaters from Victoria University and the University of Auckland went head-to-head in a battle of wit, eloquence and humour.

Hosted by the Initiative with the generous support of the Friedlander Foundation and EY, the purpose of these debates is to get young people engaging with important issues facing New Zealand. The Initiative was also privileged to host the Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of Education, and Stephen Franks, Wellington lawyer and former ACT MP, who participated in the panel discussion and Q&A following the debate.

During the Q&A, one surprising contribution from the audience was on the issue of hardship. While migrating overseas may be desirable for the well trained, or reasonably well-off, the experience can also be truly miserable.

Ms Parata and Mr Franks responded by arguing that next to other countries, New Zealand is a comparatively easier place to be poor. The generosity of our welfare state is often only realised after financial hardships have been seen elsewhere in the world.

At first, this seemed like a peripheral point. After all, the moot was focused on the young and ambitious.

However, it did set up an interesting discussion. Has New Zealand failed to balance its provision for the bottom tier of society with opportunities for high achievers? Is New Zealand’s welfare provision keeping the ambitious buoyant during times of struggle, or is its generosity stifling ambition?

Far too often the conversation about New Zealand’s ‘brain drain’ has centred around higher wages, better employment opportunities, and options for career advancement offshore  -  the lawyer in London, the geologist in WA, the entrepreneur in Shanghai. What is less mentioned is that ambition is not synonymous with instant success, nor is it confined to stereotypes of high flying individuals. In order to retain our best and brightest, ambition needs to be accommodated at all levels of society.

The purpose of these debates is to provide a forum for intelligent engagement on issues that affect us all. Last night’s debate undoubtedly achieved just that.

Congratulations to the Victoria University of Wellington debaters on winning the debate.  They argued that in fact the young and ambitious do not have to leave these shores.